BOSTON — After driving to the basket and drawing a foul, Central Catholic's Adrian Gonzalez flexed his muscles and let out a scream of, "Let's go!"
By that point, his team was already in the midst of a stunning run.
Trailing by nine with 3:55 left in the third quarter, the Raiders went on a 26-3 run and downed defending state champion Boston College High School 54-44 last night in the Division 1 Eastern Mass. final at the TD Banknorth Garden.
Central Catholic will face the winner of Tuesday's matchup between St. John's of Shrewsbury and Longmeadow for the Division 1 state championship on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the DCU Center in Worcester. The Raiders' only other title was in 1999.
"I felt like if we could keep it close in the fourth quarter we could go to a man defense and apply the pressure and wear them down," said Central coach Rick Nault. "Our plan was give them different looks, and we really believe our defense wins games."
The Raiders grabbed a huge advantage at the free-throw line. They attempted 26 free throws, making 17, while BC High made it to the line only twice.
Star guard Billy Marsden was at his best in the fourth, scoring 10 of his game-high 22 points in the final quarter. Gonzalez had 10 points, and added six rebounds and four blocks in the second half alone after grabbing only one rebound in the first half.
"We have talked about this since the beginning of the season," said Central defensive whiz KB Oshodi. "It was one of our goals to get here, and to win is just crazy."
