English boys hoop falls to Central Catholic

LAWRENCE – With its best player, Keandre Stanton, playing through foul trouble on Sunday at Memorial Gymnasium, the English boys basketball team still found a way to give Central Catholic quite the fight in the IAABO Board 130 semifinals.The Bulldogs were tied at 43 late in the third with Stanton on the bench before the Raiders went on a devastating 14-3 run that proved to be the difference in a 68-57 Central victory.”I was very happy with a lot of the things we did,” English coach Mike Carr said. “We have a lot of young kids that are beginning to step up for us. I was pleased with the effort coming off a couple of tough losses.”English got off to a slow start as the Raiders took a quick 7-3 lead in the opening minutes. But the Bulldogs settled in and thanks to Stanton and Ben Bowden, who had a team-high 17 points, the Bulldogs closed on an 8-2 run to tie the game at 15-15 after a quarter.The Raiders quickly took the lead back on Tyler Nelson’s 3-pointer before the teams began trading baskets. But when Stanton was called for his third foul with 3:25 left in the half, it looked like Central had a chance to blow the game open.English, though, responded with a 7-2 run keyed by a pair of 3-point plays from Stevie Collins that helped tie the game at 27 with 2:02 left in the half.Shawn McCoy canned a three moments later and when Nelson hit another triple as time expired in the half, Central had closed on an 8-2 run to lead 35-29 at the break.”With our style of play, for whatever reason, it gets us into a little bit of trouble,” Carr said. “But we have to play that way or we struggle to score. So it’s kind of a Catch-22.”The Raiders kept right on rolling at the start of the second half, scoring six quick points to push the lead to 12 and force an English timeout.The Bulldogs responded in turn as Stanton’s breakaway dunk started an 8-0 spurt that cut the lead to 41-37 midway through the third. But when Stanton was called for his fourth foul and went back to the pine, the Raiders sensed a chance to pull away for good.And do that they did.Joel Berroa started the game-changing run that gave Central a 51-46 lead after three and ended with the Raiders leading 57-46 with 6:00 left in the game.English would get the lead back down to seven twice before Stanton fouled out with just under three minutes left. But the Bulldogs could get no closer than five down the stretch as the Raiders pulled away.