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LAWRENCE, Mass. -- In this MIAA basketball season of constant surprise, one of the few guarantees was that Central Catholic would live up to its preseason No. 1 billing and head into the Division 1 North tournament as a bona fide favorite.

So maybe this next part is anticlimactic.

Before a capacity home crowd, the Raiders hosted archrival Andover in the finale of its Merrimack Valley Conference slate, and as typical of intense rivalries, the Golden Warriors made a run at them. But the Raiders never trailed from start to finish, eventually rolling away in the fourth quarter to a 72-54 win.

With the win, Central improved to 17-1 and wrapped up its league slate at 14-1 -- the Raiders have already clinched their sixth straight league title. In the last five seasons, the Raiders have lost just three MVC contests -- twice to Lowell (2008, 2012) and once to Andover (2010). The Warriors fell to 11-7 on the season, and finish their league schedule 9-5.

"It means a lot to us," sophomore Tyler Nelson (17 points) said of the league championship streak. "We have a lot of goals this year, and we really want to go out there and make a statement, and try and reach our ultimate goal of reaching the tournament and making a run."

The Raiders led 44-32 at the break, thanks to a perfect first half from Nelson. The point guard was 5-for-5 from the field, including two 3-pointers, and 5-for-5 from the foul line in one of his better first-half performances of the season.

"They didn't play box-and-one like the first time we met them," Nelson said. "So it was a little bit easier getting my shot off, and I was just knocking them down. I felt good from the start, and I knew I was going to keep making them."

But Andover came storming out of the gates to start the third quarter, opening with an 8-0 run. Chris Dunn (20 points) capped the run with a three-pointer that cut the Central lead to 44-40, pulling up to the right wing and letting loose.

That was as close as the Warriors got the rest of the way. Over the final 12 minutes, Central outscored the Warriors 28-14 behind some tough interior play facilitated by junior Joel Berroa (14 points) and sophomore Nick Cambio (11 points, seven rebounds).

"It wasn't the way we wanted to start the second half," Central head coach Rick Nault said. "I don't think we adjusted properly to start that second half. Then I thought we just went inside, and dominated the paint -- not only in scoring, but getting the ball in the post."

Max Silveira also chipped in 15 points for Andover in the loss.

Foul trouble: Central poses many a matchup problem on any given night, particularly when they go with a lineup that has all three of its true bigs -- Berroa, Cambio and junior Doug Gemmell -- on the floor. That was evident tonight against the undersized Andover front, drawing them out of position on plays around the rim, especailly in the first half. Central went to the line for 19 free throw attempts in the first half, making all of them, while Andover attempted just five and made four.

"We feel like when we have the three bigs on the floor together, we feel we've always have a mismatch somewhere," Nault said. "Our focus point is to try to get them the ball, and the fact that we can get fouled and knock them down from the free throw line is huge for us. That's always been the case in the past."

Andover head coach Dave Fazio chose not to say much on the matter, stating simply, "They shot 19 free throws, we shot five. End of statement. It is what it is. Whatever."

Puello on the mend again: It took nearly a month for star senior guard Luis Puello to get back to full strength after going down with a high ankle sprain during the Greater Lawrence Christmas Tournament in late December. Now, it appears the Raiders will continue to learn how to do without.

Puello, widely considered the state's best on-ball defender, was in street clothes on the bench tonight after re-injuring the same ankle in a 74-46 win over Haverhill last Friday. Nault said there is "honestly no timetable for a return", and estimates a "50-50" chance Puello returns at the starter of the Division 1 North tournament.

In the meantime, junior Lucas Hammel has taken on Puello's familar role of picking up the ballcarrier immediately and marking the best shooters all around the halfcourt.

"We'll take it day by day," Nault said of Puello's injury. "It took him four weeks to come back last time, and he's re-injured that same foot. So, I really don't know."

Dowden down as well: The Warriors have also been missing 6-foot-4 junior forward Sam Dowden, one of their top players, since spraining his ankle in a Feb. 7 win over Lowell. In Tuesday's 54-38 loss to Lowell, Dowden played less than eight minutes, and wasn't getting much push out of the foot.

