Gary Larrabee

Call me an eternal optimist. Do not call me a Jinx Machine. There’s no such thing anyway. But doesn’t the fate of the surging Danvers High Basketball team look oh so inevitable after passing its sternest test of this magical season against Wayland Saturday at Tsongas Arena?

How can they possibly lose to 18-5 Martha’s Vineyard, a No. 7 seed that lost to a 7-12 team (Dartmouth) by seven points during the regular season? No matter.

After what we saw Saturday in Lowell, with the Falcons fighting off every challenge delivered by an excellent Wayland team, I love this team’s chances of beating the Vineyarders tomorrow in TD Garden and then winning Saturday in the state title game in Worcester. Let us count the ways.

1. Resilience. Every time Wayland (you have to feel sorry for the Warriors; three losses in three years to the Falcons, all close tourney games, the last two determined in large part by super clutch three-pointers by reserve guards Joe Scarfo in 2012, Jake Cawlina Saturday) put the heat on, the Falcons responded at both ends of the floor. The Falcons do not get rattled.

2. The Falcons’ balanced offense. Even with Dan Connors (4 points) and Vinny Clifford (6)struggling offensively, old reliables Nick McKenna (14, 8 rebounds) and Nick Bates (13 points) carried on, and key reserves Cawlina (9 points, 3-for-4 from 3-point land) and Kieran Beck (4 points, clutch steal in the final minute) played huge roles. I also believe if the eighth, ninth or 10th men were needed, they would come up big as well.

3. Nick McKenna. I don’t know where this team would be without the senior guard and most dependable scorer.  Looking back, it’s truly amazing the Falcons went 7-0 during McKenna’s layoff with mononucleosis during mid-season. Think the Prep wishes he’d stayed? ‘Nuff said. Cleary Nick made the right choice in returning to his roots and his basketball buddies since middle school.

4. Eric Martin. The Northeastern Conference MVP (in soccer too) is a marvel of an athlete. Hard to believe he is not playing at 100 percent. Make no mistake. If he had not gotten hurt midway through the Brighton (Division 2 EMass finalist Tuesday in the Garden) game and then missed the Newton North game, these Falcons might be 24-0 rather than 22-0. But who’s to complain at this juncture? He’s playing marvelously, sore groin and hip all.

5. The coaching staff. John Walsh and company know when to give the regulars a blow, when to insert supersubs Beck and Cawlina, when to call timeouts, when to change strategy, and, most important, how to prepare for an opponent. Just ask Jaleel Bell.

Now, some statistical and historical perspective.

• At 22-2, the Falcons broke the record 21 wins they garnered last year and, like last year’s squad, have become the winningest major sports team in DHS history.
• The Falcons are outscoring their opponents by an average of 72-46 in four tourney games, though they only got tested in the last two, and really really tested Saturday. Yes, they know how to handle pressure. Martha’s Vineyard (MV) is beating its foes by an average of 65-54.
• MV is legit. We just don’t know how legit. They beat top seed and 22-1 Wareham in the D-3 South final, 77-71, which gives them serious credibility, though the Falcons clobbered Wareham by 23 in TD Garden last year. MV beat Bourne by 33, Bp. Feehan by 65-63, and Medway by 10 before beating Wareham. Their regular season losses came to 16-5 Dennis-Yarmouth by 9, 16-6 Mashpee by four, 9-7 Somerset Berkley by one, 7-12 Dartmouth by 7 and Abington by 2. MV was 7-3 at one point, won seven straight, lost two straight later. They’ve won five in a row leading into tomorrow.
• The Falcons are 43-6 the last two years, 46-16 overall with Walsh in charge, in what has evolved into the greatest two- and three-year runs by a major DHS sports team.
• Danvers, after these next two wins, will become the first team since Pioneer Regional in the western part of the state (1996-97) to win back-to-back D-3 state titles. Fellow NEC member Lynn Classical did it in 1993-94, Cohasset in 1985-86. They’re the only other North Shore teams to win consecutive state titles since the three-division format took place in 1972. The last back-to-back title team in all four divisions was D-1 Newton North in 2005-06. Charlestown won four straight under John Calipari clone Jack O’Brien 2000-03. D-2 two straighters have been East Boston (1985-86), Commerce (1976-78) and North Andover (1974-75). Other North Shore state champs have been St. John’s Prep (D-1, 2011), Salem (D-2, 1990, 1995), Lynn Tech (D-3, 2002), Newburyport (D-3, 2000), St. Mary’s (D-4, 2012, 2001), Ipswich (D-4, 2005) and Lynnfield (D-4, 2000).
• Prediction: Danvers 67, Martha’s Vineyard 59

