RallyNorth.net

Tue, Feb 12, 2008 04:45 PM @ Greater Lawrence

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Chelsea	8	14	18	11	51
Greater Lawrence	9	9	17	23	58

Short-handed Reggies lock up tourney spot

Wednesday, February, 13 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

Illness and a suspension left Greater Lawrence Tech vulnerable at the most inopportune time.

So when the Reggies found a way to finally subdue scrappy Chelsea, coach Dan Habib wasn't about to complain.

"It was by no means a Picasso," joked Habib after his club, riding a tight six-man rotation, procured magic win No. 10 of the year, 58-51, to earn an invitation to the upcoming Division 3 North tournament.

"We made some bad decisions, but we pulled it out and that's the biggest thing. It's just big for the program, just to get a feel for the tournament."

Top-scorer Donald Celestin (16.4 ppg) was disciplined for missing practice Monday and the flu kept two other regulars off the floor, leaving the surviving half-dozen to tend to the business at hand.

All six delivered.

"Team policy, we had to live or die without him," said Habib of Celestin, the brilliant freshman. "The kids really picked it up. It's just a great win for us, against a team that had already beaten us by 14.

"We played shorthanded tonight, and hopefully we learned a little bit of a lesson as far as making the commitment we need to make. The six guys who did play, played their hearts out tonight. I couldn't be any more proud of them."

Greater Lawrence, now 10-9 and facing a long stretch without a game until the tourney pairings are announced a week from Friday, led nearly the whole way but never got comfortable in the cozy confines of the Tarbox Gym.

Three times, the Reggies built 10-point leads only to have them slashed to three or four.

Junior Leandro Valdez had the final answer for the Reggies, who saw a 52-42 advantage midway through the fourth quarter hacked to three at 54-51.

Back-to-back Valdez rebound hoops put the Red Devils away for good.

"He scored the first seven of our nine points, which was huge," said Habib of the 6-foot junior. "He kept us right in the ballgame. He played big today. You can read kids' faces, I could read his today, he was a game player."

Valdez led the balanced attack with 16 points and a dozen rebounds. Smooth-stroking Erick Polanco added a career-high 13 points.

Senior guards Hector Heredia (8 points, 6 assists) and Nate Adames (6 points, 6 steals) buzzed all over the floor in what is most likely the last home game of their careers. Brian Cabrera and Kelvin Correa added inside muscle and combined for 15 points.

Habib didn't expect his club to qualify for the state vocational tourney, meaning the Reggies will be idle for close to two weeks.