Hawks knock off Devils

Friday, February 3, 2012

Joe Marchilena photo Merrimack's Jackson King drives to the basket during Friday's game against Salem.

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MERRIMACK – There was plenty of good news for the Merrimack High School boys basketball team Friday night.

The Tomahawks improved to 7-1 in Division I by knocking off Salem, 63-52, but that wasn’t the best of it. Prior to the game, coach Tim Goodridge found out that the injury prognosis for point guard Dimitri Floras might not be as bad as originally thought.

Floras hurt his right wrist while going in for a layup in last Tuesday’s win over Concord. The injury was originally diagnosed as a broken wrist that would end the junior’s season.

But Floras got a second opinion Friday and found out there’s a chance his season may not be over.

With Floras and senior Jared Peabody, who is out with an arm injury, on the sideline, Merrimack needed someone to step up. Three ’Hawks did against Salem.

Eric Gendron, starting at point guard for the first time this season, scored a game-high 22 points while his brother Tyler Gendron added 12 points, as did Jeff Giannelli.

“Our team really played a great game,” Goodridge said. “We’ve always known they (the Gendrons) are really good players and I think they showed that. 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.”

Merrimack had a four-point lead at halftime and a 13-5 run to open the second half put the ’Hawks by 12. Giannelli had six points during the run, including back-to-back baskets inside that forced Salem to take a timeout.

“Jeff did make some big buckets for us,” Goodridge said. “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.”

Salem answered with a 7-2 run to make it a seven-point game going into the fourth quarter, but Merrimack managed to stay up by at least eight throughout the final frame thanks to its free throw shooting. The ’Hawks went 10 for 16 from the line in the fourth quarter.

Benjamin Slepian led Salem with 16 points, 11 of which came in the first half, while Jack Hartman added 11 points, with nine coming before halftime.