The Danvers High Basketball Falcons’ inexorable quest for a second consecutive Division 3 state championship is passing through the Wayland Warriors once again. The No. 2 seeded Falcons (21-2) take on Wayland (19-4) Saturday at 3:45 in the Division 3 North Section final at Lowell’s Tsongas Arena, the winner advancing to the EMass D-3 final Tuesday at the TD Garden, the start time to be announced.

Wayland advanced after dispatching previously perfect North Reading Wednesday night in Burlington, 64-48, behind Jaleel Bell’s 34 points and 12 rebounds and Mark Bonner’s 17 points and 11 boards. That is a dynamic 1-2 punch. The Falcons took care of Whittier’s 1-2 punch, 69-51, Tuesday at Triton, but this 1-2 tandem is several notches better.

Wayland hopes this is payback time after it was eliminated from the North Section tourney each of the last two years by Danvers. Last year’s loss has surely been gnawing at the Warriors ever since the final horn of the Falcons’ 70-67 overtime victory. Wayland led by 10 points with a little over a minute left in regulation before the Falcons stormed back and forced the extra session thanks to Joe Scarfo’s three-point connection with seconds remaining.

And here they are back challening the Falcons again, tho this time they’re dealing with the defending state champs.

Danvers played a dazzling game in beating Whittier  with four players in double figures in clearly the best all-around team effort of the year. But can they take care of Wayland for a third straight time?

“We hope to,” says Danvers coach John Walsh, “but after watching Wayland beat North Reading, we have got our hands full. They’re a fantastic team with a fantastic star in Jaleel Bell. We’ll have to limit his touches, deny him the ball and keep him and his teammates off the offensive glass. If we do these two things, and we take care of the rest of our game at both ends, we’ll have a chance.”

Wayland is probably thinking they need to have several factors fall in their favor to have their best chance of advancing. They indeed will have to play exceptionally to throw Danvers off its spectacular two-way game.

“Our kids played great the other night, but they’ll have to play even better against this opponent,” Walsh said after attending a team dinner at the home of sophomore sensation Vinny Clifford. “Keep in mind they beat a team twice, Waltham, that also beat St. John’s Prep.”

The Falcons are kings of the hill at this juncture until they are knocked off, but they will need a superlative effort to defeat a Wayland team that has been anxious for revenge.

Forced to crank it up a notch from their previous two blowout tournament wins, the Danvers High Falcon Cagers got their first serious post-season test last night in the SRO Triton Regional gym and turned back Whittier Regional Voke, 69-51, in their Division 3 North section semifinal meeting.

The Falcons, 21-2, led all the way; 5-0 and 9-2 early, 19-15 early in the second quarter, before pitching a pivotal four-minute defensive shutout  right before halftime that gave the defending state champs a 33-24 intermission advantage. Danvers held Whittier scoreless, forcing five Wildcat turnovers in the process, from the 5:30 mark until the 1:33 juncture leading into halftime.  It was 30-15 by the time Whittier, 20-3, broke the scoring drought, and by that time the game was, for all intents and purposes, over.

