RallyNorth.net

Unbeaten Central pounds Lawrence

Saturday, January, 12 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

LAWRENCE | Too easy.

Even without leading scorer Billy Marsden (sprained ankle), Central Catholic's boys, the No. 1 ranked team in the region, made it look too easy offensively, shredding Lawrence High's scrambling defense in an 81-55 thrashing last night before a packed house of about 1,200 at Memorial Gymnasium.

Lancer coach Paul Neal blamed his team's often one-step-behind defensive rotation for Central's limitless clean looks.

An exuberant Rick Nault, coach of the 7-0 Raiders, lauded his team's unselfish play and pin-point passing. The Raiders scored 36 hoops, an impressive 27 of which had assists.

"(Senior point guard) Wilfredo (Pagan) made a lot of things look easy out there tonight," said Nault, whose team also beat the Lancers in the Greater Lawrence Christmas Tourney title game. "With their trapping defense, we were able to move the ball around and make a lot of easy baskets."

Pagan dished out a whopping 14 assists, a handful of which went to 6-foot-9 Carson Desrosiers. The sophomore led all scorers with a career-high 22 point to go with 11 rebounds and five blocks.

He was again, a force.

"We don't have any one man to guard him right now," said Neal. "We need to pick up our team defense, do all the things as a team, to stop him, but right now that's not happening."

With Marsden and his 24.5 ppg. average in sweats, the Raiders needed more than just Desrosiers.

Lawrence hung around for four minutes, grabbing an 11-7 lead when Walson Constant reported in for the Raiders. The senior checked in and immediately jolted the Raiders with a burst of energy.

Constant, one of four different Raiders in double figures with 11 points, buried a three and a pair of drives to put Central in charge.

Bentley-bound Adrian Gonzalez (16 points, 6 assists, 6 boards) was next to impact with back-to-back hoops, and early in the second quarter Desrosiers added some distance with four straight unanswered hoops. KB Oshodi was silent but deadly in his high-flying 12-point effort.

By early in the fourth the margin grew to as many as 31 points.

"I just come in and try to add some intensity," said Constant. "With Billy out, I knew I had to step up, but this was a team effort today.

"We did what we do best, run and play defense. And Carson, he's something. When he's hungry, he's a freak."

Justin Nieves paced Lawrence, now 4-5, with 11 points.