Trinity go the distance (15 3’s) in 81-65 win over Memorial

MANCHESTER, NH — The test of any team with championship aspirations is how it deals with adversity. Will players become dejected? Will there be finger pointing? Will players be over-anxious and make sloppy mistakes?

In the case of the Trinity boys basketball team, the answer is “none of the above.” Coming off their first loss of the season, the Pioneers were laser-focused Friday night, wasting no time dispatching Memorial, 81-67.

No. 1 ranked Trinity showed no ill-effects from its 67-58 loss to No. 3 Goffstown on Wednesday. In fact, the Pioneers came out firing on all cylinders, drilling 11 3-pointers (by 7 different players!) in the first half, to build a 43-23 halftime lead.

“It’s hard to defense when they’re shooting like that,” said Memorial Coach Danny Bryson. “You’re matching 2s with (their) 3s. I think their first 21 points were seven 3s. I thought we played pretty well but they came out on fire.”

Mark Nyomah led the way for Trinity (13-1) with 19 points and eight rebounds. Tyler Bike dropped in 17 and dished out six assists. Andrew Politi added 13 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Together, the trio combined for eight of the Pioneers’ 15 3-pointers in the game.

“That was probably the best shooting performance we’ve had, since I’ve been here, as a team,” said Trinity Coach Keith Bike. “It seemed like we just hit four or five (3s) right away. I’m really proud of them. They worked hard. They took that loss Wednesday as professionally as 15, 16, 17-year old kids could possibly take it.”

Memorial (3-11) came into Wednesday night as prohibitive underdogs, but had been playing much better of late, with recent wins over Keene and Central. The Crusaders were determined make a game of it, playing an aggressive, pressing defense and attacking the paint on offense at every opportunity.

Senior guard Kenray Emadamerho had 19 points to lead Memorial, driving lane frequently and showing off a creative assortment of ballhandling moves.

Senior center Troy Jutras added 15 points to go along with 12 rebounds. Trinity had a hard time countering Jutras’ drop-step move in the low post. Senior guard Tyler Lavallee chipped in with 14.

Trinity stayed hot early in the third quarter. Three-pointers by Bike and Politi pushed the lead to 53-29.

Rather than pack their bags and head back across town, Memorial ramped up its intensity and made a run. Emadamerho had six points as Memorial went on a 15-7 run over a four-minute stretch of the third quarter. Senior Brennan Beland had an old-fashioned three-point play on a drive from the wing and Jutras scored with a nifty left-handed move in the post to cut the Trinity lead to 60-44 with 1:30 to play in the third.

But, as they had all game, Trinity had the answer for what Memorial was trying to do. Then Pioneers closed the quarter with a 7-0 flourish to push the lead back to 23 (67-44) entering the final quarter.

The lead would swell to as large as 32 points (77-45) in the fourth, before a late run by Memorial accounted for the final score.

Next up for Trinity is, perhaps, the biggest game of the regular season. On Monday, the top-ranked Pioneers will play host to No. 2 Pinkerton Academy. Keith Bike is hoping the loss to Goffstown was a wake-up call for hsi squad and that the Pioneers will close the regular season strongly.
“You never like to lose but after that loss, if I had a nickel for every person who said ‘That’s a good loss” or “That loss came right at the right time. At least it wasn’t in the tournament.'”

Memorial is also scheduled to play Monday, at home, against city rival Central.