Alvirne's Brendan Graham fights to put up a shot against the double team of Merrimack's Aidan Ponder (11) and Jack Tarleton during Tuesday night's 54-29 Broncos win in Hudson.

HUDSON – The one thing that never changes, even in a pandemic season, is that early on high school basketball teams can be very inconsistent.

Take the Alvirne and Merrimack boys basketball teams, for example. The Broncos faded down the stretch in a loss to Pinkerton in their opener on Friday, while Merrimack escaped Salem with a hard fought road win.

Tuesday night, the Broncos found their intensity, and Merrimack never had theirs in a 54-29 Alvirne win at the C.J. Steckovicz Gym.

One team had energy, the other one didn’t.

“I liked the intensity,” Alvirne coach Marty Edwards said. “I thought the intensity was good. The kids, they like to play full court. They like to trap. It was a lot of fun to see a lot of kids play.”

The Broncos jumped out to a 6-0 lead, and when Brendan Graham hit a buzzer-beating layup to give Alvirne a 13-4 lead after one, the tone was set. It was 24-7 at the half and the Broncos led 37-19 after three.

“Slow start, we didn’t play any defense, didn’t hit any shots,” Merrimack coach Austin Denton said. “Tough game all around. … We had a lot more energy (in Salem). We lacked energy here. There wasn’t a lot of energy going on. It was like a Tuesday night.”

The Broncos got 11 into the scoring column, an example of Edwards’ happiness with his team’s depth. Charlie Thomas had 10 points, while Graham had nine and Owen Haskins eight to lead the way.

Jack Tarleton led Merrimack with 10 while Aidan Ponder added seven for the Tomahawks.

Here’s the thing about the consistency. These two, with the way the cohort scheduling is, will see each other again in Merrimack on Friday. Edwards has been around long enough to know not to expect the same type of game.

“It’s important to get everybody in so they feel the fire a little bit,” Edwards said. “The ball moved pretty well, the footwork was good on defense.

“Merrimack’s going to come out meaner than a can of hornets on Friday, we’ve got to be ready for them.”

But they’ll enjoy their first win of the season.

“It was a fun game,” Edwards said. “And it’s going to be a good one Friday night.”

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