| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lawrence | 8 | 12 | 15 | 19 | 54 |
| Andover | 5 | 8 | 14 | 18 | 45 |
Poor grades and the reality he wouldn't be graduating accentuated the pain of last year’s Division 1 North title game loss at the Boston Garden.
Then 18, he needed a break.
“I was paying for the mistakes I made as a freshman,” said Arias last night after helping lead Lawrence to a 54-45 victory over Andover. “They were huge mistakes, but back then I had no idea what GPA even was.”
Like many young athletes in the city, Arias turned to his coach, Paul Neal, who offered him a lifeline.
Get the grades in order, and he’d fight for Arias to get a fifth-year waiver.
“Yadoris is a good kid, who had some medical issues, and that hurt him in school,” said Neal, whose order was simple – honor roll or no basketball.
Arias lived up to the challenge, and the upstart Lancers are grateful. The smooth, 6-foot-1, off guard is third on the team in scoring at 10.8 points a game. His role as “instant offense” and “spot-up shooter” is similar to the one he played last year, although with an entirely different cast of characters.
“Last year, we had Jaylen (Alicea) and Jesse (Hiraldo) and Dawrin (Pereyra), guys who I had been playing with since eighth grade,” said Arias. “This is a whole new group. And I’m still learning about them and getting to know their games.”
Clearly, this group can play at a top level, an awful lot like their predecessors.
Senior Franklin Martinez has come out of anonymity and might be the Merrimack Valley Conference MVP. Senior Tre’von Farley and sophomore Roberto Speing, role players a year ago, have piled up the double-doubles.
And right there stirring the drink is the cagey Arias, who not only has worked hard on making this season a reality, he’s taking the time to enjoy it, too.
“I think we can go further than last year’s team did,” he said. “I really believe that.”
And once all this is done, Arias says he’s not finished.
“I want to play college ball,” he said. “My grades aren’t totally there yet, and I’ll probably have to go to JUCO for a year, but that’s definitely where I want to be.”
LANCERS TOO MUCH FOR ANDOVER
Trailing 5-2 early, Lawrence ripped off a 12-0 run and never trailed again, dumping Andover, 54-45.
Now 11-2 in MVC play, the Lancers need Andover to somehow shock Central Catholic (11-1 MVC) on Thursday night to grab a share of the conference title.
Senior Franklin Martinez led with 18 points for the Lancers, who overcame a 10-for-26 night on the foul line. Yadoris Arias chipped in 13 points, while Tre’von Farley added a double-double with 10 points and 12 boards.
In this the MVC’s season of the ankle sprain, Lawrence was the latest team to be victimized when big man D.J. Gonzalez went down in the second quarter and was lost for the night.
Andover played most of its game without all-league forward Sam Dowden, who tweaked his ankle against Lowell, hadn’t practiced since and basically sat the entire second half as his ankle throbbed.
James Costello led all scorers with 20 points for the Warriors, who are now 11-7.
Lawrence (54): Luis Torres 0 1-3 1, Franklin Martinez 6 2-4 18, Roberto Speing 1 3-8 5, D.J. Gonzalez 2 1-2 5, Yadoris Arias 5 1-4 13, Tre'von Farley 4 2-5 10, Argenis Reinoso 1 0-0 2, Esmelin Romero 0 0-0 0, Leonny Burgos 0 0-0 0, Jorge Soto 0 0-0 0, Totals 19 10-26 54
Andover (45): Chris Dunn 3 0-0 8, James Costello 6 7-11 20, Connor Merinder 2 0-0 4, Sam Dowden 0 0-2 0, David Giribaldi 1 3-3 5, Max Silveira 1 6-6 8, Tyler Verrette 0 0-0 0, Greg Dreyfus 0 0-0 0, Alex Brickman 0 0-0 0, Totals 13 16-22 45
3-pointers: L — Arias 2, Martinez 4; A — Dunn 2, Costello
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