Playoff Roundup: Broncos upset Hawks

The Alvirne High School boys basketball team got a last-second basket from Tony Beaulieu to upset Merrimack 50-48 in the Division I prelims on Tuesday.

The No. 11 Broncos, who have won 10 of their last 13 games, led for most of the game Merrimack's Tyler Gendron tied it at 48 on a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left. Gendron finished with 23 points and Dimitri Floras added 16 for the No. 6 Tomahawks, who lost to a lower seed in the first round for the second straight year.

Caleb Donnelly led Alvirne with 21 points and Sean Dunn added 12 for the Broncos, who will take on No. 3 Manchester Memorial in the quarterfinals on Friday. Memorial crushed No. 14 Manchester West 88-35 to advance.

Top-seeded Bishop Guertin also moved on with a 63-51 win over No. 16 Concord. Sean McClung had 12 points to lead the Cardinals, while Connor Green and Joe McCarthy each had 11.

Bishop Guertin will take on No. 8 Spaulding in the quarterfinals on Friday. The Red Raiders held off rival Dover for a 46-38 win in the preliminary round.

Both Nashua North and South saw their seasons come to an end.

Despite getting 16 points from Mike O'Connor and 15 from Anthony Farmer, the No. 12 Titans fell at the hands of No. 5 Salem, 58-40.

Salem will now face No. 4 Manchester Central, which knocked off No. 13 South, 59-42. Anthony Muccioli scored 21 points for the Panthers in the loss.

No. 7 Londonderry blew a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter, but still held off No. 10 Pinkerton 55-53 to advance to the quarterfinals. The Lancers will face No. 2 Trinity, which defeated No. 15 Exeter 58-27.

All quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. at the home of the higher seed.

Girls hockey

The Bishop Guertin girls hockey team had its season ended by Hanover for the second-straight year, as the No. 5 Cardinals lost to the top-seeded Marauders 4-1 in Tuesday's semifinal. Taylor Hadley had the only goal of the game for Bishop Guertin, which lost to Hanover in the championship game a year ago.

Hanover (17-0) will take on No. 3 Oyster River in the final on Sunday. The Bobcats defeated No. 2 Lebanon 3-1 to earn their first trip to the championship game.

Great week for Alvirne

First, the girls basketball team upset No. 3 Pinkerton in the Division I quarterfinals last Friday. Then the boys hockey team got a rare playoff win on Saturday by shutting out Kearsarge. The boys basketball team added Tuesday's upset of Merrimack, and there's a chance the week could get better Wednesday.

The girls basketball team will take on No. 2 Londonderry in the semifinals, starting at 5:30 at Southern New Hampshire University, while the boys hockey team faces No. 3 Kennett in the Division III semifinals, also at 5:30 at Concord's Everett Arena.