Travel to Amesbury for quarterfinals tonight

Published February 27, 2020

By DAN NUNN

JACK KELLER and the Hornets beat Greater Lawrence in the first round and will meet Amesbury on the road Thursday night for a quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. (Bob Turosz File Photo)

ANDOVER — Behind a balanced attack, the 10th-seeded NRHS boys’ basketball team upended the 7th-seed Greater Lawrence Tech Reggies 69-54 in their opening round tilt in the MIAA Division 3 North State Sectional Tournament on Monday.

Sophomore Cody Cannalonga poured in 17 points and junior captain Will Taylor added 15 points.

North Reading will travel to Amesbury for their next game to take on the 2nd-seeded Indians in the D3 North quarterfinals on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Roll past Bedford in regular season finale

Will Taylor scored a season-high 24 points to lead the Hornets to their eighth win in nine games as they downed the Bedford Buccaneers 79-66 in their regular season finale on Feb. 16. Senior captain Jack Keller chipped in 19 points.

After starting 4-7 the Hornets went 8-1 to finish the regular season at 12-8.

“Tremendous second half of the season,” said head coach Joe Casey. “Our guys never gave up and kept working at it. We climbed out of a pretty big hole and I couldn’t be happier for them. This is a great group of kids who are playing their basketball at the right time.”

North Reading struggled early with poor rebounding and many missed layups but only trailed 15-12 after the first quarter. Luckily, the offense got rolling in the second stanza. Led by Taylor’s eight-point quarter, the Hornets scored 24 points. The three-point deficit turned into a 36-32 halftime advantage.

In the third quarter, it was Keller’s turn to carry NRHS. He completely dominated inside with 10 points and the lead was up to seven after three.

The lead was pushed to 13 in the fourth but behind a barrage of 3-pointers, Bedford made a furious comeback to cut the lead to four with under two minutes left. Fortunately, an easy hoop from Taylor and a Cannalonga three thwarted the comeback.

The winner of North Reading-Amesbury will play the winner of No. 3 Newburyport vs. No. 11 Weston in the semifinals.

BOYS’ BASKETBALL DIV. 3 NORTH BRACKET (MIAA.net)