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Whittier clips Pelham, caps 4-0 week

Saturday, January, 30 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

HAVERHILL - There are statement games.

Welcome to statement week, Whittier Tech style.

The Wildcats polished off their fourth win in five days, improving to 12-4 with a dramatic, 77-73, overtime victory over Pelham, N.H.

"We have a lot of heart. It's not a one-man team, it's all of us," said senior Tito Pizarro, who helped backbone a wild rally from a 41-25 halftime deficit. "We had the game-winning talk at halftime. We had to keep up the energy, keep our heads in the game, and we did that."

Pizarro owned the OT session with a pair of hoops and two free throws in the final 90 seconds. There may not have been a bigger shot seen in Wildcat country over the last decade than Pizarro's driving scoop with 25 seconds left that put Whittier up for good at 74-73.

"There's a lot of pressure (down the stretch)," said Pizarro, who added 19 points in the win. "But if you have it and you're the only one, somebody has to step up and do it."

If Pizarro energized the overtime, it was freshman Ryan Grant who pulled Whittier off the canvas in the third.

Grant knocked in 10 of his team-high 26 points in the third. When he wasn't slashing and scoring, he was dishing out assists on three other hoops in the frame, which Whittier owned 22-9, and the 6-foot frosh's lone trey early in the fourth gave Whittier its first lead, 52-50.

Nils Carrasco chipped in a dozen. Dillon Ryan had 10, and 6-foot-4 big man Marck Galva came off the bench with eight. All 18 of those came after intermission.

Whittier, which outlasted Greater Lawrence Tech in a track meet on Thursday, needed every bit of the balanced effort to combat Python scoring machine Stephen Spirou.

The junior, an Eagle-Tribune All-Star a year ago, showed the folks across the border why in an explosive 38-point performance — just one point off his season high.

Muscle man Mike Lombard chipped in a double-double with 16 points and 13 boards.

Pelham falls to 4-8 in the loss.