Goffstown boys basketball holds off Hollis Brookline at Chick-Fil-A Holiday Tournament

NASHUA - The Goffstown High School basketball team did not want to have to get up early on Wednesday.

So when the Grizzlies suddenly found themselves trailing Hollis Brookline midway through the fourth quarter Monday afternoon, a sense of urgency kicked in for Goffstown.

Down 34-31 with 4:14 to go, Goffstown closed the game on a 9-0 run to beat HB 40-34 in the opening round of the Chick-Fil-A Holiday Tournament at Nashua South. The win sends the Grizzlies to the semifinals, where they'll face Nashua South at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

It also means Goffstown won't play in the 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, when games were moved up to avoid playing at night on New Year's Eve.

"We worked awful hard to stay out of the loser's bracket," Goffstown coach Mark Elmendorf said. "That 9:30 start on Wednesday is going to be tough. A win is a win. We had a hard time scoring, but we did OK."

Tim Comeau led Goffstown with 12 points while Marcus Haynes added 11 points and Mike Bailey chipped in with nine.

"Our guard play was great," Elmendorf said. "Marcus Haynes and Mike Bailey just took control of the tempo in the second half."

HB got 11 points from Matt Fothergill, but no one else was in double figures. Trevor Bowler finished with eight points and Will Petersen had six, all on 3-pointers, including the one that gave the Cavs a three-point lead in the fourth.

"We played hard, but we didn't seem to play with a sense of urgency or a sense of purpose," HB coach Mike Soucy said. "We got up three points with about three minutes left and didn't score again. We gave up a lot offensive rebounds. We were stopping them and then we didn't pursue the rebound."

Goffstown went on a 16-2 run early in the game to grab a 10-point lead, but HB was able to cut the deficit with back-to-back 3-pointers by Riley Hamel and Petersen. Every time the Grizzlies pulled ahead, the Cavs hung around, and trailed by two going into halftime.

It was still a two-point game going into the fourth quarter, but a putback by Bowler gave HB a 30-29 lead with 6:21 to play and Patch Zorn added a free throw to make it a two-point game.

Ben Barrs tied the game for the Grizzlies with two free throws of his own, and Goffstown looked like it was going to take the lead when Bailey stripped Fothergill and had no one between him and the basket at the other end. But Fothergill rushed back, blocked the shot and grabbed the loose ball.

At the other end, Fothergill found Petersen for a 3 that made it 34-31. The Cavs had a chance to extend the lead, but Fothergill was called for a travel, erasing a jumper that would have made it a five-point game.

Haynes scored off the turnover and Comeau put Goffstown up for good with two free throws, followed by a putback that made it 37-34 with 2:37 to play.