RallyNorth.net

Mon, Feb 25, 2008 07:00 PM @ Central Catholic

Team	Final
Playoff Game Division 1 North - Round 1
Acton-Boxboro	66
Central Catholic	84

Central's Gonzalez joins 1,000-point club

Tuesday, February, 26 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

What was Adrian Gonzalez worried about?

He had it all the time. Literally.

Even though Gonzalez and Central Catholic thought he needed 16 points for 1,000 in his career, he really only needed a dozen in the Raiders' tourney-opening win over Acton-Boxboro last night.

"It wasn't bothering me the whole game until I got to like 15," said Gonzalez, who did miss a couple of shots in those unnecessary anxious times.

"I was kind of struggling."

The Central staff did the right math, but nobody checked the 2004-2005 stat sheet. Gonzalez, in a brief varsity stint before becoming academically ineligible, actually had two hoops as a freshmen, meaning he came into the night with 988, not 984.

Gonzalez finished the dominating night with a game-high 25 points.

Gonzalez, now with 1,013 points in his career, joins some pretty elite company in the millennium club at Central. "It feels terrific and it's an honor," said Gonzalez, who accomplished the feat in 69 games, averaging 14.5 a night over that span.

He joins great names like Scott Hazelton, Jonathan Cruz, Marquis Victor and Dan O'Shea as Raiders who've accomplished the feat in the last 10 years.

"The greatest thing you can say about Adrian is that he's grown up and matured over the last year," said coach Rick Nault. "This year, no matter what, he stays on track, focussed on what's best for this team."

Raiders in a zone Anyone scouting Central last night got an interesting dose of 2-3 zone defense to write home about. The Raiders, ironically against a solely perimeter team in Acton-Boxboro, pulled away using the zone exceptionally well.

"That was big, especially in the third quarter," said coach Rick Nault, who made the move to combat early foul problems with starting guards Wilfredo Pagan and Billy Marsden.

The key was Central's size on the back line, led by Carson Desrosiers in the middle. Central was able to challenge the A-B three-point game, while protecting the lane with Desrosiers. That might be something to watch for in the coming weeks.

Nice move by Nault, as well, preparing his club in practice for the A-B pressure defense.

"Two practices we worked against the press," said Gonzalez. "We just got together a bunch of guys. At times, we went against it nine men on five, and we still were just breaking it and breaking it. When we played out there against only five kids, it was easy."

Central casting Coaches spotted around the Central/A-B matchup included Andover's Dave Fazio, Lawrence High girls coach Dan Blouin and legendary Raider coach Dick Licare, along with Merrimack coach Bert Hammel. ...

Give Salem, N.H., High sophomores Alex LaRosa, Kyle Henrick and junior Sam Shields credit for checking out their chief competition in the Eagle-Tribune and Rallynorth.net polls, Central Catholic. The Blue Devils, unbeaten in New Hampshire, look to close out a perfect regular season in Class L tonight. ...

Other notable hoop talent in the crowd: Lawrence High junior point guard Justin Nieves and Greater Lawrence Tech freshman standout Donald Celestin. ...