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Rangers pull past Knights

Friday, January, 10 By Jeff Hamrick

METHUEN — While the Rangers might not have been out to make a statement, a victory like the one they pulled out last night could go a long way toward defining a season.

A couple weeks after dropping an 11-point decision to North Andover in the Christmas tournament, Methuen repaid the Scarlet Knights 57-48 with a solid second-half performance and moved above the .500 mark on the year.

"It's definitely a big win for us as a team," said junior center Tim Galloway-Burke, who scored a game-high 18 points. "We were 4-4, so this is a big turning point for us. We've lost some close games, so this was just a big win for us.

"We just tried to look past that loss (a 62-51 NA win to win the Hixon Division). We tried to learn from it and it showed here tonight."

After a first half that featured three ties and five lead changes, Methuen used a 10-0 run to grab a 33-30 advantage on a bucket by Jamal Rene at the 4-minute mark. But keeping with the game-long pattern, North Andover (5-2 overall, 3-2 in MVC play) regrouped to tie the score at 38 entering the final period.

The Rangers (5-4, 4-2) used runs of 5-0 and 6-0 to score 11 of the first 15 points of the quarter and opened a 49-42 lead on a bucket by Jamal Rene with 2 minutes remaining. Rene, who was huge with 16 rebounds to go with his nine points, and Galloway-Burke helped the cause with a pair of big offensive rebounds off missed free throws.

Those extra possessions were needed to fend off the Knights, who had not scored fewer than 53 points while averaging 60.5 the first six games.

"Our defense won us the game," said Faradie, whose squad held North Andover to 8-of-28 shooting after intermission. "It was a grind-out win. It was a defensive battle. I think both teams are really good defensive teams, but I think we just did a heck of a job defensive. I mean we held them to 48 points."

Sophomore guard Jon Paulino helped the Methuen cause by scoring 10 of his 15 points after intermission while Mark Sicard contributed 11, including eight from the line.

"I'm happy," Faradie said. "This is our last home game for awhile; we go on the road for a stretch (of four games) now, so we have to get right back to business."

North Andover received 13 points from Wabissa Bede and 10 from Kyle White.