The Falcons left no doubt how this game would finish in the first 2:30 of the third quarter when they cranked it up at the offensive end, scoring 12 unanswered points in a 1:50 span on successive three-point bombs from sophomore Vinny Clifford (14 points, 4-for-4 from beyond the arc; that’s 11 3s the last two games for the sharpshooting sniper), Nick McKenna (17) and Nick Bates (19 points, 7 rebounds) and a three-point play inside from Dan Connors (13).

These two vital stretches in the game, one defensively, one offensively, typify why the Falcons appear destined to win a second straight Division 3 state title: they can put the killer choke hold on an opponent at both ends of the floor.

This was as solid a two-way performance as the Falcons have played since their state title run a year ago. And with point guard Eric Martin (11 asissts) showing no after-effects at either side of midcourt of the hip flexor/groin strain injury suffered two weeks ago in the Comcast Invitational, the Falcons appear to be functioning at full throttle.

Whittier was a worthy opponent, unlike its two Commonwealth Athletic Conference brethren who got shellacked by the Falcons last week by 38 and 41 points. Whittier was a far better team than the final score indicated, but its inability to hit open shots or finish strong penetrations to the basket (caused in large part by the ferocious manner in which the Falcons contest every field goal attempt), as well as its sloppy ball handling, doomed the Haverhill school from the start.

Now the Falcons await the winner of tonight’s other D-3 North semifinal at Burlington High between 21-0 North Reading, the No. 1 seed out of the Cape Ann League, and perennial D-3 contender Wayland, 18-4, the No. 4 seed. Danvers is the No. 2 seed.

The winner tonight gets Danvers in the D-3 final Saturday at Tsongas Arena in Lowell, time to be announced tomorrow by the MIAA.

Wayland wants another shot at Danvers in the worst way after it squandered a 10-point lead in the last 1:26 of regulation and fell to the Falcons in overtime, 70-67, last March in the D-3 semifinals. Mike Scarfo’s three-pointer at the end of regulation forced the overtime or there would be no D-3 state title to defend currently. Undefeated North Reading wants at the defending champs as well, so tonight’s showdown should be a doozie.

Three more wins and the Falcons repeat as state champeens.

The Falcons now stand as the only Danvers standard bearer in the tournament after Division 1 top seed St. John’s Prep lost an OT heartbreaker at home last Friday to Andover, 62-59. Andover was eliminated last night by Central Catholic.

Danvers resident Mike Kasprzak and his unbeaten Melrose Red Raiders saw their Division 2 state title hopes dashed last night in a North section semifinal by Brighton (remember them?), 65-62, but a fantastic year for Kasprzak and company nonetheless.

The surging Danvers High Falcons, after looking unbeatable in its first two tournament wins, takes on its third straight opponent from the apparently woefully weak Commonwealth Athletic Conference Tuesday night at 7 at Triton Regional in Byfield. That’s a straight shot up Route 1, taking a left at The Governor’s Academy and taking a right onto school propertyabout a mile up on the right.

Danvers, 20-2 thanks to blowout successes against Greater Lawrence, 79-41, and Minuteman Regional, 82-41, takes on CAC champion Whittier Regional, 21-3. The winner moves on to the Division 3 North title game Saturday at Tsongas Arena in Lowell, time to be determined, most likely against Cape Ann League standard bearer North Reading, 21-0, assuming the Hornets take care of business in their semifinal game Wednesday night at Burlington High against the winner of tonight’s Arlington Catholic-Wayland victor.

Wayland wants a rematch with Danvers after losing to the Falcons a year ago in the tournament after blowing a 10-point lead in the last minute-plus. But all signs point to a long-awaited showdown between Danvers, the defending D-3 state champion, and North Reading.

The big question for Danvers is whether they can keep up the annihilation mode against Whittier. Loking at scores can give small hints of what’s to come, so let’s review. Whittier has advanced with wins over Cape Ann League reps Amesbury, 59-21 (how’s that for solid defense??) and Newburyport, 55-37. Impressive, I guess.

