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For the first time in about three months, the Woodstock Academy Gold prep basketball team finally got to play against someone other than itself.
The Centaurs opened their season Nov. 3 and looked pretty impressive in a 96-47 win over We Believe Prep, a first-year program out of Waterbury.
They followed that up with an 87-73 win over Vision Academy Nov. 7 to get off to a 2-0 start on the season.
The team has big men in the middle with Jamine Charles (6 feet, 10 inches), DiAri Duncan (6-8), Dominic Strothers (6-9), Jalen Pitre (6-9), Jayden Webley (6-10), and Promise Opurum (6-7) all with the ability to mix it up inside.
Forward Simon Hildebrandt (6-8) is a player capable of playing both inside and out as are 6-7 Jayshane Woodard, 6-6 Travonne Jackson, 6-5 Diovion Famakinde and 6-5 Walter Andrew Jr. all of whom, with the exception of Famakinde who was out, saw plenty of action on the wings in the opener.
Tyshawn Trail and Jalen Bradberry got the start in the opener in the back court with Keenan Emmanuel and Corey Jones coming off the bench.
The Centaurs led after the first half against We Believe but only by 12 points, 36-24.
We Believe scored the first four points of the second half to cut the deficit under double digits but Hildebrandt, who finished with 12 points, scored seven of the next eight points in a variety of ways, putting Woodstock up by 14.
We Believe Prep (3-2) got stuck at 31 points and Woodstock scored 16 unanswered points including a pair of 3-pointers by Jones and Trail.
The second game saw Gold scoring 40 first-half points and then bringing it up a notch with 47 second-half points. Famakinde and Trail led the Centaurs with 11 points apiece with Opurum adding 10.
Blue Wins on Road, Falls at Home
The Centaurs had to battle but pulled out the 79-69 win over their hosts, Notre Dame-West Haven.
The Centaurs hit eight 3-pointers in the second half.
The Blue team doesn’t have the kind of height that the Gold team has but it’s still substantial. Chiwer Mayen and Hunter Crawford are both 6-foot, 9-inch and do a nice job of protecting the rim. Kunga Tsering (6-7) adds length and the ability to score inside and outside. Jan-Viljam Homanen is another athletic frontcourt player at 6-6. Jaden Andrews and Wilson are also defensive stalwarts.
Woodstock graduate Logan Talbot is the offensive spark the Centaurs can use. Chididuben Nwankwo and Eddie Fisher both add size. Mike Pelletier is a strong outside shooter. Jason Ofcarcik returns for his second year but served as assistant coach as he is sidelined by injury. The Centaurs fell behind by as many as 14 in the second. Henderson and Homanen led the way for the Centaurs with 16 each. The squad fell to 1-1 on the season with an 85-84 loss to Vision Academy. Homanen led the way with 18 points in the loss while Tsering added 12 and Talbot finished with 10.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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