Alvirne boys basketball goes deep to beat Merrimack in Chick-Fil-A Holiday Tournament finale (video)

NASHUA - The Alvirne High School boys basketball team knows the green light is on every time it steps on the court.

It was no surprise then to see the Broncos let the perimeter shots fly in Friday's Chick-Fil-A Holiday Basketball Tournament Championship game.

Alvirne hit 10 3-pointers, including two at the end of the second quarter and two more at the start of the third, turning a close game into a runaway, as the Broncos defeated Merrimack 53-36 at Nashua High School South. Alvirne's win ended Merrimack's run of back-to-back championships and was the Tomahawks first loss in nine games in the tournament.

"It means a lot because every game is more body of work for us to look at," Alvirne coach Marty Edwards said of the tournament win. "The things we do well, the things we’ve got to work on, but it also gives us an indication of what our strengths are. I was really impressed with our man-to-man defense, the intensity, and the rebounding. Those are staple things where we need to be successful."

Max Bonney-Liles led the way for the Broncos with 16 points, including four 3-pointers, and Ryan Weston added nine points on three 3s. Connor Lambert also hit two 3s and finished with seven points as Alvirne went on a 12-3 run in the second quarter to take a 30-19 lead into halftime.

That run included a 3 by Bonney-Liles with 2:15 left in the half and another by Weston just before the buzzer, and the pair opened the third quarter with two more 3s to make 36-19.

"The kids all now they all have a green light to shoot," Edwards said. "Every single one of them knows they’ve got the shot, they can take it. We’re going to live by the sword and die by the sword. Sometimes, you’ve got to find other ways to win and that night, we had defense to help us. (Friday) the shots were falling and we were moving well without the ball, and we had great intensity."

Merrimack got 13 points from Ian Cummings and Jared Dyer added six points, but no one else had more than four.

"They can shoot and they’re well-coached," Merrimack coach Tim Goodridge said of Alvirne. "They moved the ball and defended and rebounded and did everything we wanted to do. They’re a good basketball team, they’re one of the top teams for sure.

"Cummings and (Owen) Ploss struggled. The younger kids were a little tentative early on, but they stepped up later on. We’ve got to get Cummings and Ploss to be able to play with the younger kids and we’ll be a better basketball team."

Cummings gave Merrimack its only lead with a 3-pointer out of the gate, but back-to-back 3s by Lambert put Alvirne on top. The Tomahawks tied the game 9-9 late in the first, but the Broncos took a 15-12 lead into the second.

A basket by Cummings to open the second quarter cut the lead to one, and after a 3 by Bonney-Liles, the Merrimack senior made two free throws to get the Tomahawks within two, 18-16. But Alvirne's offense took off after that and the defense kept Merrimack in check.

"We had a lot of kids play well defensively," Edwards said. "Cummings is tough and we had a couple of kids playing on him. Ploss is a great shooter and player. We had to put an effort into defending them all the time."

Bonney-Liles, Lambert and Ploss were named to the all-tournament team, along with Nashua North's Casey Lane and Souhegan's Andersen Geffrard.