LAWRENCE, Mass. — Stevie Martinez can take you to the exact place, the exact moment when he realized Javi Lopez was really different. He had watched from afar as Lopez, as a fifth, sixth and seventh-grader, had separated himself as a basketball talent on the courts of the Boys & Girls Club in Lawrence.
But when Lopez reached the eighth grade, Martinez finally had the opportunity to coach him. That’s when he learned who Lopez really was. His values and ambitions became clear. Then an assistant coach at Central Catholic, Martinez helped the kids on his eighth grade team at the Boys Club get situated with their high school destinations.
Lopez didn’t need any help.
Martinez remembers the moment like it was yesterday. Inside the Boys Club, in an area between the dance room and weight room and just outside an office, Lopez told him something with unique confidence.
“He looked me dead in my eye and said, ‘I’m going to Central Catholic,’” recalled Martinez, now the head coach at Greater Lawrence. “I’ll never forget it. I was like, this kid knows what he wants to do. …
“He understood where he wanted to be at a very young age.”
Four years later, Lopez has stayed true to his word. He’s built a legacy at Central Catholic, where he’s now the all-time leading scorer and regarded as the best player in MIAA basketball. He’ll lead the top-seeded Raiders on a journey over the next two-plus weeks that they hope ends with a Division 1 state championship. It would mean something more.
In an era when promising basketball prospects are fleeing the MIAA for prep schools, Lopez has stayed loyal to his Lawrence roots. A high-academic student committed to Brandeis, he’s shown it’s possible to create your own path, stay home and still achieve your goals.
“He's a Lawrence kid,” Central coach Mark Dunham said. “He wanted to be at Central Catholic his whole life. He wanted to be remembered at Central Catholic. … It’s so much more than basketball.”
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Lopez’s Lawrence love is deep-rooted. The importance of loyalty was instilled in Lopez by his family, and his father specifically. Rick Nault, his middle school AAU coach, also taught him those lessons as other programs tried to recruit him. But maybe more than anywhere, it was nurtured at the Lawrence Boys Club.
Lopez played for Jaycob Morales, now the head coach at Masconomet, when he was in the sixth grade. He always played up in age groups. He battled against Lawrence greats like Joendy Rosario and Obbie Luciano, earning their respect by showing up every day, even if they beat him. He was already mature beyond his years.
But he still needed a little wake-up call, and it came in the eighth grade. He had the right coach in Martinez, who has an old-school approach. Lopez remembered a moment during their first practice together. He took a shot, Martinez said he could get a better shot, and Lopez made a face at him.
“I had a little ego,” Lopez said. “He got in my face and grabbed my shirt and he said, ‘If you don’t like it, you can get your ass out.’ That opened my eyes. That’s what flipped the script a little bit.”
“I had to get into him a little bit,” Martinez said. “I was like, yo, my man, you’re above no one here. It’s either get on the bus or get off the bus. … To his credit, Javi has always been an old soul. When he walks in a room, he understands the temperature of the room and he says, I better adapt quickly.”
It showed in his game, too. That year, Martinez said Lopez’s jump shot was non-existent. He took him to the side, tucked his elbow in and did some form shooting. That’s all it took. Within a week, Lopez’s shot had totally transformed.
“Javi is an endless worker,” Martinez said. “He has physical gifts. He’s strong as an ox, he has quick hands, his mind is as sharp as they come, but his work ethic is second to none. … There’s a reason why he’s called the best player in the MIAA.”
Even at a young age, Lopez recognized the value and importance of his roots, and the unique bond and unity that makes Lawrence special.
“I feel like everywhere you look, you obviously see a lot of Hispanic people, but more so like just people trying to work their ass off and make it, which also applies to sports,” Lopez said. “It all teaches us life lessons. Growing up, being an inner-city kid has just showed me the bigger things in life. It obviously helps you be a better athlete when you understand those things and get a better perspective on everything, stuff like the hard work. …
“If I grew up (somewhere else), I don’t think I’d have the same drive, same will to win that has (been) instilled in me.”
