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

“Coach told me many times he was going to need me to hit a big 3-pointer at a big moment,” said Warden. “I guess this was the night.”

With 2:05 to go in the game, Warden knocked down a 3-pointer to give North Andover its second lead of the game, and Zach Karalis sank a pair of free throws with seven seconds left to give the Scarlet Knights  a 50-46 victory over arch-rival Andover last night in the Warrior Classic.

“This was just awesome,” said Karalis. “We really wanted to beat them two times in a row and we did it.”

After a frustrating day on Monday, Warden spent much of his off day Tuesday trying to polish his shot.

“First, I went to Brooks and was shooting with my dad,” he said. “Then I went to the youth center and did more shooting. I must have gotten up about 300 shots. I was feeling much better about my shot than I had been.”

But, early on, it didn’t look as if Warden or any North Andover player would have a shot at heroics.

It was all Andover from the tip, as the Golden Warriors held the Scarlet Knights off the scoreboard for the first 4:53 of regulation on the way to a 10-0 advantage.

A pair of buckets by Karalis and a Warden 3-pointer cut the lead to seven at the end of the first, and at halftime the Scarlet Knights trailed 31-22. But they were feeling confident.

“Coach told us they were going to make a run,” said Karalis. “But we knew from the beginning, we could rally. We never doubted we could make a comeback.”

North Andover opened the third on an 11-3 run and took their first lead of the night with 3:50 to go in regulation on a rebound and putback by Karalis of his own shot.

But Andover hung tough and, after the teams exchanged free throws, James Costello hit a runner for two of his 11 second-half points.

“Our last game, they made a run at us at the end and almost got us,” said McVeigh. “(Last night) we made the run and hit a couple of big baskets.”

With 2:52 left, Karalis knocked down a 3-pointer, and 47 seconds later Warden drilled his second shot of the day to make the score 48-43.

“Jim is a great shooter and a great kid,” said Karalis. “I was so happy for him. We knew he could do it.”

Costello struck one more time with a 3-pointer, but Karalis iced the victory with two free throws with seven seconds left.

“He’s out No. 1 guy,” said Warden. “We knew he was going to make them. This is a great way to end the tournament.”

Karalis finished with a game-high 18 points, while Costello led the Golden Warriors with 15 points and Sam Dowden, back from a sprained ankle, had 12 points on four 3-pointers.

With the victory, the Scarlet Knights close out the regular season on a 17-game winning streak.

“It was a great way to finish the regular season,” said Karalis. “Now we have the tournament. It was great to beat Andover twice. We were 0-4 against them the last two years, so we really wanted to get them twice this year.”

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