RallyNorth.net

Sat, Dec 21, 2013 03:45 PM @ Central Catholic

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Pinkerton	7	6	7	5	25
Central Catholic	16	14	20	9	59

Nelson returns, Central wallops Pinkerton

Sunday, December, 22 By Michael Muldoon
Staff writer

NORTH ANDOVER — The “will he or won’t he?” question was answered definitively.

Yes, it turned out, reigning Eagle-Tribune MVP Tyler Nelson did indeed make his long-awaited season debut for Central Catholic.

After a slow start (he missed his first three shots), it was the Nelson of old as the Fairfield-bound sharpshooter scored 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting and Central’s defense harassed Pinkerton from the opening tap to the final buzzer.

Until late in the game, Nelson had outscored the entire Pinkerton team. The Raiders pummelled the Astros, who were playing their second game in 20 hours, 59-25.

The 25 points was tied for the third lowest in the 39-year history of the tourney.

Central will play Andover Saturday at 8 p.m. for the Licare Division (top four seeded teams) title of the Commonwealth Motors Christmas Classic.

Nelson played with a soft brace on his left (non-shooting hand).

“It felt good,” said Nelson, the only player in tourney history to win MVP honors as a sophomore. “I got the cast off Monday. I saw the doctor (Friday) and finally got cleared. I only fell on it one time (yesterday) and I didn’t get hurt.”

Raider Nation was holding its breath on the spill and that Nelson stays healthy. He said he’d err on the side of caution.

“If it starts to hurt, I’ll have to shut it down,” said the basketball/golf All-Scholastic, who suffered the injury on Nov. 19 in the finals of the North Andover Fall Ball basketball league.

Nelson’s 21 points moved him into a 26th-place tie with Central’s John Daileanes on the tourney’s all-time scoring list. Both have 137.

Coach Rick Nault was delighted to get Nelson and 6-6 Aaron Hall (hamstring) back and equally ecstatic over his squad’s defense.

“I thought the defense did a tremendous job,” said the eighth-year Raider coach after his 160th career win. “The defense is just a mentality. It’s a slugfest. It’s not just game day. It’s every day in practice.”

The Raiders held talented 6-7 sophomore Luke Rosinski to nine points after he scored 20 Friday in the season-opening loss to Nashua South.

Nault went to the bench early and 11 different Raiders scored. Nick Cambio with 10 points was the only other player in double figures for the 3-0 Raiders, who are gunning for their third straight Christmas Tourney title and the sixth in the last seven years.

Maybe they could have done it shorthanded anyway. Maybe not. Nault is glad he won’t have to find out.

“Having Tyler and Aaron makes things so much easier,” he said.