Merrimack boys basketball starts fast, holds off Pinkerton for victory (video)

MERRIMACK - There has been a lot for Austin Denton to like the last couple of times his Merrimack High School boys basketball team has taken the court.

That continued Tuesday night when the Tomahawks hosted Pinkerton Academy in their final home game of the regular season.

Merrimack hit five 3-pointers in an eight-minute stretch in the first half to build a lead and the Tomahawks held on long enough to close out the Astros for a 59-49 win in a Division I game.

Ryan Elliott had 13 points to lead Merrimack (8-8) while Mikey Flerra and Noah Morrison each had 11 points, including two 3s apiece, as the Tomahawks won for the third time in their last four games.

"I thought the start of the game, we were tremendous," Denton said. "We were hitting shots, we were running the middle of the floor. I thought our spacing on defense and offense were great.

"It came down to getting stops and rebounds and running in transition. They put a lot of pressure on us in the second half where it kind of confused us. We did a good job toward the end."

After a back-and-forth start to the game, Merrimack went on an 18-0 run over a five-minute stretch at the end of the first and start of the second quarter. That included back-to-back-to-back 3s by Morrison, Flerra and Zach Retey to open the second that gave the Tomahawks a 24-7 lead.

Pinkerton (5-11) ended its scoring drought, but Flerra added another 3 with 4:50 to go in the first half to give Merrimack a 28-11 lead. The Astros had an answer though, going on a 14-0 run to get within five before Morrison hit a buzzer-beating layup for a 30-23 lead for the Tomahawks at halftime.

"I thought they played hard and competed for about 25 minutes of the game," Pinkerton coach Mike Dunham said. "Merrimack came out and blitzed a little bit. They hit some 3-pointers, took the lead, and then I think it was kind of even after that. I loved the kids’ fight. The guys competed and it’s nice to see some of the guys step up."

Joshua Phanor led Pinkerton with 15 points, eight of which came during the run to end the first half. Brady Sullivan added 13 points and Parker Bienvenue-Cernuda had nine points, as they helped the Astros get back in the game after halftime.

A pair of 3s by Elliot and Morrison to open the second half gave Merrimack a 36-25 lead, but Phanor answered with one of his three 3s to start a quick 7-0 run for Pinkerton. A putback by Sullivan made it 36-32 Merrimack with 3:42 left in the third.

The Tomahawks responded with a 6-0 run of their own to go back up by 10 points before taking a 46-37 lead into the fourth. While the Astros were able to hang around, they never got closer than six points the rest of the way, despite Merrimack shooting just 4 of 8 at the line in the final 65 seconds.

"They ramped it up a little bit and we missed some layups and some mini jumpers that we normally hit," Denton said. "That was kind of frustrating. (But) I like the transition. Get out there, run the middle of the floor, let’s see if we can get easy buckets. I thought we did that."