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When Lopez entered Central as a freshman in 2022, it was something of a new era. Program great Xavier MacKenzie had just graduated. Lopez was not expecting to have a big role. But Martinez had glowed about his potential to Dunham, who was initially skeptical about a freshman making an instant impact.
“He says, ‘OK, we’ll see. This is the big boys. I don’t know if that’s going to happen,’” Martinez recalled Dunham saying. “I’ll never forget when Javi showed up and he’s like, OK, this kid’s going to play.”
Lopez earned a starting role as a freshman and helped the Raiders reach the Div. 1 quarterfinals. There were growing pains, but Lopez understood the standard that had been set before him. The next year, after several teammates transferred out, Lopez was named a co-captain as a sophomore.
He had to grow up fast.
“I just got thrown into the fire,” Lopez said.
Alongside tri-captains John Kelley and Bladimir Hiraldo, Lopez blossomed as an all-league player, but it wasn’t easy. He was counted on to be a vocal leader and asked to score 20 points a night. He said the pressure overwhelmed him at times, but he figured it out. And it helped him grow and mature quicker, which has benefitted the last two Central teams.
“That got me more used to the spotlight,” Lopez said.
Of course, the spotlight brought attention.
The calls started coming from prep schools, offering him an opportunity for better competition and more college recruitment exposure. But Lopez never budged. He never got the temptation.
Central Catholic was all he needed. Staying in Lawrence was all he wanted. Loyalty was what mattered to him, from his school to his high school AAU program, Mass Rivals.
“I didn’t really think about it too hard,” Lopez said. “It was kind of a no-brainer for me to stay here, personally, because I’ve always been raised to be loyal to those who are loyal to you. That loyalty goes a long way when you can trust somebody to be there. Obviously a lot of people are doing it because they think it’s the best decision for them, but I also think a lot of people are doing it because others are doing it. I was kind of an outlier, and I was OK with that. …
“The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, so you have to be loyal to wherever you are.”
Lopez stayed and became the Merrimack Valley Conference Player of the Year as a junior, surpassing 1,000 career points as he led Central to the Final Four. The prep school opportunity was still there. It was still a no.
And he had unfinished business, too.
The heartbreak of Central’s semifinal loss to Franklin lingered, but it motivated Lopez all summer. That night, after a tied game through three quarters, Franklin just had more gas in the tank. It was a learning lesson for Lopez that all the little details matter, because it’ll show up in March.
Lopez put extra responsibility on himself as a leader. He’s urged his teammates to build good habits, led hard practices and workouts, and watched extra film to learn tendencies, even if it’s not his matchup.
“I think my mom and dad would tell you I put a lot of pressure on myself with the times I’m waking up to go work out (and) how I’m fitting things in with work. They would tell you that I do a lot,” Lopez said. “But I think I obviously want to leave this place with no regrets, so I’m fine with gassing myself out and doing as much as I can because hopefully it does lead me to a state championship.”
He has an entire city behind him. In November, he had a chance to express what it means to him.
Around Thanksgiving, Central Catholic held a liturgy inside the gym, and Lopez was asked to get up on a stage in front of about 1,500 people – including students and faculty – to talk about what he was thankful for. For about three minutes, he expressed how much the Central Catholic community meant to him, his deep connection to the school and Lawrence and why it was important for him to finish his high school career there.
The pride is real. Around the city, he’s recognized wherever he goes. He stops to take pictures with kids who ask, because he understands the bigger picture and inspiring the next generation. It’s not for show, either. He works out with Martinez and his young kids at Greater Lawrence every day of the summer when he doesn’t have to. He comes back to the Boys Club all the time.
“Javi has never forgotten his roots,” Martinez said.
“Javi has proven that you can be an outstanding basketball player and be an outstanding student at the same time, and more importantly, be an outstanding person. He’s done all three.”
And he did it his way.
“It’s just special,” he said. “To say that in a time when everybody is going prep, I stayed true to myself and true to my city and stayed here and did things my way, and hopefully win a state championship. That’s the special part of it. The legacy that’s building, because if I stay here two years or three and then I go prep, it’s kind of like, 'Javi’s off now.' But being present in the city, doing it and then going off to college, that’s where the real legacy is built.”
