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NORTH ANDOVER — It was a sight to behold. Londonderry junior Jake Coleman drained a 3-pointer from the right wing. He drained a trey from the left wing. Then his top-of-the-key 3-pointer bounced high off the rim and in. It was nine points in the final 75 seconds (actually it only took him 66 seconds) and Lawrence was all but done. That made it 41-17 at halftime and shellshocked Lawrence never recovered in the interstate Battle of the Lancers. The MVC Lancers did scrap to the end, cutting the margin to 11 in the fourth, but the defending New Hampshire state champions were brilliant from the line to cruise to the 77-62 win. The second quarter was a stunning 24-3 punch in the face delivered by the Granite Staters, who are in the Christmas Tourney for the first time. Seeded 7th by the tourney committee, Londonderry beat No. 2 Andover in the opener and No. 3 Lawrence last night. Next up, No. 1 Central Catholic Wednesday (8 p.m.) for the 41st annual Commonwealth Classic title. Coleman, after a subpar outing with six points against Andover, poured in a game-high 23 (4 of 7 on 3’s). Impressive 6-4 sophomore Matt Corey added 18 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Underrated 5-8 sophomore guard Cole Britting chipped in with 16 points including 12 for 12 from the line (10 for 10 in the fourth). Cam MacDonald added 11 (3 of 4 on 3’s, one from Steph Curry-land) and 240-pound football star Cam Reddy hit for nine for the balanced winners. Of his torrid stretch, Coleman explained, “It’s a game of runs. I just let it fly. The third one was shooter’s touch. Obviously, I want to be a scorer. That’s my role.” “This is a  big accomplishment,” said third-year Londonderry coach Nate Stanton. “I’m excited for this group. They earned it.” Nobody in the tourney passes like Londonderry, which beautifully whipped the ball around the perimeter time after time to get open shots. “Be unselfish, that’s the key to our offense,” said Stanton. “We instill in them make the extra pass. It’s an unselfish group.” Lawrence fought to the end behind slashing 6-3 lefty Benammi Rodriguez (18 points) and a couple little known underclassmen. Christopher Ruiz, a 6-2 freshman, had all six of his points in the fourth and junior 6-2 lefty William Bierd had all nine of his points in an eye-opening third-quarter effort. Stanton knows all too well getting to the final is a lot different than winning it. In the 39 years it has been a one-division tourney, New Hampshire teams have played a combined 57 times (Salem, Pinkerton and Winnacunnet). Yet, the Granite State has never brought home the coveted title. The last to make the final was Salem in 2003. They had a terrific guard on that team by the name of Nate Stanton. The opponent they had on the ropes that night? Central Catholic. “Central Catholic, we wouldn’t want it any other way,” said Stanton, a mild-mannered type on the sidelines. Coleman, a returning Eagle-Tribune All-Star, is fired up for the finale. “This is huge. We can’t stop here. We want to go 1 for 58!

Londonderry 77, Lawrence 62 Commonwealth Classic Semifinal Lawrence (62): Jayson DeSoto 2 0-0 4, Felix Juan Rodriguez 0 0-0 0, Ronny Pena 0 1-2 1, Christopher Ruiz 3 0-2 6, Kevin Vanderhorst 0 2-2 2, William Bierd 4 0-0 9, Alvaro Gudiel 0 0-0 0, Ricardo Tejada 5 1-3 11, Marcos Germosen 1 1-3 3, Benammi Rodriguez 8 2-2 18, Mikey Caban 3 1-2 8. Totals 26 8-16 62. Londonderry (77): Cam Reddy 4 1-2 9, Nate Gaw 0 0-0 0, Cole Britting 2 12-12 16, Cam MacDonald 4 0-0 11, Matt Corey 7 4-5 18, Jake Coleman 7 5-6 23, Ethan May 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 22-25 77 3-pointers: Law — Bierd, Caban; Lond — Coleman 4, MacDonald 3 Londonderry (3-1):     17 24 14 22 — 77 Lawrence (2-3):     14  3 21 24 — 62

NORTH ANDOVER — Lawrence against Salem figured to be a mismatch. Lawrence is one of the traditional area powers and Salem was coming off an ugly 74-28 loss. Worse, it's No. 2 scorer left the team. But in the first game of the 41st annual Commonwealth Motors Christmas Classic, the Blue Devils dug deep. Real deep. With 6-5 senior Matt Vartanian scoring 14 points in the second quarter, Salem took a 31-23 lead into the break. But Lawrence got a spark from an unlikely source and pulled out a 68-55 win in the 11 a.m. matchup Sunday at North Andover High's Crozier Fieldhouse. Mikey Caban is accustomed to being unlikely. They don't get much more unlikely than 5-5, 140-pound football stars . Caban, who didn't even play basketball last year and wasn't even listed in the game program, came to the rescue. He sank a 3-pointer and the Devils commited the cardinal sin. They fouled. Caban made it a four-point play to give LHS a 52-50 lead with 6:13 to play. Caban scored a couple layups in the next 90 seconds and Salem never got closer than three points the rest of the way. "Coach (Raymond) Nunez was saying we needed a guy to step up," said Caban, who scored all nine of his points in the fourth quarter. "I felt I was the guy. I had to bring the energy." Of the four-point play, he said, "I was confident in my shot." When it went in, he thought, "We're going to get this win." The stress showed on Nunez' face afterward. And during the game. He picked up a technical for slamming his clipboard. He credited Caban and Alvaro "Chippy" Gudiel with bringing the energy. The coach's change in defense was another major factor. He explained, "It was a Sunday morning game. It's going to take a while for the energy to come into our players." Vartanian was putting the scrappy Blue Devils on his broad shoulders. Nunez knew he had to do something. He switched up in the second half from a man-to-man defense to a 2-3 zone. Vartanian had few touches the rest of the way and the Devils missed some open threes. "We needed to take the ball out of his hands," said Nunez. He said of Caban, "He's a big guy in regards to heart and toughness." Jayson Desoto was more of a Cadillac with a team-high 19 points. He had 13 of his points after the break, when the 2-2 Lancers outscored Salem 45-24. Benammi Rodriguez, another senior who didn't play last winter, add 12 points and a slam dunk. Felix Juan Rodriguez (no relation) had 10 points and 6 rebounds. Junior guard D.J. Coletti backed Vartanian with 13 points and three 3-pointers.

ANDOVER — The season may have been just two games old, and the Christmas tournament still on the way, but Andover knew it faced a major challenge when it took the court against Lawrence.

“Lawrence shocked everyone by beating Central Catholic,” said Golden Warrior senior Jonathan Rodriguez. “That really put us on our toes. This was definitely our first big test of the season, and we passed the test.”