LOWELL— For one quarter of Tuesday night’s Division 1 North first round game between the No. 13 Classical and No. 4 Lowell boys basketball teams, everything went the Rams’ way.
After two quarters, the Rams held a slight edge over the Red Raiders.
The second half, however, was all Lowell as the Red Raiders grabbed a 74-60 win on their home floor to end Classical’s season.
Nathaniel Siow and Alex Rivera, a UMass Lowell commit, led the Red Raiders with 15 points each. The Rams held Rivera scoreless for the first quarter but he found his rhythm in time for the win.
“We knew Alex was their guy,” Classical coach Jasper Grassa said. “They have athletes, they can really shoot it. They pretty much have everything besides a typical big man. Lowell’s a very good team.”
Lowell’s Carlos Nunez, Justin Villanueva and Rashawn Settles each scored 11 points.
Edwin Solis scored a game-high 23 points for Classical, knocking in four 3-pointers and using his size-advantage over a smaller Lowell team in the paint. Jeff Barbosa tallied 13 points and Dyrrell Rucker finished with 11.
Classical got things started on the right foot. The Rams scored the first five points of the game before Lowell notched its first basket. Classical fired back with a layup from Rucker and a 3-pointer from Edwin Solis, boosting its lead to 10-2. After one quarter, Classical led 15-8.
“At the beginning of the game, we tried to go down low as much as possible,” Grassa said. “I thought that’s how we had success. Once we got in the up and down game with them, they’re even more athletic than us.”
Back-to-back 3-pointers knocked in by Rivera and Deven Okowuga sliced the deficit down to 2 at 18-16. That propelled a 12-3 Lowell run that saw the Red Raiders claim a 20-18 edge midway through the second quarter. Barbosa scored the next five points to get Classical back in gear. Classical led 33-31 at halftime.
Lowell took command in the third quarter to open up a double-digit lead. Siow, held scoreless through the first half, knocked in a pair of 3-pointers and came alive for 10 points in the third period. Siow led a Lowell rally that saw the Red Raiders outscore the Rams, 24-11, in the third. Edwin Solis swished a 3-pointer in the closing the seconds but Villanueva heaved a half-court shot into the net at the buzzer. After three, Lowell led 55-44.
“He’s (Rivera) so good that we couldn’t let him get any rhythm,” Grassa said. “We can’t contest his shots the way he shoots it. We wanted to take him out of the game and I thought we did a good job of that in the first half. Then their fourth and fifth options, No. 4 (Siow) and No. 22 (Settles) played great.”
With everything seemingly going Lowell’s way, Classical never recuperated. The Rams slimmed Lowell’s lead down to 10 in the final minute of the game but the Red Raiders were comfortable by then. Rucker scored six points in the fourth quarter but Lowell sealed the 74-60 win.
“Once they got that lead, we started having to play a little faster,” Grassa said. “That’s when I felt they got really comfortable. They got lazy for a few possessions and we got it down to 10 but by that point they knew what we were trying to do.”
With the victory, Lowell advances to the Division 1 North quarterfinal where the Red Raiders will play the winner of tonight’s (7) game between No. 12 Peabody and No. 5 English.
Classical ends its season 12-9.
“It was a season of adjustments,” Grassa said. “I’m looking forward to next year. I’m really glad I got to see what everything’s like through the head coach’s point. I’m glad I’m here and I’m looking forward to season No. 2.”
