RallyNorth.net

Pagan drives Central on roller-coaster ride to Tsongas

Friday, March, 07 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

The high points for Wilfredo Pagan are numerous:

• Eight points and 10 assists in the Greater Lawrence Christmas Tourney title win over Lawrence.

• A sparkling floor effort in the revenge win over Lowell.

• Fine performances under the state tourney magnifying glass against Malden and Acton-Boxboro.

• A mere two turnovers with nine assists and eight points against fullcourt pressure in a Division 1 North semifinal shocker of Charlestown, the top-ranked team in Eastern Mass.

• All-conference honors.

The list goes on.

But Pagan, the senior four-year varsity point guard who leads Central Catholic into this evening's Division 1 North title game vs. Lowell, easily pinpoints the lowest of lows in his career.

"It was my sophomore year against Bishop Hendricken (of Rhode Island)," said Pagan. "I got no minutes, not a second. It was the lowest moment of a very frustrating year. "I had been playing with no confidence at all. I looked shaky. I felt shaky. But that day, I wondered if I'd ever play again."

Perhaps that's the reason for the 18-year-old red-head's positive outlook. Well, that and as teammate Adrian Gonzalez explained, "he's a great dancer, too."

Pagan is savoring every second he has left wearing the Raider uniform.

"I think my whole career has been a roller-coaster," said Pagan, who's averaging about eight points, seven assists and under three turnovers a game this year for the 22-2 Raiders. "I've had to play the game and try to prove a lot of people wrong."

Pagan, who played varsity as a freshman during the Christmas and state tourneys, came to Central with a big reputation from his days with the Lawrence Boys Club.

That hype hurt, especially in his sophomore year, when the program needed help at the point guard, but Pagan was thinking more about scoring points.

"All the big players that got the respect were the scorers out there," he said. "I just didn't understand there was more to it."

Pagan picked the wrong time to try and dominate as a sophomore, what with the likes of Casey Cosgrove and Greg Vetrano at Andover and Alex Oviedo running the show at Lawrence.

"Those guys were some of the best guards in the state, and it was a challenge almost every night," he said.

As the turnovers mounted and his playing time decreased, Pagan felt the heat.

"The thing about Wilfredo is that he never stopped working, no matter how tough things got on him," said Gonzalez. "He never stopped fighting."

Pagan relied on support from his father and his friends to get him through those low times. He also learned plenty from watching those great opponents and the man who held the point guard position before him, Junior DeLaHoz.

"Point guard is all about involving your teammates, getting them the basketball at the right time," said Pagan. "I wanted to be one of those great, scoring guys at first. But as I went on, it was more important to me to be a leader on this team and to distribute the basketball."

The transition wasn't immediate, although Pagan says new coach Rick Nault played a perfect catalyst.

"He's a little younger (than ex-coach Dick Licare)," said Pagan. "I mean coach Licare was a great coach, a legend here, but coach Nault understands me, and he understands my game. Maybe it's because he was my JV coach, but he really had a lot of confidence in me."

These days, Pagan continues to go out and reward Nault for his faith.

Against a lightning quick Charlestown club, Nault put the ball in Pagan's hands. Pagan needed no help, no screens or safety valves to pass the ball away.

"Man, I've never felt so good as that game," said Pagan. "No matter what the score was, I was just out there so confident, both in myself and that we were going to come back and win. I'll never forget that game."

Pagan is leaning toward studying business at either Merrimack College, where he'd like to walk-on for coach Bert Hammel | possibly with a Lawrence Boys Club scholarship | or prestigious Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he's being recruited to play by former Andover High point guard Chris Bartley.

Either way, it depends on the finances.

"I'm very proud of him as a friend and a teammate. If anyone deserves a scholarship, it's Wilfredo," said Gonzalez. "He's put way too much work into basketball and into academics, not to get one. Look at where he's come from, and what he's done. Now he's one of the best guards in the state."