LAWRENCE — Nick Clark looked around at the blue sea of Methuen alums, both old and young, still mingling around the Central Catholic court.
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Boys Basketball, 03/06/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
George Smith hit five 3-pointers on his way to 16 points and Central Catholic beat archrival Andover 59-50. Kevin Constant added a team-high 17 points for the winners. For the Golden Warriors, Cedric Gillette scored a game-high 20 points.
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Boys Basketball, 02/13/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LOWELL — While the score was the same as the first time around, Lowell’s second 72-58 victory over Central Catholic came much easier than it did in early January.
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Boys Basketball, 02/02/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Colin Bradanese had 19 points and Kevin Constant 17 for Central in a 65-53 win over Haverhill. For the Hillies, Daejon Pendelton-Mills tossed in 14 and Tom Vaillancourt 13.
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Boys Basketball, 01/30/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
DANVERS — St. John’s Prep was up by at least seven on multiple occasions in the second half but it never really felt like things were locked up.
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Boys Basketball, 01/28/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Freshman Jermaine Wiggins, the son of the ex-Patriot, had six points and Colin Bradanese shined with 24 as Central rolled past Tewksbury, 83-50.
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Boys Basketball, 01/23/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE — With a couple teams averaging a combined 149 points, most of the overflow crowd entering Memorial Gymnasium Thursday evening expected some big numbers to be put on the board.
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Boys Basketball, 01/18/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
CENTRAL PREPS FOR LAWRENCE WITH EASY WIN
BY JEFF HAMRICK
sports@eagletribune.com
LAWRENCE — With a crosstown showdown looming on Thursday, Central Catholic looked more than ready in Tuesday's tuneup against North Andover.
Colin Bradanese scored 17 of the Raiders' 33 second-half points as Central downed the visiting Scarlet Knights 64-52.
"I thought we played really, really well defensively," Central Catholic coach John Walsh said. "There are obviously some things we need to fix like our help-side defense. But other than that, I thought the effort was there.
"Now, on Thursday, we have a huge one against Lawrence, who many people believe is the most talented team in the state. That's going to be an unbelievable test. Hopefully, we'll be ready to go. I think we will be."
Central (5-1 MVC, 7-3 overall) hassled North Andover defensively, limiting the Scarlet Knights to eight points in the opening quarter and 20 in the half. A 12-2 run capped by a Bradanese layup, provided a 16-point lead with 2:24 left in the second.
"Colin played incredible," Walsh said. "In and around the rim, he's really good."
Dom Keegan and Manny Sanchez helped Bradanese on the offensive end, scoring a combined 16 points as the Raiders grabbed a 31-19 halftime lead.
Bradanese ignited Central in the third. A three from the baseline and a driving layup opened up the Raiders' biggest lead of the night 38-19 early in the period.
"I was just thinking if I got the ball that I was going to be able to make shots, and I think my teammates were thinking the same thing," said Bradanese, who entered the game with a team-leading 19.2 point-scoring average.
North Andover (5-1, 6-3) had trouble finding the bucket, shooting 34.6% from the floor (18 of 52). The Knights had scored at least 65 each of its previous three games and 71 or more in two of them. Jake McElroy scored all 14 of his points after intermission and Chim Ogwuru added 13 for North Andover.
"They did a great job pressuring us," said coach Paul Tanglis, whose squad could not get closer than nine at any point in the final three periods. "They took us out of a lot of things we were trying to run. I thought tonight, we just didn't take good shots, and that's a credit to the way (the Raiders) played defensively. And obviously, we didn't get enough stops defensively to get out on transition."
Keegan and Sanchez each finished with 10 for the Raiders, who will enter Thursday's game with confidence.
"We have to contain Luis (Reynoso) and Juan Felix (Rodriguez)," Bradanese said of the Lancer combo that is aveaging a combined 43.4 points a game. "They are probably two of the best players in the state, so we have to contain them. But I'm looking forward to it. It's a rivalry game, inner city. It should be packed with Lawrence fans and Central fans."
North Andover (5-1, 6-3) 8 11 16 17 — 52
Central Catholic (5-1, 6-3) 14 17 16 17 — 64
North Andover (52): Darren Watson 1 1-3 3, Gabe DeSouze 2 2-2 8, Jake McElroy 3 6-7 14, Ryan Slattery 1 0-0 2, Garrett Murphy 2 0-0 4, Chim Ogwuru 5 3-3 13, Colin Lee 4 0-0 8, Kyle Moore 0 0-0 0, Mike Gorgoni 0 0-0 0, Kellan Murphy 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 12-15 52
Central Catholic (64): Kevin Constant 3 0-0 6, Bret Edwards 1 3-4 5, Dom Keegan 4 0-0 10, Colin Bradanese 9 7-10 26, George Smith 3 0-1 7, Cam Homsey 0 0-0 0, Manny Sanchez 3 2-2 10, Matt Downer 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 12-17 64
3-pointers: NA — DeSouza 2, McElroy 2; CC — Keegan 2, Sanchez 2, Bradanese, Smith
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Boys Basketball, 01/16/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Andover threw a scare into Central Catholic, but George Smith (20 points, 5 3's) and Colin Bradanese (14 points) shined and Central prevailed 70-65.
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Boys Basketball, 01/11/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Despite 22 points for Kevin Contant, Central Catholic fell to Lowell 72-58 in a battle of MVC and state powers. UMass Lowell-bound Alex Rivera scored 27 for Lowell.
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Boys Basketball, 01/02/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
