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Wheels come off for Central in fourth

Thursday, January, 17 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

LOWELL — If anything can be taken from Raider Rumble I here at the Riddick Field House, it's that unbeaten Lowell High knows how to close.

The 10-0 Red Raiders took charge in the MVC Large with a 20-4 fourth-quarter barrage, sending Central Catholic to its first loss of the year, 61-53, before a standing-room crowd of about 1,500 last night.

"We lost our composure," said Central coach Rick Nault, whose club took its largest lead of the second half, 40-36, on Adrian Gonzalez' second straight hoop with 6:03 left. That's when the wheels came off.

Two straight offensive rebounding fouls against Central started the downward spiral, earning a technical from the bench.

Lowell hit four of the six free throws to tie it and kept the possession because of the technical. Then ex-Central JV player Julian Scott tossed in a wild banking runner that put the hosts up for good.

"We're a veteran group, I would like to think we could keep our composure in that situation," added Nault. "Then, three straight possessions we turn it over. It seemed like we just stopped playing with five minutes to go.

"Give credit to them. They picked it up. We kind of dropped off a little bit. Whenever they made a basket, we just didn't respond."

With Gonzalez, Billy Marsden and Carson Desrosiers all in foul trouble, Central found it hard to stay in rhythm and paid dearly down the stretch.

KB Oshodi's scoop with 3:41 left ended the drought, but by then the damage was done. Lowell kept going to the line (17 for 25 in the second half, 14 for 22 in the fourth) and Matt Welch delivered the final message with authority, knocking home a three for a 53-42 advantage at the two-minute mark.

"I expected it to be a low scoring, physical game," said Nault, whose club is ranked second in Eastern Mass., three spots ahead of Lowell. "There was sloppy play, a lot of grabbing, a lot of hitting. Both teams shot a low percentage. It didn't help that we missed 16 (actually 12) shots from the foul line."

Gonzalez, despite spending ample minutes watching with foul problems, kept Central going most of the night with 17 points. Walson Constant again injected a jolt of energy and offense, coming off the bench to score 13 for Central, which heads to Haverhill Friday night.