Merrimack boys basketball shakes off rust, gets win over Trinity (video)

MERRIMACK - When the Merrimack High School boys basketball team was able to get back into the gym for a practice, coach Austin Denton joked it was like the Tomahawks were returning from an all-star break.

Having not played a game in two weeks, Merrimack came out Saturday against Trinity like the entire roster had been snubbed.

The defense was locked in from the jump, the offense caught up before the end of the first quarter, and after taking a 21-2 lead after one, Merrimack was able to hold off Trinity in the second half to take a 67-57 win in Division I action. The game was originally scheduled to be played at Trinity, but after getting postponed earlier in the week, it was moved to Merrimack.

"We didn’t have practice for about six days," Denton said. "For them to come out and play the way they did, I thought it was awesome. They were fired up. They haven’t played in a while, so they were ready to go. I thought we had a good game plan in the first half and those guys executed it pretty well."

David Roy led the way for Merrimack (5-4) on offense, scoring 14 of his 22 points in the first half, while Jackson Rosa added 11 points and Jenson Monroe came off the bench to finish with 10 points. Isaac Ynfante and Michael Flerra each chipped in with seven points, with Flerra getting all of his in the fourth quarter.

"That’s what Merrimack is all about," Roy said. "We’re about team basketball, not any one person scoring all the points. We’re about getting everyone in there. Fresh bodies, fresh legs, we’re a deep team, so that’s what we’re going to do."

But before the offense could get going, the defense did its part, as Trinity (5-5) got two points in the first quarter on a jump shot by DeVohn Ellis midway through the frame. It was a 7-2 lead for Merrimack at that point and the Tomahawks scored 14 straight to end the quarter.

The Pioneers, who were already without head coach Keith Bike, saw junior Tyler Bike go to the bench with two fouls early in the first quarter. With its leading scorer out for more than five minutes, Trinity's offense struggled to get things going.

"That definitely helped us, him not being on the floor," Denton said. "He’s their general, he gets them going. He’s kind of like a coach out there on the floor.

"That’s where we start. It has to start on the defensive end. So if we can get our defense going, that makes our offense a little better."

The teams were even in the second quarter and Merrimack took a 36-17 lead into halftime. Trinity was able to cut into the deficit during the third quarter, getting within nine points late on a 3-pointer by Tyler Bike, and the Tomahawks led 46-37 going into the fourth.

A three-point play by Ellis in the first minute of the quarter cut Merrimack's lead to just six points with 7:19 remaining in the game. The Tomahawks seemed to be in trouble, but they found away to regroup.

"It got really close," Roy said. "It just took consistency because we know basketball is a game of runs. We’re going to start hard and we’re going to get cold. You’ve got to just keep running the offense the way we kept doing it. Don’t force anything, just keep playing the way you’ve been playing."

Merrimack was able to do just that, as Flerra hit a 3-pointer on the Tomahawks' next trip down the floor, and after getting a stop, Luke Desfosses scored to make it 51-40 Merrimack. Desfosses added another basket a few possessions later and Trinity wouldn't get within double digits the rest of the way.

Tyler Bike finished with a game-high 25 points, including six 3-pointers, for Trinity while Ellis had 15 points, but no one else had more than six points for the Pioneers.

"It felt great," Roy said. "That was really tough, coming off a week and a half of … we couldn’t even practice for a while, with all the snow and everything. That felt great, we needed that win. That was a huge win for us halfway through the season."