The Alvirne High School Boys’ basketball got off to a fairly decent start this season, going 2-1 during the first three games of the season.
The team has a new look and another new head coach this year, with a number of seniors graduating from last year’s roster and the 2024-25 coach Mitchell Roy taking at job at Derryfield School leaving a coaching hole to fill.
Alvirne alum, and basketball all-stater, Sam Bonney-Liles is taking over this year, after working as an assistant coach at Plymouth State.
Bonney-Liles’ team got to work this year by starting out on the road with a 39-28 victory over the Manchester Memorial Crusaders on Dec. 12.
In that game, the Broncos held the lead for the entire game, despite not hitting double digits per quarter until the second half.
Alvirne scored just nine-points in the first two quarters but were able to hold onto a 19-17 lead going into the half.
In the third quarter AHS was finally able to hit for double digits with 10 to lead by six heading into the final period.
In the fourth, the Broncos put up 11-points and held Manchester to six for the 11-point victory.
Senior forward Garrett Hall led the team with 16-points with fellow senior Sean Chipfunde putting up 15-points.
Newcomer Angel Kangar had five-points and Luke Norse scored three in the first win of the year.
Last week, on Tuesday, Dec. 16, the Broncos had an easier time scoring in their home opener against the Goffstown Grizzlies where they edged out that opponent 60-57 to start the season at 2-0.
The two sides seemed evenly matched to start the game at 10-10 at the end of the first quarter, but the Broncos opened up a lead in the second by scoring 22-points and holding the grizzlies to 12-points for a 32-22 lead at the half.
Goffstown closed the gap coming out of the break, outscoring the home squad 20-16 to head into the final period with the Broncos leading 48-42.
In the final period, Alvirne allowed GHS to chip away at the lead again, but held on for the three-point victory.
Hall once again led the team in scoring with 16-points, with Chipfunde and Kangar both scoring 13-points.
Norse had two, three-pointers and a foul shot to finish with seven and Adam Wibowo had two from outside the arc for six-points in the victory.
Unfortunately three was not a charm in the team’s final game of 2025 when they hosted the Keene Blackbirds on Friday night, Dec. 19, and lost 38-68.
The Broncos had the crowd feeling like they had a chance to come from behind most of the night, but a 17-7 run for the Blackbirds in the fourth dashed all of the fans holiday hopes.
Keene led their hosts 19-7 after one quarter, and 30-20 by the half after AHS was able to outscore them 13-11, but that would turn out to be the only highlight for the Broncos.
The Blackbirds went on to outscore the Broncos 35-18 in the final two quarters for the 30-point victory, giving them their first win of the season.
Chipfunde had 15-points, with two three-pointers, to lead the team. Kegar had seven-points and Hall finished with just three basket’s and five-points.
After the holiday break, the Broncos will play at Nashua South (1-1), on Tuesday, Jan. 6, followed by a home game on Friday, Jan. 9 against the Portsmouth Clippers (3-0), starting at 6:30 p.m.