| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lynn English | 15 | 14 | 17 | 11 | 57 |
| Central Catholic | 15 | 20 | 16 | 17 | 68 |
Sunday, February, 19 By Hector Longo
LAWRENCE — The Joel Berroa All-Scholastic defensive tour continues, much to the delight of the folks at Central Catholic.
Thursday night, the Central junior shackled Andover's James Costello, holding him to only eight points.Last night here in the IAABO Board 130 Classic semifinal, he did the same to 6-foot-5 Lynn English leaper Keandre Stanton — denying the Bulldog, who needed 10, his 1,000th point in the Raiders' 68-57 win.
And now tonight, we bring on Tufts University-bound St. John's Prep slasher Steve Haladyna as the Raiders and Eagles collide here in the title game at 7:30 p.m. here on Hampshire Street.
“He plays the best of the best, he’s guarded (Haverhill’s) Noah Vonleh (last year). He’s played Keandre Stanton, (Andover’s) Costello,” said Central coach Rick Nault. “We’re always going to try to put him on the best player on the floor, regardless of it’s a big man, a small forward or a two-guard.”
The menacing Berroa simply engulfs the opposition, smothering them with his long arms to the point of frustration. A flustered Stanton spent much of the night in foul trouble and left the game early, drawing his fifth with about four minutes left and Central leading 59-52.
“He’s a good player, I tried to face-guard him, take him out of the paint,” said Berroa. “I think he got to 999, and we stopped him on that. I expected to draw him. He’s the most athletic kid I’ve played. He can jump. I’ve never played with a guy that aggressive. You have to box out, get him off the boards. If you try to outjump him for rebounds, he’s probably going to dunk it on you.”
Berroa’s contributions came on both ends of the floor, though.
“The fact that he can produce so much energy on the defensive end, and still deliver all the rebounding and scoring, tells an awful lot about him and his skills,” said Nault.
Offensively, the 6-foot-4 Raider did what he does best, slashing to the basket, hitting the glass and basically causing ice-cream headaches for the opposition. Berroa led four Raiders into double figures with 15 points and added seven rebounds and five assists.
All was not perfect, though, on this night for the now 19-1 Raiders.
Central struggled at times with LE’s quickness and trapping defenses, often playing in spurts.
Pushing a halfcourt six-point advantage to 12 (41-29) early in the third, the Raiders seemed to have things in hand, only to let it slip away as English rolled off a 14-2 run of its own.
But following a Central timeout, Berroa sandwiched a pair of hoops around a sweet Tyler Nelson leaner as the hosts took charge for the last time, headed into the fourth.
English would get no closer than five the rest of the way.
Sophomores Nelson and Nick Cambio, who yanked down a team-high 11 rebounds, finished with 14 points apiece. Doug Gemmell added 11 points with eight boards. NORTH ANDOVER’S DOOLEY DELIVERS FOR PREP As a sophomore part-time starter on the St. John’s Prep JV team last year, Tyler Dooley watched the Eagles’ brilliant state championship run unfold from a short distance.
The North Andover native, now a junior, spent the offseason making sure that if the Eagles were again to tap into some March magic, he would be an integral part.
Last night, the junior guard tuned up for the real tourney by carrying the Prep to a 69-67 win over Westford Academy in the opening round of the IAABO Board 130 Classic.
What could have been a fourth quarter to forget for both the Prep (which blew a 10-point lead) Dooley (who clanged a free throw in the final seconds, giving Westford a chance), became one to remember when Dooley got the ball about 40 feet from the hoop, swooped down the right sideline and scooped home the game-winner, just banking it in at the buzzer.
“He’s probably our best guy getting by people and creating space,” said Prep coach Sean Connolly, who has a roster laden with much more battle-tested types but looked to get it in the junior’s hands. “We wanted to get something going to the rim. He’s had some real big games for us. When he’s got things going, he’s confident as hell. We got the ball to him, and he attacked the rim very nicely.”
“The whole game, I was just trying to stick with it,” said Dooley, who had only one shot in the first half and a hoop in the third. “In the fourth quarter, coach gave me the ball in the pick and rolls, so I kept going with that. Everyone is going to focus on (Steve Haladyna). We got him involved in the pick and roll, and that gave a lot of opportunities for me.”
Dooley has battled his way into a lineup that many thought was pretty much set before the year.
“We thought he might have a shot,” said Connolly, noting the patience shown as Dooley developed on the JVs. “He’s been talented, but it’s been a matter of him just putting it together.”
Lynn English (57): Tizauni Boyle 2 3-4 7, Fred Hogan 4 3-3 12, Kadeem Greene 1 1-4 3, Keandre Stanton 4 0-1 8, Ben Bowden 7 1-2 15, Erick Rosario 2 1-2 6, Stevie Collins 3 0-5 6, Totals 23 9-21 57
Central (68): Joel Berroa 6 2-4 15, Doug Gemmell 5 2-2 12, Tyler Nelson 6 0-0 14, Nick Cambio 5 4-6 14, Henry Rodriguez 1 0-0 2, Jake Driscoll 1 0-0 2, Shawn McCoy 4 0-0 9, Lucas Hammel 0 0-2 0, Totals 28 8-14 68
3-pointers: LE — Hogan, Rosario; CC — Berroa, Nelson 2, McCoy
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