If Malden was thinking upset, it showed up to the wrong gym on Saturday night as Central Catholic pounded the rather physical (This is being very nice!) Golden Volcanoes, 86-57.
The best word to describe Carson Desrosiers performance, I’d use special. Fourteen blocks. He just closes down the hoop, puts a lock on it. It’s mighty impressive.
Central continues to play selfless ball, with a rotation that goes nearly 10 deep with everyone pitching in.
You wonder what guys like Walson Constant, KB Oshodi, Rory Blinn, even the fab frosh Jimmy Zenevitch could do on another team playing more minutes, but these guys just come in, deliver big plays and energy then head to the bench, happy to contribute to such a good TEAM. It’s refreshing.
It’s an attitude you see every year in Mike McVeigh’s program at North Andover, with guys solely focussed on the team.
Speaking of the Knights, just noticed that their division 2 North semifinal date against Reading is slated for March 3, that is Monday night in Methuen, at 7 p.m. Bring on Evan Smotrycz.
Just an aside here: Wonder why Reading accepted Methuen as a neutral site. The Knights played the Rangers there. And it’s a weird gym to shoot in. Oh well. Perhaps, the Rockets aren’t worried.
A note to my officiating friends out there. I dare you to watch this tape and defend your brethren in stripes. This one is a Division 1 sectional quarterfinal and the three guys who did this game didn’t belong in the Thursday night league at Cedardale.
They were overmatched to the point that it almost got safe.
As one assistant coach in the crowd said to me afterward off the record, “I thought it was going to end in a fight. They did nothing to stop what was going on out there.”
First off, all three officials does is add bad officials to the tourney mix and this time it could have jeopardized the safety of the kids. Nothing was going to change the outcome, but when the kid undercuts Adrian Gonzalez on a dunk, sending him spinning to the court, and nothing is called, you wonder what six eyes are watching.
They weren’t watching the Malden guard and Wilfredo pagan shoving each other to the point where the fourth shove, sending Pagan to the floor, was finally called. The blatant push was then called a common foul, like it was an incidental bump.
And when down 25 in the fourth, the Malden kid tried to goad KB Oshodi into a fight, and none of the three saw it, Malden coach Don Nally did the right thing, it wasn’t the officials who took charge. It was Nally, who took the kid out for the night.
Things got a little scary out there.
My friends (hoopref and realref, you know who you are), please don’t try to defend these three. If you do, then any credibility you had will be washed away. And believe me, I do respect your opinions right now.
It got to the point that Central coach Rick Nault when to all-conference footballer Zak Adamopoulos to come in and “enforce” the rules for themselves. The smiling junior ended any of the shenanigans rather quickly, with a couple of bruising screens and some aggressive rebounding work. Mission accomplished.
Enough on the stripes, though. It was a great atmosphere at Central, with a packed house, the Malden and Central student sections going at each other verbally. It was a charged atmosphere. Great job on both sides.
Central’s unselfishness on the floor was spectacular, especially in the interior passing game. You’ve got guys like timmy Wheeler and Michael Garcia and others dishing the ball to the open man and working hard to get other guys open. It’s inspiring.
Wilfredo Pagan’s performance at the point was as close to an A-plus as you’ll find, especially when Malden was hanging around.
Didn’t get the entire all-conference team out of Rick Nault, but he did mention that Adrian Gonzalez and Lowell’s Fernando Perez shared the large school MVP. You’ll find no bigger supporter than me on either guy. That said, I have to call out the coaches for having no intestinal fortitude and forcing a vote to pick one MVP. Have we become that politically correct?
Of course, the MVC’s football coaches and their fistful of MVPs can’t be topped, but this is such a gutless way out.
Fret not, folks. No matter whose hearts we break, The Eagle-Tribune will name one MVP only.
Should be a good one on tap in Lowell Sunday with Lexington in the house at 4 p.m.
From this corner, I find myself addicted to Todd Kress’ Pelham High club. They run. They’re fearless. I love justin Hojlo’s game. I love the playoff atmosphere on campus at UNH, so I’ll be in Durham watching the Pythons take on Hanover.
