St. John's comes up short in bid for state championship
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

JOHN NUNZIATO St. John's High School's 6-foot, 9-inch junior center Matt LaBove (44) has a shot blocked by Lawrence Central Catholic's 6-foot, 9-inch sophomore center Carson Desrosiers (55). Watching the play unfold for St. John's is John Perron.

Shrewsbury - The St. John's High basketball team's dream ride got all the way to its final destination, but ended on the wrong side of the tracks, the Pioneers losing to Lawrence Central Catholic, 68-47, in the Massachusetts Division 1 Championship, held at the DCU Center March 15.

"We battled. I'm proud of my guys; they fought hard," St. John's coach Bob Foley said. "Central Catholic was just too tall an order."

The operative word is tall.

While St. John's boasts of height of its own, with 6-foot-9 junior center Matt LaBove and his 6-6 brother Chad on the roster, the Pioneers had no answer for the Central Catholic duo of 6-9 sophomore center Carson Desrosiers and 6-5 senior forward Adrian Gonzales.

Gonzales poured in a game-high 28 points and while Desrosiers scored only two, his value showed on the defensive end of the floor as he altered the flight path of lots of shots St. John's players took from all over the court, but especially many of the ones the Pioneers hoisted from the lane.

"Gonzales was the difference," Foley said. "We were able to manage their other kids and do a lot of the things defensively that we wanted to do coming in, but we couldn't control Gonzales."

Another fly in the ointment was Central Catholic's senior point guard Wilfredo Pagan, who poured in 21 points and created match-up problems for every St. John's player who tried to cover him, thanks to his quickness and athleticism.

St. John's finished the season 21-7, earning its 15th Central Mass. title in the process. The Pioneers got a lot closer to its second state title in eight years than lots of longtime high school basketball observers thought they would. Central Catholic's state title was the crowning achievement of a 25-2 season.

Matt LaBove led the Pioneers' effort with 15 points, David White added 10 and Brendan Russell chipped in eight.

Russell is one of just two seniors on the team, the Jack-of-all-trades, 6-2 forward John Perron being the other.

"I just hope we can fill in the roster spot that will be created by John Perron's graduation," Foley said. "You don't replace a guy like that. You just put a guy on the team in his spot and hope that collectively the team can overcome the fact a player like that isn't on the team anymore."

High praise from a coach who throws around accolades about as often as he does SUVs.

"John Perron is not a great basketball player," Foley said. "He's a good player, a very good player, but not a great one. What separates John from the rest is that he's a heck of an athlete, overall, and an incredible competitor, one of best there's ever been in my 27 years at St. John's."

Foley said other qualities that set Perron apart are his heart and his intelligence.

"John's a smart, smart player," Foley said. "Very resourceful. It's no accident that he's a senior captain in all three sports he plays - football, basketball and baseball."