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Caban rallies Lawrence past upset-minded Blue Devils

Sunday, December, 27 By Michael Muldoon

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.