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Lowell 64, Central Catholic 57

LAWRENCE —Standout Lowell  guard Carlos Nunez was sure of two things by halftime at Central Catholic Friday night.

Held to one field goal and four points in the first half, with Lowell clinging to a 33-29 lead, Nunez was confident he'd come alive in the second half and he had come to realize that the host Raiders — with only one starter back from last year's 22-4 North finalist squad — were a little tougher than he expected.

"I wasn't worried about my points — I just play the game and let it come to me," said Nunez, a 5-foot-11 sharpshooting senior. "I started feeling it in the second half, but they were better than I thought. They were really physical."

Nunez did find his touch in the second half, scoring 13 of his 17 points after intermission, to help Lowell hold off Central, 64-47, in Central's season opener.

It was certainly no fun losing its opener, but Central was in the game the whole way, even leading, 52-51, with 4:11 left in the game, and had plenty of promising signs going forward.

For example:

— Lone starting holdover Xavier McKenzie showed a take-charge approach as he scored a game-high 25 points,combining some nifty drives with 3-point shooting and solid (9 of 11) free throw shooting. When the Raiders needed points, they looked to him.

— Junior Nate Godin showed a nice stroke, drilling three 2-pointers while netting 11 points.

— Freshman Marcus Rivera from Lawrence played well in his first varsity game, scoring 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting, pulling down four rebounds and looking remarkably composed.

— Senior Anthony Traficante, at 6-5 the tallest player on the court displayed some skill around the basket, scoring five points with nine rebounds and three blocked shots.

In the end, however, Lowell — the consensus MVC favorite — had too much firepower to be denied as four players were in double figures and a fifth, Tyson Jones-Armstead, had eight points.

Moreover, the visiting Red Raiders seemed to alternate the scoring duties. Nate Siao, another terrific shooting guard, had 11 points in the first quarter on his way to 17 points, Jones-Armstead had six points (and three blocks) in the second quarter, Nunez scored nine points in the third frame and Jacob McKenziehad six of his 12 points in the fourth.

Still, the Raiders were still in it up until the last four minutes but they only scored one field goal the rest of the way and — perhaps showing their inexperience —made four of their 21 turnovers in the last three minutes of the game.

Central will try to clean that up while preparing for Lawrence in its Greater Lawrence Christmas Classic opener Friday at 7:15 p.m. at Methuen High.