Chieftains' season ends in District semifinals.

Byline: Graham Entwistle

WORCESTER -- After winning its postseason opener, the third-seeded Nashoba Regional High School boys basketball team bowed out of the Central Mass. Division 2 tournament with a 67-53 semifinal loss to second-seeded Concord-Carlisle, on Monday, at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

The Chieftains rolled to a 61-48 victory over sixth-seeded Medway (10-11) last Friday in the quarterfinals.

Nashoba finished the season at 15-9, while the Concord-Carlisle Patriots improved to 17-4.

"We fought to the end, but we lost to a good basketball team,'' Nashoba coach Danny Ortiz said of Concord-Carlisle. "They beat us up and down in transition, and they deserved to win. They were the better team tonight.

"They made some big shots late in the game with the shot clock going down,'' he said. "They made them when it counted.''

Senior center Travis Macko, a captain, led the Chieftains against the Patriots with 22 points. Sophomore guard Nathaniel Mansour also scored in double figures with 10 points.

Junior forward Eric Sellew was Concord-Carlisle's top scorer, matching Macko with 22 points. Junior forward Austin Hoey contributed 20 points for the Patriots, and sophomore guard Spencer Patenaude scored 10.

The lead changed three times during the first quarter, with Nashoba leading 2-0 and 9-7, but trailing 15-11 at the buzzer.

A 9-0 run by the Patriots to start the second quarter put the Chieftains in a 13-point hole, but they battled back to make it a six-point deficit at the half, 31-25. Macko scored eight points in the paint during the rally.

Macko blocked a shot to start the third quarter, Mansour drove the paint for a hoop, and senior guard Eric Demmer, a captain, drained a 3-pointer to get Nashoba to within one, 31-30, but that was as close as the Chieftains got.

The frame ended with Concord-Carlisle on top, 46-40.

After a goaltending call against the Chieftains to start the fourth quarter, Nashoba did get within four points, 48-44, on a traditional 3-point play by freshman guard Justin Peirce and a foul shot by junior forward Anthony Kennon.

However, 3-pointers from Hoey and Patenaude swung the momentum in the Patriots' favor, and they...