During the regular season, Haverhill-based Whittier defeated Greater Lawrence by  20 and 16 points, Minuteman by 27 in their one meeting. Four other results of which to take note: Whittier lost a non-league game by 12 points at Melrose, now 22-0 and the favorite to win Division 2 North. That makes Whittier sound more formidable. The Wildcats defeated  another Middlesex League foe, Winchester, by nine, but lost to a very weak Chelsea team on the road, by one. Their other loss came at Greater New Bedford by six. Greater New Bedford finished 16-6.

Conclusion: Whittier will be anything but another 40-point victim of the Falcons. Maybe a 20-point victim. As long as the Falcons remain healthy, especially point guard extraordinaire Eric Martim, seemingly recovered sufficiently from his hip flexor/strained groin from two weeks ago, the Falcons look like a runaway train that won’t be derailed, not even by North Reading.

A victory tomorrow night will make the Falcons 21-2, the second straight year  they have achieved a school-record 21 wins. They went 21-4 a year ago en route to capturing the state title.

Sophomore Vinny Clifford’s seven threes is a school tourney record and fell one shy of the eight he made during the regular season in a rout at St. Mary’s of Lynn.

This was big-time high school tournament basketball at its best in Massachusetts, A turnaway crowd of 1300 in the Prep’s Memorial Gymnasium Friay night to watch Division 1 North top-seeded St. John’s (19-2) host No. 8 seed Andover (15-6), with dueling student cheering sections, outstanding clutch play, a battle of matching wits between coaches Sean Connolly and Andover’s Dave Fazio and the most intense chest-to-chest, man-to-man defense you wll ever seeand all.

In the end, it came down to a buzzer-beating, game-tieing, driving layup by Andover to force the game into overtime at 48-48 (after the Prep’s Josh Syska had canned an eight-foot baseline jumper with seven seconds remaining for what appeared to be the winning bucket), and superior Warrior overtime play that produced a pulsating 62-59 upset victory.

Observations:

• The Prep lost this game in regulation based on poor foul shooting and its inability to get back on defense in the closing seconds. Half the crowd thought the layup basket at the end of regulation by sophomore David Giribaldi was good; half thought it was no good. Initially the basket waqs waved off and the Prep thought it had won, storming the court. But after Fazio spoke to the officials, asking for reconsideration, he got it. The head referee, after a minute’s delay and consultation with his two fellow officials, ruled the field goal good, and we had overtime.
• It was 60-58 with 23 seconds left when the Prep’s Jake Burt was fouled on an inside shot attempt and got two shots. he made the first, missed the second, and the Prep trailed by one and the home team had to foul.
• Andover made one foul shot to make it 61-59, but a travel violation by Drex Costello in the offensive end with 11.4 second left was a killer.
• Prep Game MVP Tyler Dooley , after Andover made one more free throw to make it 62-59 with 15.3 seconds left, missed an air-ball three in the final seconds.
• Free throws hurt both teams, the Prep made 9 of 12 in overtime, but missed a bundle during regulation (17 for 33 overall). Andover missed four of its last six in overtime, which could have given the Prep a chance to win it.
• Bottom line: The Prep could not hold a 46-39 lead on its home floor in the final 2:49 of regulation; the Prep missed several shots that could have iced the game in that span; and, as noted already, the Eagles could not stop Andover from going coast to coast for the tieing layup as regulation time expired.
• Andover’s Fazio is a coach you love to hate if you’re not an Andover fan, his constant complaining to the officials a terrible distraction, but the man can coach.
• Sadly, this is one the Prep let get away; an end to a spectacular over-achieving season that had the Eagles ranked atop The Boston Globe Top 20 when the regular season had concluded.

Congrats to Coach Pat Veilleux and his Danvers High girls basketball team after an impressive 50-42 opening round victory over arch rival Gloucester in the Division 2 North Section tournament last night in the DHS fieldhouse.

This was my first glimpse of the current edition of the Lady Falcons and they delivered in the clutch, thanks to the accurate fourth-quarter shooting of Kasey Sherry (16) and freshman Hannah Llewellyn (12).

