RallyNorth.net

Reggies fall short in North quarterfinals

Saturday, March, 01 By David Willis
Staff writer

WEST ANDOVER — As he walked to the locker room following the game, Greater Lawrence basketball coach Dan Habib stopped to embrace a pair of players in tears, consoling one another.

“I told them that they can be sad right now,” said Habib. “It will hurt, it is going to be tough. But I told them that when they leave the locker room I wanted their heads to be high because this was a great year.”

After surging through the regular season and earning the top seed in the Division 3 North tournament, the Reggies could not find their rhythm last night, falling to a very tough No. 8 Stoneham squad 55-42 last night in the Division 3 North quarterfinals.

“The kids worked hard tonight,” said Habib. “Probably a little too hard. They were trying to force the issue in the second half. We committed turnovers and they took advantage of every mistake we made. When we forced mistakes, we couldn’t take advantage.”

Greater Lawrence led 14-11 after a quarter, and heading into the half trailed just 25-22.

“They were 17-3 for a reason,” said Stoneham coach Brian Caira. “They are so athletic, so quick and everyone on the team can hurt you. You can’t key on one guy. But that was probably the best we have executed all year in the second half.”

After a 3-pointer for Anthony Fabian to open the half tied the game, the Spartans exploded for a 11-2 run. Using a major size advantage, Stoneham out-rebounded Greater Lawrence 14-5 in the quarter, using second-chance points and free throws to take a 38-30 lead.

“We took too many bad shots,” said Habib. “We weren’t taking the ball to the basket in the second half, and their 1-3-1 (defense) was a tough nut to crack. They had great composure and we broke down.”

A basket and free throw for Frankley Estrella and a 3-pointer by Oscarlin Reynoso cut the Spartan lead to 40-36, but that was as close as the Reggies would get.

“We played tough and were able to force a few turnovers around center court,” said Habib. “But we couldn’t take advantage.”

Reynoso led the Reggies with 12 points, while Estrella added nine points.

“This is a team that stayed together all year and worked their rear ends off,” said Habib. “I feed badly for the seniors. But I am very proud of the and they should be proud of everything they accomplished this year.”