RallyNorth.net

Thu, Jan 18, 2018 07:00 PM @ Central Catholic

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Lawrence	12	15	16	7	50
Central Catholic	15	19	9	16	59

Central wins showdown for first with Lawrence

Thursday, January, 18 By Jeff Hamrick

LAWRENCE — With a couple teams averaging a combined 149 points, most of the overflow crowd entering Memorial Gymnasium Thursday evening expected some big numbers to be put on the board.

John Walsh, however, wasn’t one of them. At least he was hoping those expectations were wrong.

“We wanted to keep it in the 50s and 60s today,” said Walsh. “We know how talented (Lawrence) is. We wanted to control the tempo.”

The first-year Central Catholic coach didn’t even need the 60, as his Raiders held their crosstown-rival 30 points below their average in a 59-50 victory. It propelled Central to a half-game ahead of the Lancers atop the Merrimack Valley Conference Large School standings.

The win didn’t come as easily as it appeared it would while Central (6-1 MVC, 8-3 overall) was building a 13-point, second-quarter lead. Colin Bradanese and Kevin Constant combined for 22 first-half points to pace the Raiders to a 34-21 advantage with 1:50 left before intermission.

However, a six-point explosion that included slams by Chris Ruiz and Juan Felix Rodriguez to close the half ignited the Lancers (5-1, 9-2). That spurt carried over into the second half as Rodriquez and Luis Reynoso helped Lawrence tie the score at 43 with 28 seconds left in the third.

The Raiders probably were lucky they never fell behind, missing nine of their first 10 shots in a 4-for-17 third quarter.

“We knew they were going to go on runs,” Walsh said of the Lancers, who had scored at least 64 points in each of their first 10 outings. “They were just too talented.”

Entering the crucial final period, Rodriguez had 16 points while Reynoso had 14 — pretty much on pace with their season averages of 22.4 and 21.0, respectively.

But Central clamped down on both, holding the duo to four in the fourth as the Lancers managed only seven points in the final 8 minutes. Meanwhile five different Raiders contributed offensively down the stretch.

“We get after it, and we’re physical,” said Bradanese, who finished with 23 points in addition to a workman-like defensive effort on Reynoso. “We didn’t out-tough them, because they’re a real tough team, but I think we played some of the best defense we played all year.”

Lawrence finished the game shooting 32.8 percent (22 of 67), and made only three of its 17 fourth-quarter attempts.

“They’re a great shooting team, so I thought if we had scored less than 60, I would’ve thought they would have scored more,” Bradanese said.

The only other Raider in double figures was Kevin Constant, who scored 14 while handling the bulk of duty against Rodriguez on the opposite end.

 

Central Catholic 59, Lawrence 50

Lawrence (50): Miguel Camacho 2 0-0 6, Juan Felix Rodriguez 8 4-4 20, Jaden Castillo 3 0-0 6, Sebastian Dilone 0 0-0 0, Luis Reynoso 7 0-0 14, Chris Ruiz 2 0-0 4, Angel Vasquez 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 4-4 50

Central Catholic (59): Kevin Constant 5 4-4 14, Bret Edwards 2 3-4 7, Dom Keegan 3 1-2 9, Colin Bradanese 10 3-3 23, George Smith 2 0-0 4, Manny Sanchez 1 0-0 2, Cam Homsey 0 0-0 0, Andy Kalala 0 0-1 0. Totals 23 11-14 59

3-pointers: L — Camacho 2; CC — Keegan 2

Lawrence (5-1, 9-2):     12 15 16  7 — 50

Central Catholic (6-1, 8-3):     15 19  9 16 — 59