RallyNorth.net

Unsung sophomore sparks Knights to share of crown

Friday, February, 15 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

On a Senior Night worth celebrating, it was a sophomore who led the way for rejuvenated North Andover yesterday.

Sophomore guard Tommy O'Connell came off the bench to pump in a career-high 21 points to pace the Knights to a resounding 65-40 victory over Masconomet. With the win, the hosts earned a share of the Cape Ann League Division 1 crown with Wilmington.

North Andover (15-4 overall) finishes its CAL schedule with a 12-1 record, the same as Wilmington, which thumped the Knights earlier in the week. The two teams also shared the title back in 2004.

"I'm very, very proud of this team," said North Andover coach Mike McVeigh. "Wilmington took it to us the other night and to bounce back from something like that isn't easy."

It certainly didn't start out easy for the Knights. In what began as a fierce defensive battle, the Knights held a 10-6 lead after the first quarter. But two things happened in the second quarter that gave North Andover some momentum.

First, O'Connell, whose previous career high was 12 points, came off the bench to hit two of his four 3-pointers. Second, Hayden Yeazel (13 points, 8 rebounds) tipped in a rebound at the buzzer to make it a 26-19 halftime advantage. "Giving that up took a lot out of us," said Masconomet coach Ben Hodges, whose club dropped to 12-6 overall and completes its CAL slate with a 10-3 mark. "We were playing good defense and had just made two stops, and then that happened."

Led by O'Connell and senior guard Sean McManus, both of whom had eight points in the period, North Andover put the game away in the third frame with a 22-8 advantage. For the game, O'Connell was 5 of 6 from the floor and 7 for 7 from the free throw line.

"I told him (O'Connell) on the bench that it was a great time to play his best game of the season," said McVeigh. "He's gradually gotten more minutes during the year and, when he plays like this, he's going to get a lot more."

The guard play of O'Connell, McManus (9 points) and Steve Boudreau (10 points) fueled North Andover in the decisive second half. Meanwhile, the Knights held the Chieftains to 28 percent shooting on the game (15 of 54) and forced 21 turnovers.

Steve Collura, Cameron Hamlet and O'Connell were particularly tough defensively on Masco standout Kevin Van Lenten, who had hit for 26 and 33 points in his previous two games. While Van Lenten did lead Masco with 18 points, he was only 4 of 21 from the floor.

"It was partly just an off game for him (Van Lenten), but they were physical on him and made him work," said Hodges. Agreed McVeigh: "We played excellent team defense. Van Lenten is so good ... to contain him like we did was really important.

"We're just really happy to get a share of the title. We expected to be in the hunt this year, but you never know." The Knights end their regular season Tuesday at Methuen.