LAWRENCE — Colin Bradanese and Sam Lara spent nearly half the game on the bench. Not because they were ineffective, mind you, but because they and the other starters were so dominant they weren’t needed after a certain point.
But when the final buzzer sounded on Central Catholic’s decisive 73-54 win over Lynn English in Tuesday’s Division 1 North first-round matchup, the two Raider big men knew they had a big test ahead of them.
“They’re a great team right now,” Bradanese said of archrival Andover, who Central will now face in the North quarterfinal. “(Max) Beati right now, he’s killing it, and Beasley is killing it, too. They’re a really good team right now. They’re playing at a high level.”
Central Catholic (18-5) and Andover (13-8) know each other better than just about anybody.
They already have squared off three times, with Central winning both regular season meetings and the Commonwealth Motors Christmas Tourney final
Most of Andover’s team was in attendance for the first half of Central’s game on Tuesday.
If the state tournament’s first round was any indication, Andover vs. Central Catholic IV should feature a clash of big men playing their best basketball of the season. Andover’s 6-foot-8, 300-plus pound center Beati is coming off the best game of his career, dropping 31 points with 10 rebounds on Methuen, while Bradanese (15 points, 9 rebounds) and Lara (12 points, 6 rebounds) both had their way with the Lynn English frontcourt.
After Tuesday’s game, the Raider forwards acknowledged the challenge Beati will pose.
“I don’t know what exactly I’m going to do to stop that, his post game right now is really up there,” Bradanese said. “I’m going to try my best to D him up and limit his post touches and maybe his hook shots, I guess.”
“He’s beasting lately on the boards and offensively,” Lara said. “We’re going to have a matchup problem but we’ll see how it goes.”
There were no such problems for Central on Tuesday, as the Raiders started the game on a 12-0 run and led 25-10 by the end of the first quarter. Central pushed the lead to 43-23 at halftime, then 66-33 after the third, and by the time the fourth came the Raiders mostly relied on their reserves.
Outside of Bradanese and Lara, Central also got fine performances from freshman George Smith (10 points), Dom Keegan (10 points) and Manny Sanchez (9 points).
Lynn English (10-10) was led by junior Javonte Edwards (12 points).
Central Catholic and Andover last met in the state tournament in the 2014 Division 1 North Final, which Central won 59-53 thanks to the fourth quarter heroics of Tyler Nelson. Central went on to reach the state final, where it fell to Springfield Putnam.
The Andover game will be Saturday at Central with the time to be determined, according to the Central athletics Twitter account.
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Boys Basketball, 02/28/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
