'It starts now, the big chip comes out': North fends off Leominster to win CMass Class A title

WORCESTER — The North High boys’ basketball team won each of its first 18 games this season by double digits and an average margin of 30.2 points.

The Polar Bears finally found themselves in a close contest and responded by scoring nine of the game’s final 11 points over the last four minutes to pull way for a 57-48 win over Leominster on Thursday evening to repeat as Central Mass. Class A champions before a large crowd at Worcester State University.

“We haven’t had a close game all year, and we were bound to have one,” coach Al Pettway said. “I was just telling the guys, ‘You were in a close game, you found a way to win.’ “I think this was meant to happen.

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“I think it was God’s plan for us to be in a close game, and moving forward I think they realize they have to come out a little bit hungrier than they normally do. A win is a win, so we’ll take it, and we’ll get ready for the states.”

The Polar Bears, 19-0 and winners of 40 straight, are well positioned to be seeded first when the Division 1 state tournament bracket is revealed Saturday morning.

They’ll open defense of their state title at home March 1.

“It starts now,” senior forward Teshaun Steele said. “The big chip comes out.”

The undersized, but undeterred Blue Devils saw their 10-game winning streak snapped as they dropped to 17-3.

They should be seeded no worse than second with an outside possibility of overtaking Malden Catholic for the top spot in the Division 2 state tournament. And if there were still those wondering just how good Leominster is, well, you can stop pondering.

“Well, the takeaway is that we can play with anybody,” coach Kevin Grutchfield said. “I think the ironic thing is we sort of beat ourselves.

“We had 11 turnovers in the first half, we made some key mistakes in some not-so-great spots in the second half. But it’s something that we can build on going into next week, and I think we’ll be OK.”

The Blue Devils only led once, at 11-10 late in the first quarter, but were tied twice in the third and trailed by two, at 48-46, when sophomore forward Osiris Lopez had a steal-and-score under his basket off an inbounds play with 4:25 to play.

The 6-foot-1 Lopez then came up with a big block on an attempted putback by 6-6 senior Joe Okla a minute later to keep the deficit at a deuce. He scored six of his nine points in the fourth.

“He’s a warrior, and he can dominate the game,” Grutchfield said. “He can outjump a lot of people, but tonight, that’s a tough task with Okla and Steele. He was working his butt off, trying to box them out, it just wasn’t easy.”

Senior forward Terrance McCormack led Leominster with 15 points, draining a trio of treys with his quick release while shooting 6 of 12 overall.

Okla, who sat out a good chunk of the third and the start of the fourth after rolling an ankle, finished with 15 points, the last coming off a thunderous, two-handed, alley-oop dunk via an Amir Jenkins’ steal-and-dime that pushed the lead to 56-46 with 2:07 to play.

Steele, who also checks in at 6-6, finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block. His last four baskets were putbacks, one coming when he relentlessly snared three consecutive rebounds before finally getting the ball to go down.

“We’re the big team, so we just had to work harder down low because they’re a little scrappy, and they got under us,” Steele said. “But we just did what we had to do on the boards, control them.”

The Polar Bears made a ton of turnovers, some self-inflicted and others due to the Blue Devils’ astute anticipation — while leaving a number of balls on the rim in the first half and were stagnant offensively for much of the game.

In the final frame, they often overloaded one side of the court and let Amir Jenkins go to work on the open half. The junior guard responded by scoring eight of his 15 points, converting a driving layup off a spin move, a casually launched 3 and a turnaround jumper after making a foray into the lane.

“I think the fourth quarter was big for us,” Jenkins said. “We played as a team, moved the ball. Joe and Teshaun hit some big shots, had some big layups and had a lot of rebounds. So we played well together in the fourth quarter.”

As for his play, Jenkins said, “Whatever my team needs me to do, I’ll do. If it’s passing, I’ll pass. If it’s shooting, I’ll shoot it.”

—Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @RichGarvenTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: After Class A title win, North turns focus to defending state title