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Desrosiers owns the paint, Central wallops Andover

Friday, December, 28 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

Eleven second-half points, 30 for the game.

That certainly wasn't part of the Andover High game plan. Central Catholic brought its own eraser, 6-foot-9 sophomore Carson Desrosiers, who swatted 10 Andover shots, altered at least a half-dozen more and turned the paint on the Raider defensive end into a no-fly zone.

The result, an overwhelming 57-30 Central Catholic victory in the Greater Lawrence Christmas Tournament, set up another classic Saturday night (6:30 p.m.) final with the Raiders colliding with cross-city rival Lawrence High here at the Crozier Field House.

"I thought we had a good chance to beat that team, but it didn't happen," said coach Dave Fazio, whose Golden Warriors suffered their first loss of the year. "I thought we could take it right to their big guys, but we went away from them instead of at them and gave them a chance to block shots. I think we were spooked."

Fazio kept saying them, but it was Desrosiers patrolling the paint and dictating things in his first (probably of many) high school triple-doubles with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks.

"Even the shots he doesn't block, he changes," said Raider coach Rick Nault. "For a kid so young, he makes an awful lot of plays."

If Desrosiers owned the defensive end, it was the Central guards, Wilfredo Pagan and Billy Marsden, cranking up the offense.

Coming off a 24-point tourney opener, Marsden scored 11 of his team's first 13 points as Central, now 3-0, opened with a 15-3 flurry.

"Billy's our guy," gushed Nault. "He creates so much on offense. He scores. He just gets us going."

Andover, which wobbled to a 27-9 deficit, whittled the hole to eight at halftime, but would inch no closer.

Desrosiers opened the second half with six points in a decisive 12-4 run and the Warriors never recovered.

"We were ready from the start," said Desrosier. "I think we made a statement. We played as a team and showed what we could do."

Oshodi, Pagan and sophomore Michael Alvarez sparked the Raiders in the "hustle game" | usually an Andover specialty. Meanwhile, junior Tim Wheeler was a bear defensively against Andover star Tristian Shannon, helping hold him to 6 points, 9.5 under his average. Zach Burdeau paced Andover with eight points.