MANCHESTER - Players from the Nashua North High School basketball team came back to their lockers after Tuesday's loss at Memorial High School to find money, valuables and electronics stolen, Manchester police said.



Lt. Michael Hurley said cell phones, cash, jewelry and electronics were among the items taken from 11 basketball players sometime between halftime and the end of the game, which Memorial won, 74 to 55.

Hurley said police "are looking at a particular student" in the thefts. He said a custodian was preparing to lock the door to the visiting locker room after halftime when he "found someone in there who wasn't supposed to be there."

No arrests had been made as of Thursday night.

Memorial boys basketball coach Jack Quirk said visiting teams have their own locker room. He said a custodian unlocks it for the team before the game and procedure calls for the custodian to lock the room when the team leaves for the start of the game and after halftime.

"The door was supposedly locked," Quirk said. "Someone could have been in there when the door was locked."

Quirk said the area around the locker rooms "is a tough place to police. There are just a lot of people in the locker room area."

The theft happened sometime during the game, he said. Quirk said school and police officials are aggressively investigating the matter.

"Hopefully, this can be resolved in a way where we'll get the stuff back. That's what we're hoping for," he said. "This is not something that the school or the police department is taking lightly."

Tom Arria, athletic director for Nashua North, declined to comment.

Memorial Principal Arthur Adamakos could not be reached for comment.



tbuckland@unionleader.com