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The once-slumbering giant is asleep no more. Salem made it four straight wins and six of the last seven with a 70-49 win at Dover. Matt Vartanian dominated the floor with 22 points, 10 boards, 6 assists and four blocks for the Blue Devils. 

Trailing by one with time running out in double overtime, Salem's Matt Vartanian drained a shot at the buzzer to beat Manchester Central 71-70. The shot capped off a monster game for Vartanian, who scored 15 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to go along with 13 rebounds, and Tim Dodier added 17 points.

Trailing by 7 with 3:30 left, Salem got back to back 3-pointers from D.J. Coletti (11 points) and closed the game on an 11-0 run to beat Alvirne 56-52. Tim Dodier had a career-high 23 points and 7 rebounds in the win. His previous career high was 21 four games ago.

The Salem boys hoops squad displayed fluid ball movement in Tuesday night's victory, piling up 22 assists on 29 made field goals. Griffin Curtis led the Blue Devils with 16 points, and Tim Dodier added 15 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

Salem rallied for its second straight win, defeating Nashua South in overtime, 59-55. Junior Griffin Curtis led the way with a career-high 22 points, Matt Vartanian had 13 points and 16 rebounds, D.J. Coletti chipped in with 13 points and Jake Bosworth was 5 of 7 from the line in overtime.

Not only did the Salem boys basketball team defeat highly regarded Londonderry Wednesday night but the Blue Devils rolled to a 21-point victory, 68-47. Matt Vartanian led the way with 17 points and 10 rebounds and Jake Bosworth and Connor Greenfield stood out defensively. It was quite a turnaround for the Blue Devils, which had lost three straight including to a Concord club which had lost 27 straight regular season games.

Matt Vartanian led with a dozen points for Salem, which took care of Spaulding, 48-41.

In the Commonwealth Classic 7th-place game, Matt Vartanian capped off a strong tourney with a 17-point effort including a dunk. D.J. Coletti hit for 12 points and Matt McLaughlin nine for the Blue Devils (1-4), who posted their first win of the season. Windham (2-3) was led by Ben Emrick with nine points.

NORTH ANDOVER — Andover took a 13-2 lead after one quarter and cruised past Salem 72-44 in a consolation game at the 41st annual Commonwealth Motors Christmas Classic.