Boys basketball pairings announced

The boys basketball pairings are out for the upcoming MIAA tournament, and Lynn English (14-6) will open up the Division 1 North first round as the No. 6 seed, and is matched up against Lexington (12-10) the No.11 seed.English coach Mike Carr is very familiar with the Middlesex league, (Lexington’s conference), as he coached at Stoneham for 20 years.”I have not seen much of Lexington this past season,” Carr said. “Lexington in the past has been a fundamentally sound team, and that is what we will expect to see on Tuesday night. We are a team that likes to press for the majority of the game, and if Lexington is able to break our press consistently that could pose problems for us.”A major component for the Bulldogs success in their quest to advance in the tournament will be playing a complete game.”It has been on rare occasion that we have played all four quarters this season,” Carr said. “When we have been able to play all four quarters we have not been beaten.”English made it all the way to the Division 1 North Final last year, and after its most recent performance against Everett, the Bulldogs are poised to make another run.”I am hoping we catch a little lighting in a bottle after our last game against Everett,” Carr said. “If we are able to play with the same type of intensity and efficiency like we did against Everett during the state tournament, we will have a great chance to advance.”English will be looking for Freddy Hogan, Erick Rosario, Stevie Collins, Johnny Hiliare and Danny Lukanda to put their imprint in each game the Bulldogs are a part of in the state tournament.”For a lot of the season we have not had this group of five players in the lineup,” Carr said. “These five young men have all a ton of talent, and I hope they are able to put it on display starting with Lexington.”English will host Lexington Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. Also in Division 1, St. John’s (16-4) is the No. 1 overall seed, and will host its first game in the quarterfinals against the winner of the Lowell/Chelmsford game at St. John’s.In Division 2, Classical (13-4) opens up the MIAA Division 2 North first round as the No.4 seed, and is match up against Gloucester (12-8) the No.13 seed.The Rams were match up with the Fisherman just over three weeks ago, and escaped with a narrow 64-62 victory at home.”In our most recent match up with Gloucester, we were down virtually the entire game,” Classical coach Tom Grassa said. “Gloucester is a team that was in just about every game they played in, and that was never more prevalent that last time we played them. They are a tough first round game, and we will need a complete team effort to come out with the win.”The main weapon Gloucester has at its disposal is its outside shooting. The Fisherman made 9-18 three pointers in their last game against the Rams.”Gloucester can flat out shoot the ball,” Grassa said. “We have to do a better job closing out on the three point line and not letting Gloucester shoot at such a high percentage.”Classical will be looking to spread the wealth, and ideally would like to have four players scoring double digits.”We must execute our offense, and have every one contribute on the offensive end,” Grassa said. “If we value the ball and shoot a good percentage from the field, we will be just fine. This is just like the NCAAB tournament, so we have to come with our A game.”Classical will host Gloucester Wednesday night (7).Also in Division 2, Danvers (17-3) is the No. 2 seed and will host a first round against the winner of the Chelsea and Marblehead game at Danvers. Salem (16-4) is the No. 3 seed and will play in the first round against the winner of the Brighton/Masco at Salem. Beverly (15-7) the No.7 seed will play in the first round against North Andover the No.10 seed at Beverly.Marblehead the No.15 seed will pay in the first round against Chelsea the No.18 seed at Marblehead.In Division 3, Saugus (10-10) is the No.10 seed in the MIAA Division 3 North, and the Sachems will open