LAWRENCE – Resilience.
In the moments after the Central Catholic boys basketball team rallied from a double-digit deficit to hand No. 2 Lowell a 72-63 loss for its first of the year Friday night, that’s the buzzword star junior Javi Lopez mentioned four times in his two-minute postgame interview.
The No. 5 Raiders (10-1) trailed by as much as 10 points in the third quarter, but offensive rebounding, tenacious team defense and 10 points from Lopez (25 points, 7 steals, 5 rebounds) over the last five minutes powered a signature Merrimack Valley Conference win over the Red Raiders (9-1).
“It’s big,” Lopez said. “We started off with three goals – win the state, win (the) MVC and win (the) Christmas tournament. We failed with the Christmas Tournament, but you know, we’re on the road to win the MVC now. It’s just a great feeling. They (were) undefeated, we put that to an end.”
Much of the anticipation for the matchup stemmed around Lopez and Lowell star senior Tzar Powell-Aparicio (21 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks) facing off.
After a back-and-forth first half that saw neither team lead by more than four points, Powell-Aparicio seemed to have the upper hand to start the third quarter. Two steals for breakaway finishes – including a dunk – gave him all eight points in an 8-0 run for a 39-29 lead.
But a technical foul was assessed on the celebration, and the Raiders’ comeback began.
A pair of Lopez free throws, an Elias Ynoa (nine points, seven rebounds) and a Zachary Sangermano (nine points, three 3-pointers) triple cut the deficit to 39-36. Lowell’s Collin Christiansen (17 points, 7 rebounds) played well in the paint and Jason Kamau (12 points, 7 assists, 2 steals) orchestrated the offense alongside Powell-Aparicio to get back into rhythm, but rebounding and nine missed free throws in the second half plagued the Red Raiders.
Elkin Pena (10 points, 7 rebounds) was one of the leading figures in Central Catholic pulling down 15 offensive rebounds, pairing with Sangermano’s shooting, and high-intensity defense to help the Raiders trail by only 50-47 entering the fourth quarter.
“It’s kind of been like that for this group, no joke, all through the summer and the fall,” said Central Catholic head coach Mark Dunham. “We just kind of sat down and said, ‘Guys, we’ve been here. That’s their run, let’s just slow it down, let’s get a good shot.’ And we made a couple. … Overall, I’m just really happy to be where we are right now.”
“The guys have been resilient the whole year,” Lopez said. “We go down, we come back up. We just find ways to stay in games, always.”
Powell-Aparicio assisted on a Julius Richardson layup to pull ahead 52-47, but that’s the biggest lead Lowell had the rest of the way.
Jeremiah Almanzar (15 points) and Pena converted layups, and Lopez hit a pair of free throws with 4:58 left to pull Central Catholic within one point. Sangermano nailed another 3-pointer to take the lead, and Lopez nearly matched Lowell’s team total the rest of the way (nine points) on his own (eight points).
That included a pair of steals for breakaway baskets, pairing with one more big finish from Pena and Almanzar each to build a 68-59 lead on a 10-3 run.
“Whenever you have (Powell-Aparicio) and (Lopez) going at it, you have two of the best players in the state,” Dunham said. “(Lopez) is just a complete player. Coming into his own, only a junior, obviously scores at all three levels. He’s rebounding the ball at a really high level right now. I think he’s a scholarship player. The sky’s the limit for that kid.”
Depth on both the scoreboard and the offensive glass were major catalysts.
“A lot of people talk about what we don’t have, and it’s size,” Dunham said. “But what people don’t talk about is how hard our guys play. We have a lot of skilled guards, and we have guys playing out of positions at times, and they’ve bought into their role. … What I’m excited about our group is, is we’re galvanized. And they’re buying into what we’re trying to do.”
