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Hillies stun No. 11 Lawrence

Thursday, January, 06 By Hector Longo

HAVERHILL — Fear the Mansfield Gymnasium once again.

Don't believe it? Just ask Lawrence High, the No. 11 rated boys hoop team in the state.

The Lancers, 5-1 coming in, allowed the host Haverhill Hillies and sophomore phenom Noah Vonleh to hang around once too often.

Vonleh and the Hillies made the Lancers pay the price, pulling out a stunning, 54-51, upset here last night.

"This one is huge, absolutely huge for us," said Haverhill coach Mike Trovato, whose club moved to 3-5 with its second straight victory. "Lawrence is a great team. But we just kept playing defense all night, challenged their shots and kept fighting."

The Hillies punched first, breaking to a 16-6 lead only to have Lawrence pull even by halftime and grab the lead in the third. The Lawrence lead was as large as eight - it could have been more but free throw woes (4-for-12)helped keep the Hillies in it.

Vonleh, who finished with 23 points, 17 rebounds, 8 blocks and 6 assists, saved his best work for the final minutes.

Down 51-45 inside of two minutes, he found Parker Rogers (8 points, 11 board) for a triple that cut the margin in half.

After swatting a shot on the defensive end, Vonleh went through the legs and drained a pull-up three of his own to knot it at 51-51 with 50 seconds left.

Again, the Lancers were turned away, and the Hillies went for the kill. Vonleh attacked the lane and kicked to fearless 5-foot-3 junior Edwin Valentin.

Valentin's righty across-the-lane runner caromed home with 15 seconds left.

Lawrence had two chances to tie with the ball in all-conference guard Jaylen Alicea's hands.

The senior's runner rimmed out and Hillie Nate Bresnahan ripped down his 14th rebound of the night. Fouled immediately, the junior made 1 of 2 to force a long-range attempt by Lawrence to tie. At the buzzer, a long Alicea fall-away missed, sending the Hillie crowd into sprawling onto the floor in celebration.

"Everyone is doubting us, we came out hard and showed we can play with the best," said Vonleh. "Everybody keeps working, and we know we can be a pretty good team."

Jesse Hiraldo played through foul trouble to pace Lawrence with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Alicea added a dozen points, and Dawrin Pereyra had nine.

"That was a loss, as coaches that we have to take responsibility for," said Lancer coach Paul Neal. "We didn't put the players in position to win. They're a good team, and (Vonleh) made the plays that players make. Hopefully, we can learn from it."