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Powerhouse Heritage hands Central first loss

Saturday, January, 17 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

SPRINGFIELD – More than a handful of the nation’s top teams gathered for the Spalding HoopHall Classic.

Central Catholic may not have walked away undefeated, but the consensus EMass No. 1 Raiders proved, even in an 82-77 loss to American Heritage High of Plantation, Fla., that they were in the right place.

Down 15-2 early and 30-10 after a quarter, Central never stopped clawing and fighting, ultimately making a game of it late in the fourth.

Heritage’s all-Division 1 backcourt of Kenny Boynton (Florida) and Raymond Taylor (Florida Atlantic) did not disappoint, combining for 49 points and eight assists, while hitting a cool nine for 20 from behind

Marathon Marsden, who played all 32 minutes in the win over Haverhill Friday night, logged another 31:50.6 (fouling out with 9.4 seconds left) and paced the Raiders with 25 points.

“I’ve never seen anything like those two,” said an exhausted Billy Marsden, who led the Raiders with 25 points.

 “(Taylor) is the quickest kid I’ve ever seen on the basketball court, and I’ve never seen anyone shoot it like Kenny Boynton. I was in his face every single shot, and it was like he drained everything. The first three he hit was like six feet behind the line and it just got deeper from there.”

The slow start for the Raiders, now 9-1, might have been a little bit of fatigue and a lot of awe, considering Heritage’s well-deserved hype and a resume that includes win over Duncanville, Tx., a top-10 team nationally.

“We didn’t really know what to expect,” said Marsden. “You hear all these people talk about (Boynton) being the 10^th best player in the country, and we were kind of back on our heels. Once we started getting comfortable, we played.

“If we didn’t have that first quarter, I don’t know if we could have beaten them, but it really could have been close. Maybe we could have shocked them.”

One Raider used to knocking heads with this type of talent regularly on the AAU circuit is junior Carson Desrosiers. The 6-foot-10 Desrosiers attacked the 6-8, 6-8, 6-6 Heritage frontline like a typical night in the Valley, earning team MVP honors for his 23-point, 13-rebound performance.

Desrosiers, 16 of 23 from the floor in Friday night’s win against the Hillies, felt it again, just 15 hours later, knocking in 10 of 16 from the floor. He logged 31 minutes, 63 over the two games.

Once the jitters dissipated, Central kicked in some strong complementary efforts from Jimmy Zenevitch (14 points) and Michael Alvarez (10).

Trailing by 28 after three quarters, Central found its best stride in the fourth, hacking away at the margin as Heritage, which hit 10 of its 17 first-half three-point attempts, finally cooled off.

Zenevitch had eight and Alvarez five in a 19-6 Raider burst. Desrosiers and Marsden nailed threes to make what looked like a walkover, an eight-point game (81-73) in the final minute.

When Heritage - forced to play Taylor and Boyton 29 and 28 minutes respectively - got a technical for six men with 19.2 seconds left, the Raiders were down six with the ball, but a Desrosiers three caromed out and the Patriots hung on.