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Sophomore Evan Sheehan hit a pair of 3-pointers on his way to a game-best 15 points as North Andover salvaged the 7th place game at yesterday's Greater Lawrence Christmas Tourney, 46-34, over Greater Lawrence. Ryan Sifferlen had 11 for the Knights (3-3) while Donald Celestin led the Reggies (3-3) with nine points.

WEST NEWBURY — Talk about lack of respect!
Not only was North Andover junior 135-pounder Jake Munroe unseeded in yesterday’s Pentucket Tournament, but his first name was listed incorrectly (as Jack) throughout the day.
Munroe should be more recognized in the future, however, as he rolled to the 135-pound title with three pins and a solid 9-3 decision in the finals over Pentucket’s Dan Dragon.
Munroe’s heroics helped North Andover tcapture its first non-league tournament crown in two years. The Knights compiled 163 points to defeat runner-up Roxbury Latin by 13 points. North Reading/Lynnfield was fourth in the 17-team field and Brooks was sixth.
North Andover had never entered a full varsity team at the Pentucket tourney, but veteran coach Dave Castricone thought this year was the perfect time to make a run at the title rather than knock heads at the rugged Lowell Holiday Tournament.
“With so many young guys, I thought it’d be good to get this kind of experience and maybe get some momentum for them,” said Castricone.
That thinking worked perfectly for Munroe, who had never even placed in a tournament before yesterday.
“I wasn’t expecting this, but it’s definitely a morale boost,” said Munroe, who entered the tournament with a 6-2 record. “I feel great about it.”
The Knights had two other champions in 145-pounder Sal Scali and 152-pounder Derek Timpe. They captured clutch one-point decisions in the finals against No. 1-seeded wrestlers.
Finishing third for North Andover were Brody Kelly (119) and Garrett Alter (160) while Jason Ricketts (112) and heavyweight Mike Miller both came in fourth.
North Reading/Lynnfield, which placed five wrestlers, was paced by 140-pound champion C.J. Venuto of North Reading. He improved his record to 12-1 on the year, recording three pins on the day, including one in the finals.
Brooks enjoyed a superb final round. Connor Duffey remained unbeated on the year, pinning his final three opponents to place first at 103, Mike O’Boyle followed three pins with a 12-3 major decision in the finals to take top honors at 119 and Haverhill’s Colin Lahiff prevailed at 160.
Wrestling up a weight, Lahiff got a takedown with eight seconds left to secure an exciting  4-3 decision over Souhegan’s rugged Tyler Lott.  Also for Brooks, Billy Walton was third at 152.
For Whittier, Pat Scheidegger looked sharp while winning the 215-pound title, following two first-period pins with a 10-4 decision in the finals. Pentucket had runners-up in Dragon and 145-pounder Austin Perreault and Ben Stasiuk battled back to third at 189.

LAWRENCE — For senior Mike Kimball and the rest of the Salem basketball team, it was like getting a Christmas present from a distant relative — very unexpected.
Indeed, when Greater Lawrence opened and stayed with a zone against them in yesterday’s opening round of the 34th Greater Lawrence Boys Christmas Tournament at Lawrence High School yesterday, it came as a definite surprise.
“It caught us off guard,” said Kimball. “We weren’t expecting that because most teams don’t zone us.”
If it was a surprise, it was a pleasant one, however, as Kimball and the Blue Devils  put on a brilliant display of 3-point shooting in a 76-53 victory.
Salem (2-0) finished with a tournament-record 16 trifectas, breaking the old record of 13 set by Pinkerton in 1999, and Kimball (game-high 29 points) led the way with seven, which is just one short of the record set by Salem’s Chris Urquhart in 1998. Josh Jones chipped in with five 3-pointers and 19 points and Alex La Rosa had three among his 12 points.
“We’d love every team to zone us,” said Salem coach E.J. Perry. “We have the shooters to really take advantage of it, but I don’t think we’ll see much of it after today.”
Working almost entirely from the perimeter, the Blue Devils’ first five baskets were from beyond the arc and nine of their first 12 as they moved out to a 33-23 halftime lead. They put the game away with four more 3-pointers and 24 points in the third quarter.
It was evident early that the Reggies (3-1) couldn’t contain all three of Salem’s outside sharpshooters with a zone, but Greater Lawrence coach Dan Habib said that he had no other choice.
“We were forced to (zone) because we didn’t have the matchups,” said Habib. “We had a couple of kids who were being disciplined and, if we went man-to-man, we couldn’t have stopped them.”
Complicating matters for the Reggies was that usual high scorer Donald Celestin was forcing shots all night and finished with only 11 points on 4-of-18 shooting. Leandro Valdez tried to pick up the slack with 17 points, including 13 in a fairly competitive first half, but it wasn’t enough.
“I think Donald tried to do too much,” said Habib. “He tried to put the team on his shoulders instead of letting the game come to him like he usually does.”

Greater Lawrence cruised past Whittier, 76-46, thanks in large part to a huge 26-point third quarter. The Reggies held a 30-20 advantage through the first half and went on to outscore the Wildcats 46-26 in the second half. Whittier's Paulo Tavares racked up a team-high 17 points. Greater Lawrence had four players in double digits, led by Donald Celestin's 21. Kelvin Correa was close behind with 19, and Leandro Valdez rounded out the Wildcats' top three with 12 points.

After struggling for three quarters, Whittier's defense came to life in the fourth and held Greater Lawrence to just eight points in the final eight minutes for a 62-56 win. The Wildcats scored 19 in the fourth quarter to earn the win. 

Donald Celestin had a huge night for Greater Lawrence, scoring 21 points, grabbing 6 boards and finishing with 4 assists and 4 steals. The Reggies rolled past Shawsheen, 57-41.

At least the pressure if off first-year Greater Lawrence wrestling coach Bryant Dube. Taking over a program that had won the last two Division 2 state titles and 50 straight dual meets, the Reggies opened their season by going 1-1-1. They defeated Masconomet 46-34, tied Tewksbury 39-39 and then fell to Milford 42-31.

Matt Buco was 3-0 with three pins on the day.

LAWRENCE — Ramon Heredia had a message for teammate Alex Andrews.

“I told him that if he touches the ball on the opening kickoff, he better bring it to the house for six points,” said the senior quarterback. “We talked about it all week. He told me that if he was out there, he’d bring the kick back for a touchdown. And he did.”

Is it Lawrence-Greater Lawrence Tech for the last time?

The last time on the holiday?

Or will this rivalry, usually one that sparks wild, unexpected results, live on?

Lawrence, which stunned the previously perfect and eventual EMass. Division 3A champion Reggies a year ago, owns an 8-4-1 overall advantage against Greater Lawrence, 7-2-1 on Thanksgiving.

Lancer quarterback Ramon Heredia has gained an impressive 4,397 yards from scrimmage the last three years with 24 touchdowns and thrown 23 TD passes.