Gold Prep
team #2
in country
The Woodstock Academy Centaurs Gold Prep basketball team emerged from another week unscathed despite playing four games in five days.
The Centaurs, ranked No. 2 in the country in both the Hoop Hustle poll of national prep coaches and the 2nd2NoneBball prep power poll, raised their record to 17-0 with a win on the road at West Point, a win at home and two victories at the Basketbull Hoopfest in Springfield, Mass.
“I’m so happy especially with being No. 2 in the country,” said UMass commit Preston Santos. “We’ve worked hard for this. Countless days and nights especially in practice going hard against each other. It’s what made us better.”
The Centaurs were challenged in the first weekend of the Hoopfest which was played at the South End Community Center in Springfield.
Woodstock Academy met up with No. 3 New Hampton School Dec. 14 and posted a 75-64 victory.
“They were a very high-caliber team with a lot of good talent,” Santos said.
Tre Mitchell led the Centaurs with 17 points and 11 re bounds while Tre Williams added 14 points and four blocks.
Woodstock Academy followed that up with a much easier 98-60 win over Rise Academy from Canada Dec. 15.
Ody Oguama, who will play for Wake Forest University next season, led the Centaurs with 13 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks while Jeremy Robinson added 11 points and six rebounds.
The Centaurs go back to the Basketbull Hoopfest this week.
They will play Athlete’s Institute at 7 p.m. on Thursday and will meet fourth-ranked Sunrise Christian Academy at 3:45 p.m. Friday.
The game between Woodstock Academy and Sunrise Christian will feature 15 future Division I players as the Centaurs have eight who have already committed and Sunrise Christian has seven.
In their only game of the week at home and last until the Gold prep team plays MacDuffie School on January 9, the Centaurs rolled past Commonwealth Academy 121-56.
Santos led six players in double figures with 20 points.
“It’s always fun being able to score in various ways and getting my teammates involved,” Santos said.
He got his teammates and the fans at Woodstock Academy’s Alumni Fieldhouse fired up with several highlight-reel dunks.
“It gives me a lot of momentum,” Santos said. “A few years ago, I remember not getting up as high as I do now. It’s all about taking the right steps, starting low, going high and once I flush it down, it brings a lot of energy into the whole gym,”
Mitchell added 18 points, 12 in the first half while both T.J. Weeks and Mikal Gjerde added 11 and Darion Jordan-Thomas and Oguama added 10.
The game marked the first time that Weeks had played for the Gold this season.
He had been bothered by shin splints since he came to Woodstock Academy.
“That’s my brother right there,” Santos said. “Especially, being from Rhode Island, I’ve developed a very good relationship with him. For him to be out for so long, it’s a blessing to see him back, being able to see him smile and do his thing.”
The Centaurs had opened the week with a 95-75 win over the Army JV team at West Point.
Matt Cross scored 20 in the win while Mitchell added 15 and Santos 14.

Blue Breaks Skid
The Woodstock Academy Blue prep basketball team broke a two-game losing streak Dec. 16.
The Centaurs (14-4) downed Father Henry Carr School from Toronto, Canada at the St. Andrews School in Providence, 79-76.
Dyson Frank led Woodstock Academy with 14 points while Jeff Planutis added 10.
It helped save a pretty tough week for the Centaurs.
While the Gold prep basketball team prospered at Basketbull Hoopfest, the Blue team had its struggles.
The Centaurs lost their third in four games when they fell to Hamden Hall, 94-90, in overtime Dec. 15 at the South End Community Center.
Planutis paced the Blue squad with 21 points in the loss while Frank added 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Prior to that game on Saturday afternoon, the Centaurs faced another top NEPSAC team when they were paired up against Lee Academy Dec. 14.
Woodstock Academy battled, but came up short, falling to Lee, 77-66.
Kaleb Thornton scored 16 and Planutis added 12 in the loss.
The Centaurs get to go back to Springfield, Mass. this week for more Hoopfest action. They get an early morning contest at 11 a.m. Thursday when they meet Toronto Academy.
The Blue squad gets Friday off, but their Christmas break is delayed a bit as they are scheduled to play Athlete’s Institute on Saturday at 2:45 p.m.
The Centaurs, like their Gold counterparts, had a good outing in their only home game of the week.
They downed Commonwealth Academy Regional, 85-56 although they were tested early.
The Centaurs built a 13-point lead, 29-16, with 8:31 left in the first half, only to see the Tornadoes score the next 13 points.
“We came into the game really cocky and weren’t really worried about playing defense, just trying to run-and-score. We realized that they were playing harder so we had to turn it around,” guard Siddiq Canty said.
Canty was a key reason for the turnaround.
He scored the last two baskets of the first half to help the Centaurs re-establish a 12-point lead, 42-30, by the half. He followed that up with a pair of 3-pointers in the first 1:30 of the second half to put the Centaurs up by 18.
“I tried to (help get the momentum back),” Canty, who finished with 10 points said. “Coach (Nick DeFeo) went into us in the locker room and told us that we can’t underestimate any team, we should come out and play really hard- as hard as we can,” Canty said.
Kruno Macner led the Centaurs balanced attack with 11 points while both Planutis and Stefanos Psarras added eight.
The Centaurs were coming off their first setback of the week, a 77-76 loss to Navy Prep in Newport, R.I., Dec. 11.
“We missed a layup at the end, but that happens. We played a great game against them,” Canty said of the loss to Navy.
Planutis scored 21 to lead the Centaurs while Ahmad Jeffries added 12.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

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