READING -- Central Catholic junior guard Billy Marsden scored a game-high 30 points, 22 of which came in the second half and overtime, as the Raiders roared back from a 16-point deficit to topple top-seeded Charlestown, 74-63, in a Division 1 North semifinal.
The Raiders advanced to Saturday's sectional final to meet the winner of tonight's Everett-Lowell tilt at Tsongas Arena.
Marsden, who had his coming out party last year on this same court when he scored the final seven points as Central upset then-top-seeded Lexington, took over in the third quarter. He poured in 13 of the Raiders' 15 points in that third frame and helped fuel a furious comeback.
But Marsden might not have been involved in the biggest play of the night (not directly anyhow). That came with 2.1 seconds remaining in regulation and Central trailing by a bucket. With fouls to give, Charlestown was able to disrupt the Raiders' offense as it tried desperately to spring a guard off a high screen for a final shot.
Instead, forced to look elsewhere, coach Ricky Nault drew up a play in which forward Adrian Gonzalez lobbed the inbounds pass to center Carson Desrosiers in the lane. The lanky 6-foot-9 sophomore produced a quick turnaround that banked home to force the extra session.
Marsden? He sprinted in front of Desrosiers before the inbounds and seemed to suck the defense towards him, which only gave the big man more room to produce the crucial basket.
"We just drew it up," Nault said, acknowledging the final play was improvised given Charlestown's foul situation. "We knew they'd just foul it we gave it to a guard. We had to go with a catch and shoot. (Desrosiers)'s 6-9 and he's got a soft touch."
Marsden went back to work by scoring nine points in the extra frame, including a dagger of a 3-pointer with 45 seconds remaining that put his team on top, 69-60. He added four clutch freebies to seal it before Central emptied its bench for the final 20 seconds.
