Chick-fil-A Holiday Tournament: Merrimack boys basketball slows down Thornton to win second title in a row

NASHUA – The Merrimack High School boys basketball team entered the Chick-fil-A Holiday Tournament wanting at the very least to find other scoring options aside from the ones it knew it had.

The Tomahawks knew Ian Cummings could score from anywhere on the floor, and that Dan McKillop would provide energy and toughness inside. But where else would Merrimack look for points?

Against Thornton Academy on Friday night, the Tomahawks might have found some answers, at least for the moment.

Alex Thornton had a couple of big baskets early in the game and Zack Lachance and Jared Dyer made some key shots late as Merrimack was able to get win its second straight tournament title with a 40-33 win over the Trojans at Nashua High School South.

The win came in a way that’s become typical for the Tomahawks – get a late lead and frustrate the opponent with a deliberate offense.

“We’re up three or four, we’ve got the ball, and we’re going to make them do something,” Merrimack coach Tim Goodridge said. “Hopefully, we get a good look and score. That’s how we have to play.

“I think we frustrated them a little bit. I’m not going to apologize for it. This is what it is right now. They’re blue-collar kids. They defend very well, they did (Friday) against a really good basketball team.”

Thornton came in averaging 58 points in its first two games, with David Keohan leading the way with 25 per game, but the Trojans, who never led by more than five, didn’t score over the game’s final 9:13.

“They’re a great 3-point shooting team and they can get the ball inside,” Cummings said. “It was a matter of getting down on defense and playing hard. It was a good game. We saw our strengths and our weaknesses. They showed us a lot about our team.”

Cummings led the Tomahawks with 11 points, including three 3-pointers, all of which came in the second quarter, while Lechance added nine points and Thornton had eight. McKillop finished with six, as he, Cummings and Keohan were named to the all-tournament team, along with Nashua North’s Alonzo Linton and Nashua South’s Kevin Genao.

Keohan finished with 15 points for Thornton and Austin Boudreau had 12 points on four 3-pointers.

The teams went back and forth in the first half, with the lead changing hands seven times and the score tied six times, including 26-26 at halftime.

Thornton quickly took the lead to open the third, going up 30-26 on a basket by Keohan with 5:17 left in the quarter. But neither team would score for a while, as Merrimack didn’t get it’s first points of the half until a Thornton layup with 1:48 to go until the fourth.

Boudreau answered for the Trojans with a 3-pointer, putting them up 33-28, but it would be the last points Thornton would score.

Another basket by Thornton cut the lead to 33-30, and after the Trojans missed a last-second shot at the end of the third, the Tomahawks grabbed the rebound and Lechance scored with eight-tenths of a second left.

“That was a big spark,” Goodridge said. “We run transition every day, if you can believe that, and that was the first time it worked all year. We got a lucky break. They shot it too early, long rebound and Lechance did a good job.”

McKillop gave the Tomahawks the lead for good on their first possession of the fourth and a jumper by Lechance made it 36-33 Merrimack.

And that’s when the Tomahawks started to take the air out of the ball, working it around while making the Trojans chase and try to force a turnover. Dyer scored with 4:58 left to put Merrimack up 38-33, and the freshman would score the only other points of the quarter on two free throws with 17.2 seconds to go.

“My kids played hard and I thought they did a nice job,” Goodridge said. “I thought we shared the basketball, and other kids stepped up. Thornton had some huge hoops for us. LeChance had some nice buckets. Joe always does a good job on defense. It wasn’t all McKillop and Cummings and that’s what we have to do to be a good basketball team.”