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# Merrimack boys basketball goes inside to get win over Concord (video)
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/merrimack-boys-basketball-goes-inside-to-get-win-over-concord-video/
- Published: 2020-01-25T16:45:55.000Z
- Updated: 2020-01-25T16:45:55.000Z
- Description: MERRIMACK - The Merrimack High School boys basketball team found the key to success early Friday night against Concord. It was just a matter of sticking with what was working for the Tomahawks. Merrimack scored 40 points in the paint, including 24 points in the second half, and made enough stops lat
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, boys basketball, Concord, Merrimack, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

MERRIMACK - The Merrimack High School boys basketball team found the key to success early Friday night against Concord.

It was just a matter of sticking with what was working for the Tomahawks.

Merrimack scored 40 points in the paint, including 24 points in the second half, and made enough stops late on the defensive end to come away with a 60-52 win over the Crimson Tide in a Division I game.

Patrick Yudkin led the way for the Tomahawks (6-2) with 22 points while Jack Tarleton added 12 points and Adam Ellis was also in double figures with 10 points to help give Merrimack its highest offensive output of the season.

"We played toughed, there was a lot of grit and I give the guys credit," said Merrimack assistant coach Austin Denton, who was filling in for head coach Tim Goodridge. "We got in foul trouble right away. We had other guys step up. Mason Creager, Aidan Ponder, those guys were ready to play.

"I’m happy with how they played. They were tough. We thought we had a good matchup with Pat (Yudkin) and we thought he couldn’t be stopped going to the rim. We kept filtering that to him, keep attacking, keep being aggressive going to the rim, and he did a great job."

The Tomahawks needed every bit of it on a night that saw Concord (3-4) hit 14 3-pointers, led by Ivan Yen, who had six for all of his 18 points. Tyler Clark Toy added 12 points, including two 3s, and Rylan Canabano had 10 points, going 5 for 8 at the free throw line.

"They were bigger and stronger than us at most positions, but we were able to continue to fight with that intensity," Concord coach James Thorpe said. "The style of play that we have with the 3-point shot and Ivan, you’ve really got to show him some love, because he can really change the game quickly."

Yen did so in the first quarter, after Merrimack had jumped out to an 11-1 lead. The Concord sophomore hit three straight 3s, including one from what seemed like the first row of the bleachers, to help tie the game at 11 going into the second quarter.

"That was one of the weirdest quarters ever," Denton said. "We went up and I thought we were going to almost run away with it, and then all of a sudden, and I give (Yen) a lot of credit, he hit some bombs to put them right back in it."

The game remained tight for the rest of the first half, with a pair of free throws by Canabano giving the Crimson Tide a 20-19 lead with 2:12 left in the half. But a pair of layups by Tarleton and Yudkin in the final 66 seconds of the half put Merrimack up 23-20 at the break.

The teams traded baskets for almost all of the third quarter, with the Tomahawks holding a 37-35 lead with 2:06 left until the fourth. A layup by Ellis - his fourth basket of the quarter - made it a four-point game and started Merrimack on a 10-5 run that made it 47-40 early in the final frame.

"We were just trying to get easy buckets, get it inside," Denton said. "I thought we shot a lot of 3s in the first half and in the second half, I think we were 2 for 3 on 3s. So we really got it inside and I think that was the turning point. We got a couple of stops, go it inside, and got a layup."

Yudkin stretched the lead to nine when he found himself alone for a two-handed dunk, and although a 3 by Yen with 2:41 to play cut the lead to five, Merrimack was 7 of 9 at the line down the stretch to put the game away.