Alvirne basketball jumps out early, holds off Milford

NASHUA - Everyone's clock is off a bit during winter break, but that didn't seem to bother the Alvirne High School boys basketball team Tuesday during the opening day of the Chick-fil-A Holiday Tournaments.

The Broncos rushed out to a 10-0 lead against Milford and cruised to a 67-45 win over the Spartans in the first game of the tournament at Nashua South.

Tyler Livingston scored 15 of his game-high 17 points in the first half and Alec Yoksh came off the bench when Jim Tomaswick went down early with a wrist injury to added 12 points. Tomaswick later returned to play in the second half, and Alvirne should be at full strength when it returns to play in the winner's bracket Wednesday at 6 p.m. against Nashua North.

Despite playing without Tomaswick's inside presence for most of the first half, Alvirne was able to score in bunches from in the paint.

"We got a lot of layups, especially in the first half," Alvirne coach Seth Garon said. "I thought the first half we played well, but the second half, it got a little sloppy. Christmas tournaments are always tough. The kids sleep until noon time. They’re not in their routine. It always makes for interesting games."

Logan Barlow led Milford with 11 points while Nick Simo added nine markers off the bench, as the Spartans lost a game for the first time since January of 2010. Of course, Milford still hasn't dropped a Division II game since then, but coach Dan Murray hopes the Spartans learned something from the loss.

"(Tuesday) was like being in school and learning a lesson," Murray said. "They’re a good team. We played like we’ve been practicing. We’ve been struggling with our lack of leadership. We have to learn soon."

After Alvirne opened the game with a 10-0 run, Milford could no closer than seven points throughout, and that came with 2:05 left in the first quarter. The Broncos led by 12 at halftime, and after opening the second half with a 10-4 run, Alvirne led 52-34 at the end of three quarters.

"We didn’t take care of the basketball very well, but we seemed to break their pressure pretty well," Garon said. "(Tony) Beaulieu had a phenomenal game getting to the rim, breaking the press, getting things started for us. He did exactly what we needed to do."

Milford moves into the loser's bracket and will face Souhegan at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.