The teams were meeting for the third time after Danvers (13-8) won the first matchup at home comfortably, then lost the last game of the regular season on Cape Ann by a single point.

The rubber game was fascinating, a game of surges. Danvers went up 6-0, then Gloucester put on a run to take the lead. This happened several times during the night until the Lady Falcons turned the game in their favor, running off 11 straight points to grab a 36-30 lead and led the rest of the way.

The No. 5-seeded Falcons seem to have the right combination of talent, inside and out, offense and defense, to make a run in Division 2. They play at No. 4 seed Wilmington, also 13-8, Sunday at 4 in the quarterfinal round, 24 hours after the 19-2 Danvers boys host Minuteman Regional (13-8), in the Division 3 boys quarters in the DHS fieldhouse.

May the good times keep rolling for Danvers High Basketball over the weekend.

Among the 500-plus fans at the game last night was UMass-Lowell athletic director Dana Skinner, Danvers’ greatest basketball player ever, who is the uncle of the talented Miss Sherry. Skinner recently announced that UMass-Lowell is going Division 1 in all sports, a heady undertaking for a Division 2 program, but one which Skinner is anxious to take on.

Think the Danvers High Falcon Hoopsters are primed to repeat as Division 3 state champions? Consider these facts from their opening round 78-31 annihilation of Greater Lawrence last night in the DHS fieldhouse:

• Danvers led 18-0 after one quarter, forcing 13 Greater Lawrence turnovers in the process. Yes, 18 to zippo.
• Danvers led, 36-15, at halftime, Greater Lawrence having committed 18 turnovers.
• Greater Lawrence (GL) did not hit the rim with a shot until 5:24 had elapsed.
• GL did not score score a field goal until 2:20 into the second quarter.

And, better than all of those statistics, starting point guard Eric Martin, the team’s leader and heart and soul, played the entire first quarter without displaying any after-effects of a hip flexor/strained groin that he had suffered two games ago against Brighton that made him miss the next game against Newton North. Thanks to a nine-day recovery period, Martin looked like his old self last night, even if he did miss all six shots he took. The rest of his game, especially his masterful defense, looked as sharp as ever.

“The leg feels good,” Martin said after the Falcons extended their best-ever season record to 19-2. “It seems to be getting better every day. The rest was helpful. I was about 90 percent tonight; felt a little rust.”

There will be little time for rest, however. The Falcons are right back at it in the North Section quarterfinal round Saturday in the fieldhouse at 4 p.m. against another team from the Commonwealth Athletic Conference, No. 7 seed Minuteman Regional (13-8), which advanced Tuesday with a 71-56 win over South Boston.

Danvers head coach John Walsh, ever the perfectionist, was restrained in his praise of the Falcons, but admitted he was encouraged by the way they bouncezd back after suffering their first two losses of the season. “We defended well,” he said, obviously referring to GL’s 24 turnovers. “We shot the ball decently, especially Nick McKenna (he made 4 shots in a row in the first half, game-high 24 points total). But we have a lot of work to do to reach the level of play I believe we’re capable of.”

His approach to starting Martin, but limiting his playing time to fourteen minutes? “He was ready to play. I just wasn’t sure how far he’d go,” Walsh said. “He showed what makes him effective (even without scoring) while he was out there.”

Martin’s incessant pressure on the ball at midcourt led to a bunch of turnovers, which in turn led to fastbreak points galore.

Other observations:

• Great to see sophomore sharpshooter Vinny Clifford (18 points) find his range after a couple shaky outings against Brighton and Newton North. Clifford scored 18 points and hit five threes.
• McKenna and pivot man Dan Connors (10)are clearly the Falcons’ go-to players offensively, but Martin showed he hasn’t lost any quickness with his penetration moves. Nick Bates (12) can score inside or out and Clifford will deliver the dagger-like threes to drive rival coaches batty.
• Why are the DHS cheerleaders, 25 strong, so inactive during the games?
• Twin brothers Jason and Adam Tibbetts are thriving as “Freddie Falcons.”
• Great to see DHS hoop great Ed Gieras in the stands with Mike Hennessey.
• Nice job by Jeff Avigian on the introductions, which includes the Danvers starters’ elementary schools.
• The Falcons would not have won the state title a year ago without 6-foot, 8-inch all-state center George Merry, now playing for WPI. But with Merry gone, Walsh has been able to extend his clamping, pressing defenses to all corners of the court with his seven-player rotation.
• George’s kid brother Peter, a developing sophomore big man, impressed in fourth quarter action with a couple blocks and six points on 3-for-3 shooting.

