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Methuen's boys hoop team held off a hard-charging Billerica squad for a 59-56 victory. In what head coach Matt Curran termed "a monster game," Ryan Freeman went off for 20 points, 10 rebounds and 7 blocks, while Kyle Mansour added 15 points and 10 rebounds. "Those two have been carrying us this year and they did it again (last night)," said Curran.

Dylan Epstien finished the 50-yard dask i a time of 5.8, takig first place and helping Andover to a fourth place finish (51 points) at yesterday's MVC freshman/sophomore meet.  

CHELMSFORD — The third time was no ho-hum affair for Methuen senior C.J. Doherty here last night.
The standout 145-pounder captured his third Division 1 North sectional crown, but this one was special, and particularly enjoyable, for a couple of reasons.
First, by dominating Shawsheen’s Brian Ward in the finals with a 15-0 technical fall, Doherty proved that his lone setback of the season, last week in the finals of the Methuen Tournament, may have been a fluke.
And, more to the point, winning an individual sectional title is much more fun when your teammates can join in the celebration.
Doherty was one of four champions and one of 10 Rangers overall (top four placers) who qualified for Saturday’s Division 1 state meet at Weymouth. Methuen captured its second straight sectional crown with 223 1/2 points.
St. John’s Prep was second with 184, edging Lawrence by one point while Chelmsford was fourth in the 14-team field with 165.
The top four teams qualify for the Division 1 dual-meet state tournament, which will be held at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell Feb. 19-20. Methuen, with a 17-0 dual record, will likely be the top seed.
“It makes the season a lot more fun when you have 13 others on your team who want to win and so many are going on,” said Doherty. “I like knowing the team is there for me and I want to be there for the team.”
Doherty was certainly there yesterday, determined to wipe away any memory from last week.
“I didn’t come out (in the finals last week) as I could have,” said Doherty, who improved to 28-1. “I’ll use that experience so no one can touch me again.”
Remaining undefeated on the year were 113-pounder Christian Monserrat and 126-pounder Paul Sughrue. Monserrat (29-0), for the second time this year, fell two points behind St. John’s of Shrewsbury’s Peter Robinson before recovering for a 6-2 decision. Sughrue (34-0) pinned St. John’s Jared Costa in the second period.
Costa, the son of head coach Manny Costa, lost for only the second time all year.
Joining the terrific trio with a gold medal was 160-pounder Jack Khoury. He prevailed in the surprise weight class of the tournament, defeating Andover’s Nick Marcotte 6-2 in the finals to improve to 26-5.
Finishing second for the Rangers was 182-pounder Scott DelRossi, who lost a tough match to MVC foe Marionel Garcia of Lawrence, 6-4. Garcia had a reverse and takedown in the third period to improve to 34-3, while DelRossi dropped to 30-3.
Taking third for the Rangers was 120-pounder Sarith Has, who beat Haverhill’s Orlando Rojas for the second time on the day, 6-0, and 132-pounder Anthony Andronaco. Jason Pendergast (138), Ryan Savastano (152) and heavyweight Anthony Giorgio — in his first tourney action of the year since returning last week from an injury — all took fourth.
“We had a lot of good stuff happen for us today,” said Methuen coach Bill James, who was named the Division 1 North Coach of the Year. “To have 10 guys going to State is a really great day.”
Lawrence had three champions and the Lancers served notice that they’ll be formidable attempting to defend as dual-meet state champions. In addition to Garcia, Hector Reynoso prevailed at 106, defeating St. John’s Prep’s Louis Bornstein in the finals, and 132-pounder Edgardo Rios had his fourth pin of the day in the finals to complete a banner day.
Finishing second for the Lancers was heavyweight Janer Reyes, who dropped a 1-0 decision in the finals to Chelmsford’s Lou Ferrer. They had split matches during the regular season.
Adrian Sosa was third at 138 for Lawrence, pinning Pendergast in the consolation finals, while Mike Mena was fourth at 220.
Parris Williams finished third at 152 for Haverhill while Andover freshman Tyler Ferris was third at 106.
Westford 120-pounder Connor Peacock was named the tourney Outstanding Wrestler.

Methuen finished up an 8-2 season with a sweep of Central Catholic and Dracut. Methuen's Samantha McGovern and Victoria Daigle tied for the all-ariound title with 34.7 totals. Central, which beat Billerica, was led by Maddie Arndt (season best 9.1 on beam) and Giana Contrada and Jamie Maffeo excelled in the all-around.

Olivia Biles scored 16 points, including netting three 3-pointers, and Devon Caveney also had 16 points in Andover girls basketball's 72-35 victory over Methuen.

Methuen's wrestling team (17-0) wrapped up the Merrimack Valley Conference title and its first unbeaten dual-meet season in at least 25 years with a 42-21 victory over Central Catholic. Heavyweight Anthony Giorgio, who got hurt in the first meet of the season, returned for a 5-4 decisionwhile Christian Monserrat remained unbeaten with a first-period pin at 113. C.J. Doherty and Scott DelRossi also had first-period falls.  

Abby Galloway-Burke had a double-double and Amanda Petrow was close with eight points and 10 rebounds, but Methuen dropped a 63-49 verdict to powerful Billerica.

Setting a new junior class school record and coming within 0.2 of a second of the overall standard, Methuen's Mike O'Donnell blazed to victory in the 1,000 meter run at the Coaches Elite Meet in Boston.

Andover's Maggie Mullins turned in a 5:05.89 mile to finish fourth, the best local female placer at yesterday's Coaches Elite Meet at Reggie Lewis Center. This is the third fastest indoor mile run in the history of Eagle-Tribune record keeping.

Abby Galloway-Burke 12 rebound.  Amanda Petrow 12 rebounds. Molly Condon 14 points 11 rebounds.