WEARE – It’s been a rough start to the season for the Concord High boys’ basketball team.

The Crimson Tide lost its starting point guard before the preseason even began and went 0-4 to open the regular season. The closest of those losses was a 17-point margin.

Perhaps now Concord’s fortunes are going to change.

The Tide overcame a first-quarter deficit and senior forward Alain Twite scored a game-high 21 points and earned tournament MVP honors as Concord won back-to-back Capital Classic holiday tournament championships with a 58-46 victory over Merrimack Valley on Friday at John Stark Regional High School.

“We’ve had a rough stretch to start the year, a lot of new guys coming in, a lot of guys playing different roles than last year,” Concord coach Tim LaTorra said. “There’s a lot of moving parts coming into this season and it’s taking some time to figure out, but we had a great week of practice, a great effort by our guys coming together.

“We learned how to win a tight game (81-75 in overtime over Pembroke in the semifinal) yesterday and how to win with a lead today. I just hope (this tournament) propels us to good things this season.”

The Concord girls made it a Tide sweep of the Capital Classic titles on the final day of the three-day tourney, also defeating MV, 35-26, and Tide senior Whitney Vaillant made it a Concord sweep of the tournament MVP recipients as well.

Pembroke beat John Stark in both third-place games, with Pembroke senior Annelise Dexter scoring her 1,000th career point in the victory.

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The Pride led 13-9 late in the first quarter of the boys’ championship before senior guard Logan Perkins hit a 3-pointer to cut MV’s lead to 13-12 heading into the second frame. Perkins (12 points, All-Tournament Team) drained three more threes in the second quarter as Concord outscored the Pride 17-5 over the next eight minutes to lead 29-18 at halftime.

Concord connected on nine shots from 3-point range and had eight different scorers, which was a huge advantage for the Tide in the second quarter when starters ran into foul trouble.

“If we can continue to do that, keep that balance, it’s going to be harder for teams to guard us,” LaTorra said. “More importantly, our reserve guys came in during the second quarter when we had some foul trouble.

“We talk about staying ready. There are no bench players, there are team players, and when the time is ready, you can come in and make an impact. Those guys carried the load for us in the second quarter, which helped propel us in the second half.”

Chase Lawler (nine points, all on threes) and Samuel Iranzi (five points) kept up the barrage of threes in the third quarter, with Iranzi’s trey giving Concord its biggest lead of the night, 44-24, near the middle of the quarter.

MV junior guard Aiden Gray (team-high 15 points) scored seven of his points in the third quarter to cut Concord’s lead to 48-31 heading into the fourth, and senior guard Trevor Simonds (four steals) scored eight of his 10 points in the fourth to cut the Tide’s lead to as little as eight points with 1:52 remaining in the game.

But Twite (block, steal) had a huge dunk that brought the crowd to its feet, set up by fellow All-Tournament team pick Japhet Nduwayo (five points in the championship, 36 in the semifinal), and went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 34.1 seconds to secure Concord’s win.

While the Pride didn’t get the result it wanted, MV head coach Tim Mucher felt that the tournament was “nothing but positives” for his squad.

“We let (the final) get away from us, but we’ve really progressed,” Mucher said. “We still have time to figure things out. That’s what the Christmas tournament is about.”

Gray was also named to the All-Tournament team, while center/forward Logan Gabour had eight points, three steals and a block to help lead the Pride.

“We had a good first quarter and start of the third quarter, and we let it get away from us,” Mucher said. “But we’ve really progressed. ... We still have time to figure things out, that’s what the Christmas tournament is about.”

Girls’ final: In the last of four games played at John Stark Regional High School on Friday, Concord used a 14-0 run in the second quarter to build a big halftime lead and played well enough defensively to hold off an MV comeback.

The Tide led 9-5 after the first quarter but exploded in the second to take a 25-10 halftime lead. The Pride held Concord to just two points in the third quarter to cut the Tide’s lead to 27-16 heading into the fourth and was as close as 31-26 with less than three minutes remaining in the game.

But Vaillant (12 points, four steals, two blocks) was all over the court in a strong two-way game, senior co-captain Delaney Duford (three points, steal, block) had a big game defensively and Sofia Payne (eight points), Aidah Smalley (six points) and Madison Kelley (six points, steal, block) also played well.

Duford and Payne were named to the All-Tournament Team.