That was quite an affair they had for noted sports marketer Andy Buckley at Anthony’s Hawthorne by the Sea on the Swampscott oceanfront last Saturday night. More than a hundred family members, friends and business associates gave the Marblehead native and St. John’s Prep and Pennsylvania grad  a rousing salute to his 70th birthday, replete with an Elvis impersonator, only natural since Andy has been in “bro” love with the legendary singer since he was a tyke.

All in all a grand way to pay homage to the former west coaster who has relocated to his Marblehead roots after a lengthy stay in Holmby Hills, California, where he and his late wife Barbara  enjoyed the sunshine and watched son Andy Jr. make a nice living working in front of and behind the cameras in television and movies and oldest son Fred plkay quarterback at Stanford before getting into business near the family’s pre-California home in southern Florida. Andy Jr. has played the David Wallace character on NBC’s hit comedy The Office for several years.

Daughter Bonnie did a great job making the evening’s agenda run like clockwork, accented by a menu of lobster bisque, Caesar salad, popovers, prime rib, grilled salmon, New York sirloin and baked Alaska/hocolate expresso cake.

I had a delightful time sitting with former Tedesco club champ Bill Crane and Brian Buckley’s, Andy’s younger brother who became a football legendy quarterbacking Marblehead High and Harvard.

Look forward to your 75th, Andy.

To some of us, it seems like only weeks ago that we were toasting the Division 3 state champion Danvers High Falcons at Spinelli’s on Route 1 in Lynnfield. Well, here we go again, and unlike a year ago, when the Falcons surprisingly marched to the state title, thanks in large part to a miraculous comeback victory in their second of five tourney games, they are favored to repeat as champions. There will be no surprises this year unless they get upset. In essence, everyone is gearing up for a Division 3 North title game against unbeaten North Reading.

That road to the top of the tourney mountain begins tomorrow night at home against the bottom seed in Division 3 North, 10-10 Greater Lawrence Voke Tech, a school with a respected post-season history, but a team that should not give Danvers any trouble.

Greater Lawrence finished fourth in the Commonwealth Athletic Conference Large division with an 8-6 record, scoring 51.9 points a game while allowing 54.8 points. Whittier Tech, the No. 3 seed in North 3 behind 20-0 North Reading and 18-2 Danvers, is the third seed at 18-2 overall, 13-1 atop the CAC Large, considered a much weaker league than Danvers’ Northeastern Conference.

So it projects as an easy opener for the Falcons, though there are major questions to be answered about the host team for the 7 p.m. tapoff. No. 1: How well has NEC Player of the Year Eric Martin, one of the top point guards in Eastern Massachusetts, recovered from the strained groin he suffered against Brighton in the Comcast Invitation February 17? No. 2: Might third-year coach John Walsh take a chance in one respect and hold Martin out of what should be an easy first-round victory, or take a chance and see how the groin responds to game situations? My guess is Walsh will hold Martin out, as he did for the Falcons’ Comcast Invitational consolation game loss to Newton North. He shouldn’t need to play.

No. 3: How will the Falcons as a team respond after losing their last two games at the Comcast following an 18-0 start to the season? My guess, based on the matchups and how positive the players sounded in interviews I conducted right after those two losses (see the corresponding story below), is that they will have no trouble returning to their winning ways.

Fact is the Falcons are on a mission to become the first team to repeat as Division 3 state champs in nearly 20 years.

