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Xavier McKenzie was superb again and Jermaine Wiggins Jr. had the (basketball) game of his career as Central Catholic defeated Lowell, 76-67, to punch its ticket to the MVC Division 1 Cup final. The Raiders will play Andover Friday at 7 p.m. at Tewksbury. McKenzie had 26 while Wiggins set a career high with 13 to go with 11 boards. The Raiders also got big contributions from Nate Godin (12 points), Marcus Rivera (11 points) and Jeff Goguen (9 points). Jaceb McKenzie had 29 and 10 rebounds in the loss. Coach Mark Dunham said, "Xavier was awesome. He controlled the game. He was special."

Nate Godin was fouled taking a 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds left and made 2 of 3 to give Central Catholic the 52-51 win over Lowell. CCHS outscored Lowell 26-16 in the fourth to pull it out. Xavier McKenzie 19 points and Godin 12 in the win.

Isaac Allen hit a 25-footer at the buzzer to force OT and Methuen beat Lowell, 62-54. Andrew Lussier scored 19 points including six treys. Jason Perello added 13 points.

Methuen (4-1) suffered its first loss as a Ranger 3-pointer at the buzzer wouldn't fall. Isaac Allen (10), Ben Nkwantah (8) and Andrew Lussier (8) led the Rangers.

Lowell won the first matchup but it was all Haverhill in this one, 61-35. Phillip Cuningham pumped in a team-high 16 points while Junior Efosa, Elijah Haas and Enrique Alvarado chipped in with 9 apiece. Alvarado did a nice job at the point and Efosa controlled the paint.

Haverhill could get nothing going offensively and lost to Lowell, 53-35. Junior Efosa had 10 points and Phillip Cunningham 6 for the Hillies.