RallyNorth.net

Central avenges lone blemish, raps Lowell

Sunday, March, 04 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — Four score and four wins to go, Central Catholic's bounding ballers kept their postseason drive alive, rumbling past Lowell High, 61-49, in the Division 1 North quarterfinals before about 1,500 crazed fans here last night.

Doug Gemmell led all scorers with 21 points, Tyler Nelson and Nick Cambio chipped in 16 apiece, while Joel Berroa added eight. And that was it for the top-seeded Raiders who will next face No. 5 Charlestown, Thursday night (7 p.m.), most likely at Reading High.

Clearly, Central took last month's home upset at the hands of Lowell personally.

"I think as a team, we stuck that loss in the back of our minds," said the sophomore Nelson. "We remembered it, and I think we picked the right way to avenge it."

Central was all business from the opening tap, pressuring Lowell on one end and then attacking the glass on the other.

"We were ready from the tip and expected a war. It was pretty simple," said the junior Gemmell, who yanked down 10 rebounds on the night. "Find a man, box out and be aggressive."

Central, which overcame 27 turnovers of its own, ran out to a 24-9 first-half lead and never was seriously threatened by the same Red Raider team the dictated pace and tempo in a 62-56 shocker here back on Feb. 3. It went to 35-19 at halftime and 45-31 into the fourth.

"This is not a knock on Lowell, because that's a very good basketball team," said Raider coach Rick Nault. "But I think that the last game had a lot more to do with us and the way we played than it did with them."

Last night, every time Lowell closed it to within 10 or 12, Central showed plenty of tourney savvy, despite being laden with underclassmen. Gemmell, Nelson and Berroa have all been there before.

"I just think you block it all out and play the game," said Gemmell. "Focus on the team you're playing, and don't look at what could be ahead."

Lowell finishes up at 14-6, while the Raiders are put on hold until Thursday, since the girls hoop team plays Tuesday and the Central hockey team gets back on the ice Wednesday.