LAWRENCE – It’s no secret that Central Catholic boys hoop coach Mark Dunham got a little bit frisky schedule-wise in the past couple weeks with dates against national prep power Brewster Academy and then New Jersey Catholic League beast Bergen Catholic on Sunday.
The coach wasn’t sure what to expect on Tuesday night in the Raiders’ return to the Merrimack Valley Conference and a home date with rival Lawrence High.
Let’s just say the No. 2 Division 1 team in the most recent set of MIAA power rankings took care of business, riding a 15-0 run to start the second quarter and a similar 11-0 burst to begin the fourth on the way to a 75-60 win over the Lancers.
Central moves to 9-3 on the year while the feisty Lancers drop to 7-5.
“The schedule has been brutal. It’s been fun. I was a little nervous about tonight,” said Dunham. “Lawrence plays so hard and us coming off the Bergen Catholic (overtime) loss. I was hoping to have enough energy, and we did.”
Central broke to a 20-13 lead through a quarter with the Lancers playing a bit carelessly with the basketball.
Javi Lopez and the Raiders stepped on the gas to start the second, busting it open at 35-13.
Lawrence just wouldn’t go away. The Lancers kept grinding and sliced the lead to seven in the third on five straight points from senior Lenin Diaz.
But Lopez imposed his will on a drive for two of his game-high 27 points, and Central never looked back.
“Having Javi, any time we need a bucket, he gets one for us,” said Dunham. “We toughened up on the defensive end during those times.
“They were playing harder than us, and we came out and answered the bell.”
Leading that charge on the defensive end was the other Central captain, Jeremiah Almanzar.
“Javi controls the offense for us, makes sure we get in the right place, but defense, I take a lot of pride in that,” said Almanzar. “We made sure everyone was playing hard defense.”
Central showed some balance behind its 1,500-point scorer Lopez as Drew O’Keefe had 10 points, and Almanzar, Elkin Pena and Ademola Ajao added eight apiece.
For the Lancers, senior Aiden Torres had 22. Diaz added 13 – all in the third quarter charge – and Jeremiah Lopez had 11.