MV junior forward Kayla Smith (10 points, three steals) was also an All-Tournament selection, while Sydney Bailey (four points, two steals), Izzy Navoy (five points, steal) and Jada Lucas (four points, steal) also played well for the Pride, but MV shot poorly from the free-throw line (5-for-17) and couldn’t get into a rhythm on offense.

“(Concord) had good pressure on us, and we had a hard time running anything we wanted to do,” MV head coach Bob McNutt said. “We could not get into any offensive flow whatsoever. Second half, we played with a lot of energy and went (man-to-man) … but it was too much to overcome against a good Concord team.

“(Defense) created opportunities for us to score a little more. We were getting steals and going up for easy layups, but offensively when we got into the half-court set, we couldn’t get anything going.”

Concord’s play has been consistently inconsistent, but head coach Rob Darrell is feeling positive moving forward.

“Kind of how our season is going – a tale of two halves,” Darrell said. “They had a really good first half, and then we got sloppy, but we’re going to work on that; they know that they didn’t play to their potential today, but they pulled out the win as a team.

“I’m proud of them. ... It was a great learning game, great learning week for us. We struggled in the last two regular season games. These last two days showed us we can win. These girls are really hard workers, I know they’re going to turn it around.”

Boys’ third place: Pembroke had a one-point lead over John Stark at halftime in the first of four Capital Classic games played on Friday, but the Spartans – led by senior guard and All-Tournament Team selection Joe Fitzgerald (game-high 27 points, four 3s) – pulled away in the second half for a 70-56 victory.

Pembroke led 28-27 at halftime after using a 15-0 run to lead 15-7 at the end of the first quarter before the Generals ended the second quarter on a 12-2 run.

Most of the game was played at a frantic, chaotic pace before PA eventually settled down and played Spartan basketball.

“Moving the ball around the perimeter, trying to get a few cuts, not just dribbling down and shooting,” Pembroke head coach Mike Donnell emphasized. “We’re a good shooting team, but first shots are not good shots. We just want good ball movement, looking for cuts and layups coming through. Joe Fitzgerald found some really good ones to Javien (Sinclair) that paid off for us.”

Zach Bemis (11 points), Sinclair (nine points, two blocks, two steals), Devin Riel (six points, block), Brady Boisvert (five points, two steals, block) and Jacob Mather (three points, two steals) led Pembroke.

John Stark was without its top scorer, Logan Montgomery, but had strong games from junior forward Joey Dykstra (14 points, five steals) and Elliott Belliveau (12 points). Hayden Pond (11 points, two blocks, steal), Aiden Harris (eight points, three steals, block) and Donnie White (three blocks, steal) led a scrappy defensive effort.

“We really try to work hard defensively,” John Stark head coach Mike Smith said. “Sometimes it gets us in a little foul trouble, but I’d rather go that way than the other way. For the most part, that’s been a real positive for us. I like that we got down on the floor a few times. I really liked our work level tonight.

“John Stark has drastically improved this year,” Donnell added. “Coach Smith is doing a great job with them.”

Girls’ third place: Pembroke senior forward Dexter needed 19 points for 1,000 heading into Friday night’s game. John Stark didn’t make it easy, but she got there midway through the third quarter, finally scoring a layup after grabbing two offensive rebounds off her own misses.

Dexter finished with 31 points, while sophomore guard Kate Stephens (18 points and freshman guard Anne Phillips (14 points) also led the offense.

Dexter was also named to the All-Tournament Team.

“I am so happy for her,” Pembroke head coach Steve Langevin said. “She and her family have put in a lot of time and effort to get to this point, and she certainly deserves the honor. Her teammates were so excited for her. She came in as a freshman my first season at PA, so it has been so nice to see her progress and grow both as a player and a person over the four years.”

Senior forward Eleanor Girardet (28 points, several rebounds) and senior guard Avery Geaumont (17 points) led John Stark.

The Spartans led 29-26 at halftime and 48-47 heading into the fourth, but Pembroke played well defensively and started to pull away, despite multiple threes from Girardet and Geaumont.

“After the third quarter I told them, ‘Whichever team decides to dig in on defense is going to win,’ as both teams are so strong offensively,” Langevin said. “I thought we stepped up in that way and made some steals and took care of the ball. Against their pressure at the end we didn’t turn it over and made a majority of our shots from the foul line.”

“We kept it close for the first three quarters and it slipped just out of our reach in the fourth,” John Stark head coach Tiffany Lewis said. “As a team we fought for the entire 32 minutes and didn’t give up until the final buzzer.”