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Balanced Lawrence runs past Methuen

Tuesday, December, 14 By Jeff Hamrick

LAWRENCE — The Lancers might have had a little trouble finding the basket in their season opener, but with the kind of speed on display last night, subpar shooting won’t hinder the quick squad from Lawrence.

With a fastbreak that looked in midseason form, the Lancers jumped on visiting Methuen early  and never let up before handing the veteran Pirates a 66-47 defeat in a Merrimack Valley Conference opener for both schools.

“On offense, we’re trying to fastbreak,” said senior point guard Jaylen Alicea, who scored 11 points and added six assists. “We need to get out on the break and use our defense to create offense. We’re not very big out there as you can see, so we have to run and use our speed. I don’t think many teams can keep up with us.”

With five different players scoring at least four points in the opening half, Lawrence used a 14-2 run to open a 16-point lead in the first quarter and twice had an 18-point advantage in the second.

“We did some things right,” Lawrence coach Paul Neal said. “But we do have a lot of things we have to get better at. We’ve got some kids who can shoot it. We’ve got a little bit of every thing. If we play composed and execute, I think we’re going to be alright.”

Dawrin Pereyra, who scored a team-high 17 points, and Francis Spraus, who had 14 and 10 rebounds, combined to score 11 points the first 5 minutes after intermission as Lawrence took a 51-25 lead.

Trevon Farley came off the bench and grabbed 17 rebounds for the Lancers, who had 10 different players score at least two points despite converting only 29 of their 73 field goal attempts.

“We’re not a very skilled team, but we’re athletic,” Neal said. “So we have to try to use that and play good defense. In reality, Methuen’s best player didn’t play tonight and he would’ve made a difference.”

The Pirates (1-1) were without Raudy Minaya, who was suspended the first two games for violating team rules, Minus its 6-foot-2 senior, Methuen was outplayed, attempting 15 fewer field goals than Lawrence, and committing 21 turnovers. Kyle Mansour paced the Rangers with a game-high 18 points.

“That’s just a good team,” Methuen coach Rich Barden said about the Lancers. “We walked around on offense, but I think (Lawrence) is the best team out there. They did a good job and were ready to play. We had a couple mental mistakes that you can’t have against a team with that kind of speed.”