Fazio considers Dowden "day to day", and has been erring on the side of caution with his recovery.

"If we're playing for a league title tonight, we probably give him a shot and let him run," Fazio said.

Fazio declares team will be 'dangerous': Answering questions about Dowden, Fazio noted the team's upcoming schedule -- a host tournament during February vacation, followed by the Division 1 North sectional -- and declared, "We're going to end up being a dangerous team."

"We're going to put all our pieces together," Fazio said. "We haven't put all our pieces together. The kids are hungry. A lot of teams are winding down in February, they're tired. These kids are hungry, and that says a lot about these guys."

And just what makes them so hungry?

"We've just got great kids, man," Fazio laughed. "We've got great kids like (senior captain) James Costello who pour their heart and soul into it. Sam Dowden's a warrior. We've just got a bunch of great kids who love basketball."

LAWRENCE, Mass. — Central Catholic has won games in every kind of fashion this season. The Raiders have won on the road, at home, in different states and in holiday tournaments.

The only kind of win they haven’t had yet is a victory after a loss.

Mark that one off the list.

The Raiders followed up their first loss of the season with a 57-53 victory over host Lawrence — a team they have defeated three times this season — on Tuesday night, in a Merrimack Valley Conference matchup.

Raiders coach Rick Nault saw his team go through a couple of good practices leading up to Tuesday’s matchup, and was happy with the way his team responded from the first hiccup on the schedule.

“I think sitting in that locker room after that Lowell game, which Lowell really took it to us, each kid to a man said let’s not have this happen again,” said Nault, whose team moved to 16-1 on the season. “It’s a very determined group I’ve got. I’ve had a lot of good teams in the past, but I don’t think I’ve ever had as a hard working team as this group right here. They truly believe in each other.”

Cambio steps up: One thing that sets the Raiders apart from other teams in Eastern Mass. is the fact that they can roll out a handful of players and not miss a beat.

The latest player to step up was the 6-foot-5-inch, sophomore Nick Cambio. Cambio scored six points and finished with six rebounds (five in the second half and four of those on the offensive glass). It wasn’t all about the stats for Cambio, as he helped spark a 7-0 run to help the Raiders take a 40-30 lead in the third quarter.

Cambio fumbled a pass on the break, but hustled back on defense and blocked a Lancers’ lay-up attempt hard off the glass. He quickly got in on the play on the other end and dished off to Luis Puello for an easy bucket. Cambio also showed off his range with a corner 3-pointer, which was originally posted as two points, to cap off the run.

It’s becoming normal for Nault to see his young big man be a part of so many important victories this season.

“It seems like every big game he’s the difference,” said Nault. “Every time we beat a real, real strong team he’s the guy who kinds of shifts things for us. I thought he was the key.”

Offensive drought for Lancers: The Raiders switched to a press — something that Nault doesn’t usually deploy — in the second half for stretches and also took the Lancers top scorer in the first half, Franklin Martinez, out of his comfort zone in the first half.

Martinez, who scored two points after scoring a game-high nine in the first half, saw Puello and Lucas Hammel on him for most of the fourth quarter and the Lancers offense didn’t score a field goal for the first half of the period.

“We are going through stretches where we just aren’t getting any flow to the game,” said Lancers head coach Paul Neal, whose team is now 11-4. “They did a nice job of taking us out of the stuff we wanted to do. We are a team that has to play with rhythm, and we just couldn’t get it together.”

LAWRENCE, Mass. -- Last season's two meetings between Central Catholic and St. John's Prep -- once late in the regular season, and again in the Division 1 North semifinals a few weeks later -- can be summed up in short as epic. The two games, both wins for Prep, were decided by just five points total, and featured last-minute heroics from ESPN Boston Mr. Basketball and Notre Dame freshman Pat Connaughton.

