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Raiders get revenge against Lawrence, will take on Andover for title

Saturday, December, 27 By Michael Muldoon

NORTH ANDOVER —The Commonwealth Motors Christmas Classic has its newest freshman sensation.

Tanahj Pettway, a 5-10 guard who commutes with his cousin A.J. Pettway from Worcester, dazzled the sellout crowd and lifted the Raiders to a 55-43 win over Lawrence.

With that commute, he obviously has no problems in traffic. Lawrence learned that the hard way with some exquisite ballhanding and smooth drives to the basket.

The ninth grader took over late, scoring 9 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter as the Raiders (2-3)  avenged a Dec. 16 66-59 loss to the Lancers (2-2), who have now lost two straight.

"He's such a gifted kid," said coach Rick Nault, whose club will play defending champ Andover Monday here (8 p.m.) for the Licare Division title. "He makes plays with games on the line. And he's such a coachable kid who just wants to win."

With his skill set, the Raiders should do plenty of winning. And don't be fooled by the 2-3 start, which was mainly due to suspensions.

Nault said John Homsey, Kevin Fernandez and David Vidal De Los Santos while he said Pat Sullivan is out for the year with an injury and Alex Santos will remain suspended but be back "later in the season."

With Pettway's brilliant drives and all-around floor game, the Raiders were finally able to come through during crunch time. Nault said they had led in all four previous games with under four minutes to play. But the record was just 1-3.

Central Catholic was good enough to beat a quality Lawrence High team while still playing without as many as four possible starters due to suspension.