It’s been a run of extraordinary means since Walsh arrived at Danvers three years ago from a junior varsity coaching gig at Watertown. Year 1: 13-10 record and a tight loss to Walsh’s former team, Watertown, in the 3 North semifinals, the furthest a Danvers team had ever advanced. Year 2: 21-4 record, first-ever state title. Year 3: best-ever 18-2 regular season mark, first-ever unbeaten (16-0) NEC record, where the next best team had four losses, outscoring opponents by an average score of 68-46, an unprecedented 23-game win streak carried over from the state title run, No. 1 ranking two straight weeks in the Boston Globe  weekly poll, and No. 2 seed in the North section tourney.

The Falcons are a mind-blowing 52-16 under Walsh. Now we begin to find out if they can sweep the post-season again. That will take a 6-0 record this time. And that’s their mission. They want another Spinelli’s-like celebration come April.

• Elsewhere in Danvers, the Hub of championship basketball this winter, Catholic Conference champion and Division 1 top seed St. John’s Prep (18-2), opens tourney play tonight at 7 at home against 7-13 Billerica. This one could be over by the end of the first quarter. Best wishes to coach Sean Connolly and the Prep Eagles. They seem capable of winning their second Division 1 state title in three years with this overachieving group.
• The Danvers High girls (12-8), under highly respected coach Pat Veilleux, begin play in Division 2 North at home Thursday night at 7 against NEC foe Gloucester (10-10), with whom they split during the regular season. Gloucester knocked off the Falcons in their respective final regular season games, 38-37, at Gloucester. Kasey Sherry will be the key performer for the Falcons.
• Lastly, best wishes to Danvers resident Mike Kasprzak, coach of the top-seeded 20-0 Melrose Red Raiders, who begin their tourney journey Thursday at 7 at home to Middlesex League rival Arlington, a 68-52 victor Monday over Tewksbury. Melrose beat Arlington by two points last week to ensure a 20-0 regular season.
• Correction: Previously I had referred to the two George Radulski-coached Danvers High teams that lost heartbreaking playoff games for the Northeastern Conference in successive years. Those two teams, led by Jay Clapp (today a retired cardiologist) and Bill Stacey (a retired Danvers police officer) lost to Winthrop at Wakefield, 56-52, in 1960, and to Woburn (led by Ed “Tanjo” Foley), 69-67, at Marblehead in 1961.

Well, here they are. The Danvers High boys’ basketball team that has made history like no other Falcon cage squad.  Now, they are preparing to defend their Division 3 state championship, most likely starting late next week as the No. 2 seed in the North section. North Reading, at 20-0, will get the top seed, and if form prevails these two teams will meet in the section final the first of March.

But for the moment it’s time for the Danvers frontliners to pause and reflect on their extraordinary achievement this past regular season: 18 straight wins to start, an outright Northeastern Conference Small title (after sharing the top spot with Winthrop a year ago), an outright NEC overall title (though it’s not recognized by the league) and the best regular season record in the history of any of the four major sports at Danvers High — 18-2.

Now for the toughest part — defending the Section, Eastern Mass. and state titles won last March.

“It’s been awfully exciting for all of us,” says point guard Eric Martin, who injured a groin muscle in the team’s first loss of the season against Brighton in the Comcast Invitation, then sat out the consolation game loss to Newton North. “We’ve been well prepared every game and competed hard every game.”

As for his groin injury? “It’s a strain,” he said. “Our trainer gave it a good looking over yesterday and told me how to take care of it. I can play when I feel ready, but I know I’m going to feel the groin no matter what. The question is how it’ll feel once I go full tilt in a game. I’ll wrap it. I’ll give it heat. I’ll rest it as long as I can. But I realize I won’t be a hundred percent whenever I play. I just hope it’ll hold out through the tournament.”

That’s the question of the hour for the Falcons. They showed they could handle the Northeastern Conference’s next best teams, i.e. Lynn Classical, Lynn English and Salem, without top scorer Nick McKenna for seven games, winning all seven without the senior swingman, including a two-point escape at Beverly.

