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HAVERHILL — Hours after learning it had earned the top seed in the upcoming Division 3 North Sectional, Whittier went out and won what the Wildcats hope will be just the first of their postseason titles.

The Whittier boys continued their dominance with a 75-58 win over Greater New Bedford in the state vocational large school semifinals. Andrew Wells and Marck Galva each scored nine points in the first quarter as the host Wildcats took a nine-point lead over the overmatched Bears (7-13). Wells went 6 for 8 from behind the arc and poured in a game high 20 points. Galva finished with 13 points and Justin Reyes had 10 points for the 20-1 Wildcats. The game was physical throughout. Greater New Bedford forward Nick Rego was ejected late in the second quarter following a hard foul on Gage Alicea. Greater New Bedford also had another flagrant foul earlier in the half. “I thought it was chippy from the beginning,” said Whittier head coach Tom Sipsey, whose club beat Greater Lawrence by 20 and 12 points in the regular season. “I thought our guys responded well by not reacting to it.” Winning today vs. the Reggies (5 p.m. tip-off at Whittier) would be big, but the Wildcats just want to keep on winning. North Sectional tourney pairings will be announced today. “At this point of the year, we want to make sure we are fresh and ready to go for that tournament,” said Sipsey. “I wanted to make sure that our starters did not play huge minutes today. The goal is strictly to get ready for next week.”

Greater Lawrence, which had an up-and-down season, is way, way up at just the right time. After stunning Methuen in the regular-season finale to clinch a tourney berth, the Reggies yesterday upset a 16-win Worcester Tech team, 62-59, in the state vocational semifinals. Felix Marte continued his fine play with 19 points and Oscar Reynoso and Joseph Urena added 11 each. Big guys Vargas and Ryan Kobrenski sparked the Reggies with their stellar all-around play.

The Pinkerton Big 3 of Cam Welch (18), Chris Light (18) and Alex Patrikis (14) combined for 50 points in a 71-43 win over West.

ANDOVER — Battling through recent struggles shooting the basketball, North Andover’s Jimmy Warden received reassuring words from coach Mike McVeigh.

The Brooks boys fell to powerhouse St. Mark's 76-62. Arizona-Bound 7-footer Kaleb Tarczewski led St. Mark's (22-1) with 25 points and Michigan-bound Nik Stauskas added 16. Georgetown's Jaymie Spears chipped in with 11.

Lawrence's boys basketball team sanke 25 free throws, which was 16 more than Malden Catholic, in a 70-63 victory which gave the Lancers (14-5) third place in the Masconomet Tournament. Senior Tre'von Farley led the way with 21 points.

Tom Palleschi of Haverhill had 21 points and 13 rebounds to power Phillips Academy to a 59-41 victory over Deerfield to keep Phillips' slim playoff hopes alive.

Corey McNamara poured in 26 points, including the 1,000 of his high school varsity career, as Pentucket boys basketball won 45-32 over Marblehead at the Marblehead Tourney.

Strong defense from Alex Newton (career-high 11 points) and Brian Finney helped Pelham subdue Windham's offense in a 53-42 victory. Sophomore Jeff Peterson kept the Jaguars competitive in defeat with a fierce effort on the boards and a game-high 18 points.