He walked away during an opposing free throw, staring at the scoreboard at the opposite end of the Belanger Gym just over a week ago.

Soon, he was taken out of the game by one of his biggest fans, Nashua South head coach Nate Mazerolle.

Josh Caruso, in tears, was in a long embrace with his coach while the whole gym cheered him.

This is what it can be like in high school sports with the great players whose career ends a round or two in the post season before anyone expected it to.Make no mistake, South’s career leading scorer Josh Caruso wanted badly to go out raising a championship plaque to the roars of the crowd behind the South bench at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gym. Instead, the Bedford players were doing that yesterday with their second title in three years.

The Winter Season is now officially over. A week before we wanted, we said good-bye to a generational player a week ago. We did it back in 2021 when Curtis Harris-Lopez played his final game at Nashua North in the Division I hoop semis, but Harris-Lopez made his claim to fame as a football player and he did leave with a championship in that sport.

So this was different.

Caruso deserved to do the same in his. But there’s a thing called the opponent, and Exeter High School had the answer to holding him 13 points below his 28 points a game average, and the Blue Hawks eliminated the Panthers by a 60-44 count and thus ended the Josh Caruso Era.

A shame, but life goes on. Caruso was probably the most celebrated player in a Purple uniform since, well, a kid in the mid 1980s named Chris Madigan. Ironically, Madigan extended his career in stellar fashion at Saint Anselm, where Caruso is also headed.

And here’s the thing about both: Not only are/were they great players, but great kids at the same time. That’s the most important thing.

All you need to know about Caruso from all appearances he is absolutely loved by the student fandom and has friends galore. He celebrated the great moments with them, running over to the stands after games – it was incredible when he scored 1,000 points as a junior – and many came over to give him comfort in the tough moments, like last Saturday. Little kids would come up to talk to him after games. He had time for everyone. We mean everyone.

It’s called the Josh Caruso Experience at the Belanger Gym. And it was fun.

Caruso also gives back. He worked as a referee for Nashua Biddy Basketball games. What high school standout does that? As Biddy ref director Bill Soubosky said, “The youth in Nashua at the Biddy level loved having Josh referee their games. A true icon for the kids.”

Opposing coaches would shake their heads and marvel at the shots made. They’d devise every plan they could, and not many, if any,worked. Or worked fully. Caruso may have been held down during a stretch, but found a way to hit the key shots to beat them.

The other key is how Caruso was liked by his teammates. That was evident back in late January, when, after a win at Merrimack, in the hallway stairs outside the gym, the team came down, dressed and read to bus home. At the bottom of the stairs, Caruso was being interviewed about his choice of Saint Anselm for the next phase of his education and basketball career. Usually, kids would just walk by and get to the bus, anxious to get home. Not this group. They stopped on the stairs, and listened to their leader’s every word in the interview.When it was done, they applauded.

When do you see that?

You don’t. And it’s highly likely it could be a long time until we do again, if at all.

Nashua South’s Josh Caruso reacts after a big Panthers win this past season. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

Nashua South’s Josh Caruso reacts after a big Panthers win this past season. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

The loss will sting for a while, no question. But in a couple of weeks, perhaps longer, the senior will look back and savor the moments, the pain lessened just a tad. “Hopefully, yeah,” he said.

After the loss to Exeter, Mazerolle was asked what was next for his program.

“I will not accept that Josh Caruso is not playing basketball at Nashua South anymore,” he said.

There are many who feel the same way.

The Josh Caruso Experience was fun, and we’ll all miss it.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X @Telegraph _TomK.