Merrimack overcomes injuries to defeat Salem

MERRIMACK – Eric Gendron scored 22 points to help lead the shorthanded Merrimack High School boys basketball team to a 63-52 win Friday night over Salem.

Tyler Gendron, Eric’s brother, and Jeff Giannelli each added 12 points to help the Tomahawks improve to 7-1 in Division I despite missing Dimitri Floras and Jared Peabody.

Merrimack led by four points at halftime and went on a 13-5 run to open the second half. After withstanding a run by the Blue Devils (6-3), the ’Hawks went on a 10-3 run and stayed ahead by at least eight points in the fourth quarter thanks to a 10-for-16 performance from the free throw line in the final eight minutes.

Jackson King added nine points for Merrimack as he stepped into the starting lineup.

“Our team really played a great game,” Merrimack coach Tim Goodridge said. “I think kids came in, they’ve been working hard and been improving, and they have the chance to display what they’re doing. They did a nice job.”

With Floras on the bench, the ’Hawks needed a spark, and they might need one for the rest of the year.

Floras injured his right wrist while going in for a layup in Tuesday’s win over Concord. Originally diagnosed as a broken wrist, Flora got a second opinion and will find out Monday how long he’ll be out.

“He went to a specialist (Friday) and he said it possibly wasn’t broken and they did an MRI,” Goodridge said. “They’ll know the results on Monday. When Monday comes, it could be 12 weeks, it could be three or four weeks. No matter what, the most important thing is that Dimitri Floras gets it straightened out.”

Eric Gendron stepped in at point guard and did well running the Merrimack offense.

“He’s been the two-guard all season and then you throw him in the fire as a sophomore at point guard and ask him to run our offense,” Goodridge said. “I think he did a tremendous job. Salem did a good job changing things up. I don’t think we recognized in the first half what they were doing, but in the third and fourth quarter, the leadership of Eric set us up.”

The younger Gendron got plenty of help from his brother and Giannelli.

“For them to understand the challenge and come out here and do what they did, the Gendron brothers are basketball players and they showed that,” Goodridge said. “Jeff did make some big buckets for us. He’s the tallest kid on the court, but at the other end, they’re really quick. We were trying to use him offensively and get (Connor) Whelan in defensively.”

Merrimack took the lead early, closing out the first quarter on a 13-2 run to go up 19-12 after eight minutes. Salem responded with a 10-2 run to retake a 22-21 lead, and with 1:30 left in the first half, the Devils were up 27-26. But the ’Hawks finished the half on a 6-1 run to lead 32-28 at the break.

Salem got 16 points from Benjamin Slepian and another 11 from Jack Hartman, but 20 of those points came in the first half as the ’Hawks stepped up defensively and the Devils struggled to make shots.

“I think the defense was there for us,” Goodridge said. “I think every kid that played did well. That’s our strength. When we go (to players) five through 10, I think we’ve got pretty good depth and I think that was showed.”