Boys’ Roundup

Woodstock’s 

magical run 

almost makes it

By Ron P. Coderre

Woodstock Academy, the CIAC defending Class L Champions, continued its magical run in the 2014 tournament with a pair of hard fought but convincing wins over two tough foes from the Southern Connecticut Conference, before falling to Windsor High School 77-64 March 14. In the tough battle, Centaur Chris Lowry reached the 1,000 point plateau.

Plainfield, a #18 seed, remained alive in the Class M State Tournament with a stunning win over #15 seed Wilcox Tech, in a game that many observers considered a mild upset but was eliminated in its next game.  Tourtellotte put up a valiant effort in its game against St. Bernard in the Class S tourney before succumbing in overtime.  Killingly ran out of gas against a deeper Ellington team and was eliminated in the Class M competition.

Centaurs Cool Under Pressure

Proving that the pressure from last season’s tournament run to the Class L title helped them to be prepared for this season’s tourney, Woodstock Academy moved into the State L quarter finals with a big win over Daniel Hand High School of Madison.  The game was forced to move to the Tourtellotte gym, when a sprinkler leak in the Woodstock Fieldhouse made the change to Thompson necessary.

The Centaurs almost gave away a 13-point 50-37 lead, which they held after three quarters, as Hands pressure defense temporarily stunned the Acads but a coach Greg Smith timeout helped reorganize his troops as they held on for a 60-55 victory.

Hand started the contest on fire, taking a 21-16 advantage at the first stop.  Some good Centaurs defense stymied the Tigers, holding them to only five second-half points as Woodstock went on a run to take a 29-26 halftime lead to the locker room.  

Woodstock continued to build the lead in the third stanza with a 14-0 run only to see Hand narrow the margin 58-55 with 16 seconds remaining in the contest.  A pair of Trent Peters free throws with 7.7 seconds remaining iced the win for the Acads as they continue to ride the magic carpet.

Once again it was a solid team effort with everyone of the “iron five” contributing to the final outcome. Lowry, who had a solid floor game on offense and was a nuisance on defense, was the team’s leading scorer with 17 points.  He was joined in double figures by John McGinn with 13 points and a bushel of rebounds.  Peters had eight points, including a pair of three-point bombs to go with his key shots from the charity stripe.  Adam Converse added nine points and Will Bourgeois with some explosive moves was also in double figures with 11 markers.

Woodstock, the #5 seed, defeated #28 Branford 49-39 in a Monday night contest played at Killingly High School due to the water problem at the Academy Fieldhouse.  In this one, the Centaurs jumped out to a 26-13 halftime lead and controlled the second half as they worked their way to the 10-point win.  Big John McGinn took control of the backboards and ended up as the game high scorer with 16 points.  His inside running mate Converse recorded 12 points and Lowry 11 for the 20-5 Centaurs who move on to face #4 seed Windsor (18-4) on the road.

Plainfield rode the coattails of hot shooting Ryan Pambuku who tallied 27 points, including five from beyond the arc, as the Panthers moved on in Class M with a solid 72-66 win over Wilcox Tech.  The win puts the Panthers of coach Bob Arremony at 13-10 on the year.

Pambuku wasn’t the only Plainfield player in double digits, as Will Robinson added 10 and Corey Anderson with a solid performance turned in 14 points.  After putting up a valiant fight, the Panthers were eliminated in a second round contest by Notre Dame-Fairfield 68-56.

Tourtellotte staged one of its patented fourth-quarter rallies in a game on the road at St. Bernard, as the Tigers outscored the Saints 23-15 in the final stanza to tie the contest at 59 apiece in regulation.  Their luck finally ran out in the extra five-minute period as the hosts outscored the Tigers 11-5 for a 70-65 win.

Kaevon Safford kept his team in the game before fouling out, scoring 27 points to lead all scorers.  Shawn Houle in his final game as a Tiger played outstanding on both ends of the court and finished with 24 points.  The Tigers of Mayor Tony Falzarano close the season at 12-11.

Killingly took a ride to Ellington and concluded its season with a 71-58 loss to drop the Redmen to 8-14 on the year.  Nick Hewitt and James Saritelli with 20 points apiece were the offensive weapons for coach Jim Crabtree.

      Scoring Leaders: Kaevon Safford – Tourtellotte – 24.3; Ryan Pambuku – Plainfield - 21.8; Kenny Grant – Hyde-Woodstock – 19.7; Nick Hewitt – Killingly – 17.7; Cam Winston – Pomfret School – 16.2; Dexter Thompson – Hyde-Woodstock – 15.5.

      Three-point Leaders: Mike Jezierski – Tourtellotte – 82; Danny Upchurch – Putnam Science Academy – 74; Kyle Menard – Putnam Science Academy – 60. 

RPC’s Super Standings: Putnam Science Academy – 29-5; Woodstock Academy – 20-5; Plainfield – 13-10; Hyde-Woodstock -  13-12; Tourtellotte – 12-11;; Marianapolis I – 12-13; Marianapolis II – 11-9; Pomfret School – 8-11; Killingly – 8-14; Putnam – 5-15; Ellis Tech – 0-20 .

 

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