But the Falcons did not look like themselves at either end of the floor once Martin was injured against Brighton. The impact of his absence against Newton North was evident from the get-go, despite the exceptional job McKenna did filling in at the point. There are reasons NEC coaches tabbed Martin the top player in the NEC Small (and in most observers eyes the MVP of the entire league).

There’s a whole new dynamic hanging over the Falcons as they await the announcement of the Section pairings by the MIAA. How well can/will they play with a less-than-100 percent star point guard?

“If we play our game we’ll be alright,” says Martin. “If we run our offense right and play good defense, get some points off tunrovers, we’ll have a good chance in every game.”

Inside force Dan Connors is proud of how the team played to put that 18-0 record together, which earned the Falcons a first-ever No. 1 ranking in both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald weekly rankings. “We had to be happy with that,” he said. “We never lost. The last two games? Don’t know if we’ll play teams as good as them in the tournament, but we better be ready to face very tough teams. Everyone wants to knock us off. Brighton and Newton North will hopefully make us better for the tournament even if they were losses. We know what we have to work on, that’s for sure.

“It’ll start with our rebounding and defense,” he added. “Both need to be better than they were in our two losses. We’ll give it our best shot.”

“We took care of business during the regular season except for the two games at Babson,” McKenna, who has shown excellent form since returning from his bout with mononucleosis, observed. “Our confidence built up as the season moved on, and I think we’ve still got the kind of confidence you need to win the state tournment.

“We’ve got to play to our potential, though. Everone wants to see the defending champ get beat. We have to respond to that every time we step on the court.”

Nick Bates pointed out that “we really came together as a team from the start of the season, knowing we’d lost two fine players in George Merry and Joe Amico (via graduation). Several of us have been playing together since AAU days before high school and I guess it’s been paying off last year and this. We believe in each other and Coach (John) Walsh’s coaching style has been a good fit.

“This past weekend was a wakeup call and a reminder how important Eric is to our team. Teamwise we’ve got to get back to our best defensive game and make more of our shots.”

Sophomore Vinny Clifford will hopefully make more of his shots after a rocky weekend at Babson. He enjoyed a fantastic first 18 games, during which he hit a team-high 47 three-pointers. “It’s been a great season so far, even with the two losses,” he said. “We learned a lot in those two defeats. I know I sure did. We need to play better when Eric isn’t on the floor. If we get back to what we were doing so well the first 18 games, we’ll have a good chance to do well in the tournament again.”

Kieran Beck and Jake Cawlina have played major roles coming off the bench, Beck even moreso since he started in place of McKenna during his illness and for Martin Monday against Newton North. They;re anxious to get the tournament underway as well.

“We can do well in the tournament if we play better as a team, run our plays right, get the open shots and look for layups,” he said. “Those kind of things got us to 18-0. We also have to get back to playing the kind of defense we played before the tournament. That way we’ll rebound better and score more points on the break.

“Me? It’s felt great to be in a position to contribute any way I can, like in helping the team on defense and making a shot once in a while, doing what the coach asks of me. Last year we improved as the tournament went on. Hopefully we can improve the same way starting next week, whenever we start playing.”

Cawlina, grandson of the legendary candlepin bowling champion and Professinal Bowlers Tour competitor Joe Cawlina, knows all too well this is the last roundup for him and his seven fellow seniors. “Last year was great, but to stay on top of our games and start 18-0 this year was just as great. Now we have to get back on track for the tournament,” Cawlina said after the team;s Wednesday workout. The team then went bowling at Sunnyside in Danversport and to supper across the street at Oniontown Grille.

“The keys will be the same as last year and this regular season,” he added. “Work hard in practice, give every ounce of effort we have, execute our plays, the basics that have made us a top team. We pride ourselves in our defense, our pressing and trapping. We’ll need to do that well too. If we do, we can go deep in the tournament like last year.”