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Nelson, Raiders trip Astros in semis

Wednesday, December, 28 By Michael Muldoon
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — Coach, hopefully your 50th will be more memorable.

True, for his 40th birthday yesterday, Central Catholic coach Rick Nault did get a 56-39 win over Pinkerton to earn a berth in tomorrow's Greater Lawrence Christmas Tourney title game against host Lawrence High.

But the win was an ugly one and the ugliest part was that two-time Eagle-Tribune All-Star guard Luis Puello, the heart and soul of the Raiders, suffered a nasty ankle injury in the first minute of the game and didn't return.

At least it was better than Nault's 39th birthday, a Christmas Tourney loss to Andover last year!

After missing his first five 3-pointers, Central sophomore Tyler Nelson caught fire and closed by making five of his last seven tries from deep. Baby Face Nelson finished with a game-high 17 points while junior forwards Joel Berroa and Doug Gemmell added 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Despite his team improving to 4-0, Nault was less than pleased.

"I don't think we played well at all," he said. "They got to the basket at will. If we play like that, Lawrence will beat us by 15, easy."

Pinkerton, which led 10-9 early in the second quarter, had to deal with adversity as well.

Alex Patrikis, a 6-5 co-captain who was averaging 9.0 points a game, was on the bench in a neck brace from a car accident yesterday. Justin Scott, a 6-6 junior who likely would have come off the bench, is also out with a broken arm.

Central took advantage of the holes up front with some tremendous work on the backboards.

The bouncy Berroa had 11 rebounds including a whopping eight offensive. Gemmell and 6-5 sophomore Nick Cambio each pulled down eight boards.

Central's team manager is good with the numbers and he had Pinkerton for just one offensive rebound the entire game.

Seniors Sean Smith and Chris Light led the 2-1 Astros with 13 points apiece. Smith, who played his freshman year at Central, received some good natured "traitor! traitor!" taunts from the Raider faithful, who also sang "Happy Birthday" to their popular coach.

Nault said early reports on Puello, who is widely regarded as the best defensive player in the state, showed he suffered a high ankle sprain. A parent of a Central player heard it was a strained Achilles'. Puello suffered the injury after colliding with a Pinkerton player he was guarding.

"It doesn't look good for him," said Nault.