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Morales game winner gives Central win at Andover

Thursday, February, 17 By Jeff Hamrick

ANDOVER — For someone who had never converted a game-winning shot before, Central Catholic’s Jaycob Morales sure looked experienced with time running out last night.

The senior guard took a pass from Luis Puello with the clock approaching the end of regulation and nailed a 3-pointer from the wing as time expired, capping Central’s furious fourth-quarter rally as the Raiders knocked off host Andover 59-56 before a standing-room only crowd. With the victory, Central Catholic finished undefeated in Merrimack Valley Conference play for the third straight year.

“At first I didn’t think I was going to get the ball,” Morales said. “I know Luis and he knows me, and he always finds me ... When it went in, I was pumped. It was the first buzzer beater of my varsity career. I love that I hit the winning shot, but I’m more about getting the (win)."

With the score tied, the Raiders (17-1 overall, 13-0 conference) called a time out with 12.5 seconds left. Naturally, Central coach Rick Nault’s first choice was to look for 6-foot-7 Jimmy Zenevitch down low. After all, it was Zenevitch who powered his team’s rally, scoring 14 of his game-high 26 points as the Raiders bounced back from an 11-point deficit entering the fourth.

“The play wasn’t really meant for me,” Morales said. “It was meant for Luis to come off the pick and read it. If Jimmy was open, he was supposed to get it to Jimmy. If Luis could take it to the hole, he was to take it. But it ended up (Joe) Bramanti helped out too much (down low) and leaving me wide open, and it gave me a great shot.”

Considering Morales had made just one field goal — a 3 from the baseline that helped ignite Central’s rally — the 6-foot guard was calm as the ball came his way.

“Luis and I have always had very good communication, and he found me,” Morales said. “I just set up and got ready to shoot. It wasn’t a shot that I was just praying to go in. It felt good. I was happy with a shot like that. I had a good feeling it was going in. I just knew.”

The way Andover (13-4 overall and conference) took control after intermission, it was surprising the Raiders had a whiff of the lead when it counted. Trailing 27-20 at halftime, the Golden Warriors scored the first 18 points of the third, opening up a 38-27 advantage. Andover held the Raiders scoreless the first 6:40 of the period while five different Warriors had at least one field goal, including Bramanti, who had eight of his team-high 22 during the run.

“We were stagnant on offense in the third quarter,” Nault said. “We played with great emotion in the first half, but I think we came out kind of flat in the second half.”

But as quickly as Central went cold, it fired back up as the fourth began. Successfully getting the ball down low with crisp passing, Zenevitch scored 12 of Central’s first 19 points in the quarter and the Raiders eventually took a six-point lead on a pair of free throws by Evan Sheehan with 3:50 remaining.

“You have to go to your horse,” Nault said of his senior center. “We kind of ignored him in the third quarter, and that’s how things got a way from us, I think.”

The Warriors, however, didn’t go quietly, forcing two ties over the final 1:36 before Morales’s game-winner that handed Andover its 16th loss in the past 17 games against Central since January 2006.