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North Andover Scarlet Knights Boys Basketball '11-'12

Wed, Jan 18, 2012 07:00 PM @ North Andover
Team 1 2 3 4 Final
East Boston 16 11 11 5 43
North Andover 7 13 19 13 52

Knights knock off powerhouse East Boston

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Wednesday, January, 18 By Hector Longo

NORTH ANDOVER — So much talk centered around the North Andover High boys basketball team has focused on who isn't or hasn't been in the lineup. Zach Karalis would rather focus on the fellas inside the lines.

Take last night's 52-43 undressing of No. 17 East Boston here before about 400 fans at Crozier Fieldhouse.

"It's big, a big confidence booster for us," said Karalis, who was everywhere in the final 11 minutes, dissecting the Eastie press and making the Jets pay on the other end. "This shows we can play with any team in the state. But we already knew that."

Down 35-33 late in the third after trailing by as many as 10 in the first quarter, it was as if Karalis had simply said, "Enough!" with Eastie's press.

The 6-foot-3 senior, forced to the point guard spot due to the absence of Colby Smith (high ankle sprain) and Derek Collins (back) connected on home-run bombs to Mike Moroney and Isaiah Nelsen to swing things North Andover's way.

What little life Eastie, which usually plays in the 70s and has hit 100 twice this year including last week's 100-10 thumping of Fenway,had left, was snuffed for good when Karalis and Nelsen buried back-to-back threes midway through the final period.

Eastie wouldn't score in the final four minutes and the run over the final 11 minutes was 19-8.

“We played at our pace,” said senior Jimmy Warden. “We had a lot of good possessions, and we made sure to get back on defense.”

Nelsen paced the Knights with 16 points, while Moroney and Karalis had 11 apiece. Sophomore Brendan Miller added eight for the Knights, who were aided by a hefty advantage on the foul line (14 of 18 to Eastie’s 1 of 2).

Karalis' night could best be termed courageous and absolutely on the money. The senior overcame five first-half turnovers with a 7-point, 5-assist, 2-steal, 4-rebound, 1-turnover second half, leaving the floor only once for mere seconds.

As for the injury front, there remains no set date for a Derek Collins return to the North Andover lineup. The junior all-leaguer has done some light shooting but that’s about all. Senior point guard Colby Smith, who has missed the past three games with a high ankle sprain, was supposed to be out for 6-8 weeks.

He’s advanced nicely, though, and expects to be back much sooner than originally had been discussed.

Game Statistics:

East Boston (43): Pat Santos 2 0-0 4, Zack Gattereau 4 0-0 10, Kwandell Bush 3 0-0 6, Will March 1 0-0 3, Trevon Moore 4 1-2 9, Kyle Fox 1 0-0 3, Andre Senior 2 0-0 5, Ian Jones 1 0-0 3, Totals 19 1-2 43 

North Andover (52): Casey Walsh 1 0-0 2,  Zach Karalis 2 6-6 11, Brendan Miller 3 2-4 8, Jimmy Warden 2 0-0 4, Isaiah Nelsen 5 5-6 16, Mike Moroney 5 1-2 11, John Miller 0 0-0 0, Alex Gorgoni 0 0-0 0, Aaron Straus  0 0-0 0, Totals 18 14-18 52

3-pointers:  EB — Gattereau 2, March, Fox, Senior, Jones; NA — Karalis, Nelsen

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