division 1 boys' state championship
Central Catholic 68, St. John's (Shrewsbury) 47

His teammates battling foul trouble and his opponent making a feverish charge, Central Catholic senior Adrian Gonzales put his teammates on his shoulders and carried the Raiders to a 68-47 triumph over St. John's (Shrewsbury) in the Division 1 title game at the DCU Center in Worcester.

Gonzales and senior point guard Wilfredo Pagan combined for 23 first-half points, but a late St. John's charge only put the Raiders out front by seven at the intermission. The Pioneers soon made up that deficit, tying the game at 32 with 5:35 to play in the third frame.

Gonzales took over late. He hit back-to-back buckets before the break to push Central's lead to eight (45-37) heading to the final frame. He continued to pour it on in the fourth frame, fearlessly attacking the basket and converting layups above the St. John's frontcourt.

Central's 6-foot-5 forward finished with a game-high 28 points. His output helped soften the blow when teammates Carson Desrosiers and Billy Marsden (only a combined seven points) both fouled out in the fourth quarter. Pagan chipped in 21 points overall.

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4th quarter

Central Catholic's Carson Desrosiers fouled out with 2:45 remaining. He finished with just two points, but added 12 blocks. Central Catholic's Billy Marsden fouled out with over four minutes to play. He finished with just five points. But what does that say about Central when they've played without one of their premier scorers and one of their finest underclassmen and still lead by double digits late in the game.

A lot of that credit goes to Adrian Gonzales, who is having himself an incredible game.

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3rd quarter

Adrian Gonzales closed out the third quarter with a pair of buckets (one leading to an old-fashioned, three-point play) and Central Catholic will carry a 45-37 advantage into our final frame.

Central Catholic has the lead (40-35 with 2:00 to go in the third), but is battling foul trouble. Billy Marsden went to the bench with 2:18 to go after picking up his fourth foul. Carson Desrosiers is on the floor with three fouls to his name.

St. John's tied the game at 32 to open the second half, but buckets by Billy Marsden and Adrian Gonzales have Central out front, 36-33, with 3:33 to play in the third quarter.

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2nd quarter

We got ourselves a game.

St. John's caught fire late in the first half and, despite trailing by as much as 16 in the second quarter, have pulled within seven at 32-25 at the intermission.

The Pioneers got a spark from bench players Richard Rodgers and Brandan Russell, who came in to score a combined 12 points.

Wilfredo Pagan keyed the Central offense from his point guard position, scoring 11 first-half points and setting up easy buckets for his teammates. Adrian Gonzales has a team-high 12 points for the Raiders.

St. John's chipped away at its deficit (mostly at the free throw line) and pulled within 11 at 27-16 with 2:23 to play.

Central Catholic had threatened to turn this into a laugher early in the second quarter. The Raiders scored the first 11 points in the frame and led, 23-7, with 5:43 to go.

Pagan is playing a masterful point guard, pushing the ball every time he touches it and creating easy opportunities for his teammates. Walston Constant deserves some serious credit, too, for stepping right in for Billy Marsden when he went to the bench with foul trouble.

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1st quarter

Central Catholic's Wilfredo Pagan scored six first-quarter points to help the Raiders open a 12-7 advantage over St. John's (Shrewsbury) after eight minutes.

Central shooting guard Billy Marsden went to the bench with two fouls just 5:15 in. His replacement, Walston Constant made a nice steal/layup combo to give Central a lead.

Both teams seem to be shaking off a bit of nervous energy. Lot of up-and-down action, just not a lot of finishing around the basket. St. John's owns a 4-2 advantage about five minutes in.

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The DCU Center is packed for this one and most of the fans are jammed on the Central Catholic side of the arena. We're told if the lower bowl is filled there's about 7,500 fans in attendance. We're almost at that level and there are plenty of others in the second level.

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Starting lineups

Here are the starting lineups for the Division 1 boys' title game:

CENTRAL CATHOLIC

25 - Billy Marsden - 5-10 - Jr.
33 - Wilfredo Pagan - 5-9 - Sr.
34 - Tim Wheeler - 6-4 - Jr.
50 - Adrian Gonzales - 6-5 - Sr.
55 - Carson Desrosiers - 6-9 - Soph.

Coach: Ricky Nault

ST. JOHN'S (SHREWSBURY)

21 - David White - 6-0 - Soph.
24 - John Perron - 6-2 - Sr.
30 - Anthony Trapasso -6-1 - Jr.
33 - Chad LaBove - 6-6 - Soph.
44 - Matt LaBove - 6-9 - Jr.

Coach: Bob Foley