Nashua South's Francisco Rodriguez tries to pressure Bedford's Logan O'Connell during Saturday night's Divison I quarterfinal in Bedford. (Photo by Jack Belanger)

BEDFORD — Entering February, the Nashua South boys basketball team was still trying to find its identity. The Panthers’ record stood at 4-6, hitting a low when they lost by 22 to Portsmouth. When the calendar flipped, so did the Panthers’ season.

Senior Josh Tripp’s return from an injury gave Nashua South new life, igniting a four-game win-streak to open the month. His defense changed the team’s performance on the court and elevated a roster consisting of mostly juniors. That’s the good news.

The bad? South’s season came to an end in the Division I quarterfinals on Saturday night at the hands of the No. 2 Bedford Bulldogs, 68-57. Despite holding the Bulldogs to under 70 points for the first time since beating them back in February, the Panthers offense could not keep up on Saturday. Bedford outscored Nashua South 17-12 in the final five minutes at home to clinch a spot in the semifinals for the fourth straight season.

The Panthers went 7-1 to close out the regular season and rode that momentum into the playoffs. Nashua South secured the seven-seed and defeated Windham in the first round,setting up a matchup with the defending Division-I champions.

“Our kids played hard. I think the difference in the game is they hurt us on the glass. Anytime we got it to five or six, they got an offensive putback or a kickout for three,” Nashua South head coach Nate Mazerolle said.

Walking into a packed Bedford gym, the Panthers started the game poised. Junior Fracisco Rodriguez Malagon scored five early points as Nashua South took a 9-7 lead mid-way through the opening period. He finished with 17 points.

Bedford retook the lead and entered halftime up 30-25. The Bulldogs switched to a 2-3 zone defense that took the ball out of 6-foot-7 center Daniel Karavanic’s hands inside and forced the team to lean on the 3-ball. The Panthers shot 1 for 13 from three in the first half.

“They know we have some guys who can get to the rim against pressure. We were trying to get the ball to the middle. We were trying to get corner kickout for threes. We had plenty of good looks,” Mazerolle said.

That plan looked a lot better in the third quarter. Rodriguez Malagon’s backcourt mate Shane Lemire scored 11 of Nashua’s 16 point the quarter, keeping the score within reach at 48-41.

“We needed to see a few go in. That was a big difference,” Mazerolle said.

Lemire led Nashua South with 22 points, knocking down four shots from behind the arc. He and Rodriguez Malagon will be one of the top scoring duo returning next season.

Tripp did almost all of his scoring in the fourth quarter. He opened the frame with a shot in the post to cut Nashua’s deficit back to five. His determination showed later when he scored two buckets from grabbing offensive rebounds and scoring off the putbacks. He finished with eight points in his final game.

“Josh coming back was a huge help,” junior Shane Lemire said. “We fed off his toughness and energy. He was the floor general when he came back.”

“He is arguably the smartest player I ever coached,” Mazerolle said. “He’s tough, strong, he run’s the show. Because of the way he got them (the underclassmen) to play, along with each other, in those last games, they will build confidence off of that.”

The Panthers end the season at 12-8. They expect to return most of the roster next season as it they will lose just four seniors.