So what to say of this, then, an 80-56 win over the Eagles that was polished from start to finish? The Raiders (11-0) never trailed in this one, and strung together runs of 12-3 and 9-0 in the second and third quarters, respectively, to maintain control throughout.

"It feels great," said senior Luis Puello, a major player in both of last year's battles, who came off the bench tonight in recovering from an ankle injury. "There's not a better feeling than that, you know. They come to our house, and we beat them by however much we beat them. But they're a good team, you know, we're going to face them again [next month, in Central's host tournament], and we've just got to bring it again."

Prep (9-2) cut Central's lead to 25-20 midway through the second quarter on a three-pointer from the corner by Freddy Shove, but the Raiders answered with a Nick Cambio (16 points, eight rebounds) three from the opposite corner, off a Joel Berroa kickout pass, that made it 30-23. After Central head coach Rick Nault was called for a technical foul, Lucas Hammel finished off the 12-3 run with a steal in the open court and breakaway layup.

Central led 37-24 at the half, and the Eagles never came within eight the rest of the way.

"That was probably our best 32 minutes of basketball all season," Nault said. "We lost to these guys twice last year, they ended our season. And since March now, we've talked about that feeling we had in the locker room last March, and it stuck with these guys. They were pretty fired up all week, and it showed tonight in terms of their energy and effort."

The junior Berroa poured in a double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds) in the winning cause, while Hammel and Tyler Nelson added 11 points each. Prep was led in scoring by Mike Carbone (17 points) and Steve Haladyna (10).

Cambio climbing: After earning some hype with a strong summer campaign, it has been a breakout season for the sophomore Cambio to say the least. The 6-foot-5 forward had some crucial minutes in the Raiders' 69-67 overtime thriller over Lawrence last weekend, totaling 16 points and 12 rebounds.

This afternoon, it was more of the same for the stretch four-man. In the second quarter, he kick-started the 12-3 run with a baseline three off a kickout pass from Berroa. In the third quarter, he sparked another run with a momentous two-handed slam that made it 53-36, taking a diagonal pass from Berroa across the paint and gathering just under the left block.

On the next trip down, Cambio hit a three from the left corner off a kickout pass from Nelson, before closing out the third quarter with a dagger three from the opposite corner, just before the buzzer sounded.

"I like that penetration," Cambio said of his affinity for playing close to the baseline. "Then I kick right out, when I can either step out and get the three or go in for the layup with a dunk. I like that."

Said Puello, "I've liked Cambio since the beginning. He was always in the gym in the summer, and seeing his development has been great. It's an asset to the team, it's good. As long as he's playing well, we're all playing well."

Easing back into it: Since Puello went down with a high ankle sprain in the first minute of the Greater Lawrence Christmas Tournament semifinals last month, the Raiders coaching staff have erred on the side of caution. After all, the Raiders have a rough next month of a schedule that starts next weekend with Rhode Island powerhouse Bishop Hendricken and continues with rematches against Lowell, Andover, Lawrence and Prep. The Raiders are going to need a fully-healthy Puello come February; with the 6-foot-1 senior's relentless marking defense, the Raiders are one of the state's toughest outs.

Puello cringed from the sidelines as he was held out of games against Andover, Lawrence (twice) and Springfield Cathedral (at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield), but knows it's for the best interest of both him and the team. This afternoon's performance, though, had to be encouraging.

Coming off the bench, Puello first entered the game with 1:39 left in the first quarter and immediately got to work. On one of his first possessions, an Eagles inbound play, Puello hip-checked Shove out of bounds as he came around the baseline on a backdoor cut, eventually leading to an out-of-bounds violation. At the other end, Hammel hit a layup that extended the lead to 19-13. The next trip down, Puello notched a steal in the open floor.

"He's just so active, and his athleticism alone makes plays for him," Nault said. "You could still see he's rusty, he's hobbling a little bit, and I think it's affecting him more on the offensive end than the defensive end. When we get him back full-speed, I think defensively we're going to be pretty tough."

Puello

"It's a process," Puello said. "But little by little, we'll get healthy and I'll get back to where I need to be."