The season came to a close March 8 for the Woodstock Academy Blue prep basketball team. But the Centaurs went as far as they could go.
Woodstock Academy finished up in the Power 5 Conference AA tournament championship game March 8 where it fell short to Upper Room Christian, 81-63.
The Centaurs finished with a 22-17 record.
“I was more than happy to make it this far,” said Woodstock Academy coach Denzel Washington. “It would have been great to win it. We don’t believe in moral victories around here. It was great because the guys fought all the way through and not once did they give up on themselves.”
The Centaurs had an uphill road to climb. They got into the championship game only after a 113-109 double overtime win on the road against Notre Dame-West Haven March 7.
“It’s always hard to play back-to-back, let alone going to double overtime (Saturday) and turning around and playing (Sunday). I think that definitely played into why we didn’t hit a few more shots in the first half,” said Nahshon Battle.
An 11-0 run early in the first half by Upper Room Christian meant the Centaurs were chasing the Lions early.
Six of those points came from Dian Wright-Forde who finished with 25.
Andres Marrero, who led Upper Room Christian with 28 points, capped off the run with a 3-pointer that gave the Lions a 21-9 lead and forced a first time out by the Centaurs.
The Centaurs got a basket from Malikai Delgado, only to fall right back into a drought.
Another Marrero 3-pointer capped a 13-4 run for Upper Room Christian which extended the lead to 19, 34-15, with 5:30 left in the first half.
The Centaurs would trail at the break, 38-22.
The Centaurs tried to put a little run together at the beginning of the second half and got it down to 13 points briefly when Darryl MacKey (10 points) followed up seven points by Battle (20 for the game) with a bucket to make it 45-32 with 15:24 left.
The Lions responded with three Marrero free throws and, after another Battle bucket, scored seven of the next 10 points to go back up by 18.
Upper Room extended the lead to 20-plus and only saw the lead go under 20 when Battle hit a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to account for the final.
“I wouldn’t say they got into heads, I really don’t think that there is anyone in the league who can beat us but ourselves. They are a good team. Give credit where credit is due. They beat us three times,” Battle said.   
In addition to the championship game and semifinal over the weekend, the Centaurs also had to win a quarterfinal game at home last Wednesday. They prevailed easily over the Hoosac School, 101-59.
The Blue squad was coming off a win the weekend before over Capital Prep Harbor in which they scored 125 points, saw eight players finish in double figures and had 40 assists.
Five players finished in double figures and they distributed the ball well again, getting 25 assists.
The Centaurs pulled away early from their visitors from New York. An 11-2 run turned a three-point lead into a double-digit advantage with Delgado doing the honors, putting Woodstock Academy up, 20-10.
The Centaurs extended that lead to 15 and by late in the first half and jacked it up to 22 by halftime thanks to two free throws each from Vondre Chase and Elijah Blackman.
Blackman, who led the team along with MacKey with 16 points, then buried a 3-pointer with four seconds left in the half to give the Blue squad a 47-25 advantage.
Gottlieb, who finished with 11 points, not only played well offensively where he directed traffic at times, but also defensively including a pretty memorable block from behind.
The Centaurs built up the lead to 30-plus after a basket by Hakan West (10 points) with 12:21 to play.
Battle will head to St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vt., in the fall to play Div. II college basketball, said the experience in northeastern Connecticut was memorable. “I couldn’t be more proud of the guys. Playing with them has been an honor for me,” he said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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