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Whittier 59, Greater Lawrence 44

HAVERHILL — Even the best of teams needs an unexpected pickup now and then but, when Manny Arias entered the game for Whittier Tech Tuesday, he hardly looked like someone for the role.

A 5-foot-7 sophomore with a bushel of hair, Arias seems more suited for the junior varsity, for which he playe last year. But appearances can be deceiving.

After the unbeaten Wildcats looked sloppy and fell behind 18-17 in the first quarter, Arias came off the bench and played most of the final three quarters to pace Whittier to a 59-44 victory.

With leading scorer Anthony Buckley bottled up and off with his shooting, finiahing with just 13 points on 3 of 13 shooting, Arias put together his best game of the young season, leading all scorers with 16 points, combining a pair of 3-pointers with some sparkling drives, and had three assists while directing the offense.

"Don't let his age or his size fool you," said Whittier coach Dave Charbonneau. "He's an important part of our team and he's not afraid to go inside, which is good because we can't rely on the 3-point shot as much as we did last year."

Arias was also a key component of Whittier's defense, which frustrated Greater Lawrence, holding the Reggies to just 26 points over the final three quarters, includng just six in the second quarter, while forcing 25 turnovers.

"We couldn't get into any rhythm," said first-year Greater Lawrence coach Eddie Araujo at halftime, and it didn't get any better in the second half.

Ahead 32-24 at halftime, Whittier pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring the Reggies 18-10 and dropping Greater Lawrence to its second straight loss to start the season.

Complementing Arias and Buckley in scoring was Kevin Bradley Jr., who drilled three 3-pointers and had 13 points. While Demario Scarpegnato and Mark Lemele had eight points apiece.

And while Buckley had an off shooting night, he did have five steals, nine rebounds and a pair of blocks.

"His (Buckley's) court awareness is off the charts and he has a way of settling us down," said Charbonneau. "Everybody knows about his scoring but we have others who can pick us up,"

On this night, that would be Arias, who had scored 15 points in his previous three games.

"I thought I'd be playing this year but never as much as today," said Arias, a resident of Haverhill. "Hopefully, I'll be starting sometime, but I've got time."

If Arias plays more games like Tuesday, his time may come sooner than he thinks.