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Central avenges Christmas loss to Warriors

Saturday, January, 08 By Hector Longo

LAWRENCE — You had to wonder how the Central Catholic boys hoopsters would react to Andover's Christmas tourney semifinal victory over the defending state champion Raiders.

Was it a wake-up call? A slap in the face?

"It was more of a punch in the face," said Raider senior captain Jimmy Zenevitch.

Last night before a near-sellout of about 1,500, Central fought back, smacking a 64-55 loss on the Warriors to remain unbeaten in the MVC at 4-0, 7-1 overall.

"We haven't lost in this house the last four years, and we don't plan on it either," said Raider senior Jaycob Morales. "I hate losing. Our whole team hates losing, especially to Andover."

The Raider hoop teems with wins like this, a 50/50 ballgame against a quality opponent, basically even headed to the fourth.

Unlike the Christmas semifinal, Central played up to the rep when it mattered.

"We just controlled the ball (in the fourth)," said Morales, the quarterback of a 7-1 mid-fourth quarter spurt that essentially put it away. "Coach wanted me to do what I wanted to do. He told me to take over the game. He put the ball in my hands and made sure everybody was in the right spots."

Up 43-40, Morales fearlessly attacked the rim for one hoop, drove and dished to Joel Berroa for a second, then punched in and kicked to Evan Sheehan for his third three of the night that made it 50-41 with three minutes to play.

Warrior coach Dave Fazio said fatigue could have had a lot to do with the result.

Andover basically went with a seven-man rotation, and Central attacked fullcourt the entire night.
Fazio thought it hurt his team most on the backboards.

"Defensive rebounding, that's the game, it's our biggest deficiency," said Fazio. "They must have had 20 (actually 17) offensive rebounds, and that's the game. We play good defense, but they just got so many second and third shots."

Now 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the conference, the Warriors are now in chase mode when it comes to the MVC large race.

They'll need to get top guns Joe Bramanti and Sam Dowden on track, after the duo combined for just 22 on points on a combined 7 of 24 shooting.

One Warrior who did step up was senior sixth man Brian Salvesen, who shared the team high in points with Bramanti at 13.

Zenevitch led all scorers with 18 points, but wasn't closed to satisfied.

"I'm not happy with my performance. I've got a lot to do," he said.

Central's balance was huge, with Sheehan (12) and Luis Puello (11) in double figures, while Morales and Joel Berroa combined for 15 more.