Staff Report
The Gloucester Catholic High boys basketball team had a lot of ups and downs this season, as is typical of a team that is very young and plays a lot of freshmen and sophomores.
Helping to guide all those young guys this winter was senior Carlos Mendez, who didn’t get a lot of credit for all that he did for the Rams because he was overshadowed by leading scorer Jack Mustaro, who averaged 25 points per game.
Mendez wasn’t nearly that prolific at scoring, but he did a lot of little things that didn’t show up in box scores, like hustling, playing solid defense, usually on the opposing team’s top players, and dishing out assists. He had 118 of them this season and finished with 345 for his career. Like a lot of good players, Mendez increased his statistical performance every year in almost every offensive category, and as a senior he made 31 threes, was a 75 percent free-throw shooter, grabbed 70 rebounds and had 61 steals.
For his career Mendez, of Camden, had 170 steals in 90 games played and finished with more than 200 rebounds. He also hit 94 three-pointers and finished with more than 750 points. He helped lead the Rams to 55 wins during his four years in the maroon-and-gold.
— Dave O’Sullivan, Staff Writer
