Nashua South junior Josh Caruso hugs his grandfather, Tony Caruso, while his father Dan, left, looks on after he scored his 1,000tth career point on Tuesday night, the first South player to ever do so. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It was about a player that is without a doubt universally held in high esteem by teammates, schoolmates, coaches, and family.

It was about trying to win a tight basketball game against a visiting opponent who just didn’t want to play along with the theme of the night.

And last, but not least, it was about history.

You throw that all together, and Tuesday was a night to remember at the Belanger Gym, as not only did the Nashua High School South boys basketball team hold off Goffstown, 61-52, but Panther junior guard Josh Caruso became the first player in South history to eclipse the 1,000 career point mark. Caruso came into the game needing 16, had just seven at halftime after a scoreless second quarter and coming out and hitting a 3-pointer just seconds into the game.

Fans groaned as a layup or a 3-pointer would go in and out, as things were getting close by the end of the third quarter, Caruso just two points way. Finally, with 6:10 left, he buried a trey from the right corner in front of the South bench. Caruso turned to the bench, players and fans cheered and the party started.

“I wasn’t trying to do to much, I knew it was going to come and trusted my teammates,” Caruso said. “It was a little more pressure than usual, but it was going to come.”

And it did. Now 9-3, the team had T-shirts made up, and as is customary when such a feat is accomplished at home, the game was stopped and he was presented with the ball.

Panthers coach Nate Mazerolle has made no bones about it – Caruso is the best scorer the program, born in 2004 with split of the one Nashua High into South and North, has ever had.

“You can’t ask for a better kid,” Mazerolle said. “Obviously the win – and he said it – the win’s the most important thing. That’s the kind of kid he is. I’m sure he’s proud and wants he accomplishment; it’s couldn’t happen to a harder working kid, a better teammate, if there was ever going to be a first, I’m glad it’s him.”

Mazerolle remembers being around one of the previous great scorers the singular Nashua had in Chris Madigan in the mid to late 1980s, who led Nashua to a title in 1986.

“That’s how far back you have to go with someone who can score like him,” said Mazerolle, who himself was a defensive oriented player on the 1991 Class L title team. “Josh is the best shooter I’ve ever seen, but he scores other ways, he’s distributing the ball and works his tail off on defense.”

“This is what I kind of do in my life,” Caruso said. “I work at it day after day in the gym, and with my Dad (Dan) and my grandfather (Tony).”

But for Caruso, one of the biggest things was the support of his teammates, including good friend and senior backcourt mate/point guard Zac Castonguay, who has an outside chance at the same mark with a month to go and who hit for 13, including an important 11 in the second quarter.

“It meant a lot to me, we’ve been playing since (we) were young,” Castonguay said. “We’ve been together a while. It was great, meant a lot for me, lot for him.”

“It’s awesome,” Caruso said of the support. “Teammates, fans, they’ve been there since day one. It’s awesome, it’s great. … It means a lot. Nothing’s possible without Coach Maz, the coaching staff,friends, family teammates.”

Dan Caruso was a gritty post player for Nashua, graduating in 1998. He couldn’t imagine his son would become the first 1,000 point scorer South would see.

“Never in a million years would I think this would happen,” said Dan Caruso, also a former Rivier player who coaches Fairgrounds Junior High. “But the kid works extremely hard, is in the gym constantly, night and day.

“I was very nervous. I kept changing seats. Shots were going in and out, and I was, ‘Is this ever going to happen?’ I’m glad he did it, and more importantly, I’m glad they won the game.”

Nashua South’s Josh Caruso looks over at his celebrating teammates seconds after he hit his 1,000th career point on Tuesday night vs. Goffstown at the Belanger Gym. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Indeed, just how did the Panthers, who trailed 16-15 after one quarter but led 32-25, win the game? They a had a nine-point lead in the third before the Grizzlies, now 5-6, closed to 41-40 by quarters end. And it was 43-42 when Caruso then hit his historic 3-pointer, it not only relieved the tension, it gave the Panthers some breathing room at 46-42.

“I have no idea,” Mazerolle said with a chuckle. “We talked about it at practice, the buzz word was ‘Feed Josh, feed Josh’ but I said ‘Let’s play our game.’ … It was just calming them down, and I knew it was a residual effect (of the event). We weren’t playing defense, there were breakdowns, and I’m sure the magnitude of the night was a big part of it. But our fourth quarter defense was infinitely better than it had been. Once Josh was making some shots, and once he got to it, everybody breathed a sigh of relief.”

And then it was time for basketball, Caruso and Castonguay combining to go 6 for 6 in the fourth quarter from the line, and South getting key buckets from Samson Akotey and Josh Tripp while Castonguay killed clock with his dribbling. A technical given to Goffstown coach Ryan Cowette didn’t help the visitors, who were led by Noah Durham’s 18 points.

But look to Caruso, who had 10 points in the fourth quarter. Why? Because he and the Panthers had 1,000 reasons to win the game and make history on a night they won’t forget.