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# Notini's late basket lifts Alvirne boys basketball over Thornton in the Chick-Fil-A Holiday Tournament
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/notinis-late-basket-lifts-alvirne-boys-basketball-over-thornton-in-the-chick-fil-a-holiday-tournament/
- Published: 2014-12-30T14:00:45.000Z
- Updated: 2014-12-30T14:00:45.000Z
- Description: NASHUA - Brian Lynch was a little perplexed after the Alvirne High School boys basketball team came away with a buzzer-beating win over Thornton Academy.
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Winter Sports, Alvirne, boys basketball, Chick-Fil-A Holiday Tournament, Thornton, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

![Alvirne's Alex Wetmore drives by Thornton's Rome Pura during Monday's game at the Chick-Fil-A Holiday Tournament.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/jmtaalvbball122914-1-t24a11-1.jpg)

Alvirne's Alex Wetmore drives by Thornton's Rome Pura during Monday's game at the Chick-Fil-A Holiday Tournament.

NASHUA - Brian Lynch was a little perplexed after the Alvirne High School boys basketball team came away with a buzzer-beating win over Thornton Academy.

The Broncos dominated the first quarter Monday, and then watched as the Trojans took control of the game, going up 11 points with 3:52 to play. But somehow Alvirne climbed back into it and captured a 48-47 win on a basket by George Notini with 7.6 seconds left in the opening round of the Chick-Fil-A Holiday Tournament as Nashua South.

![Thornton's Ben Lambert tries to block a shot by Alvirne's Connor Hodsdon.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/jmtaalvbball122914-t10a12-1.jpg)

Thornton's Ben Lambert tries to block a shot by Alvirne's Connor Hodsdon.

Alvirne closed the game with a 14-2 run, with Notini scoring the final two baskets in the last 39.8 seconds, while the Trojans turned the ball over on their last two possessions.

"We missed a lot of layups, I think 22 total," said Lynch, the first-year Alvirne coach. "That's a lot of points. And they outrebounded us 35-18\. To miss that many layups and get outrebounded like that, I don't know how we won."

Alvirne moves on to the semifinals where it will face Nashua North at 7:30 p.m. Thornton will take on Souhegan at 4:30 p.m.

The Broncos got a big lift from Sam Bonney-Liles, who scored 15 points, and hit two 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to start Alvirne on its game-ending run. Alex Wetmore added nine points and Evan Hunt chipped in with eight.

Thornton got 18 points from Kevin Barrett and Ben Lambert added 14 points, including four 3s, all of which came after the first quarter. The Trojans scored just six points in the first eight minutes, falling behind by as many as 10.

Alvirne still led by eight, 21-13, with 4:12 to go in the half, but Thornton went on an 11-4 run to cut the lead to 25-24 at halftime. The Trojans quickly took the lead to open the third, but Alvirne grabbed it right back, going up 31-28 with 4:56 remaining in the quarter.

But Thornton came roaring back, closing the quarter on an 11-1 run, and continued that dominance into the fourth. The Trojans run increased to 17-3 to give them a 45-34 lead before Bonney-Liles hit his back-to-back 3s to cut the lead down to five points.

"We had gone a long stretch without getting anything going on offense and then Sam hit those two huge 3s that got us back into it," Lynch said. "Defensively, we forced some turnovers and then George Notini had those clutch baskets at the end."

The Trojans had one more chance after Notini's basket, but turned the ball over at midcourt to end the game.