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The Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball team is nearing the halfway mark of its season.
With final exams for the first semester this week at the school, Centaurs coach Marty Hart said he has been pretty happy with his team’s performance.
“I would give us a solid ‘B’,” Hart said of his team’s 5-4 record at the end of last week. “Where we need to improve is in our transition defense and our shooting and scoring in halfcourt sets. I’m really happy with our rebounding and balance. I’m happy that we give more assists than most teams and our passing and handling of pressure defense has been very good. We just need to get home and play teams within our division and we will be competitive.”
When Hart talks division, he means CIAC Division IV, because Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II is not easy with the likes of Waterford (10-1) and Fitch (5-5).
The Centaurs lately have also had to battle some ECC Division I opponents.
Such was the case Jan. 18 when they traveled to Norwich to take on the NFA Wildcats and came out on the short end of a 66-40 score.
“Their athleticism, their home court, their home crowd, got to us,” Hart said.
The Centaurs fell behind early, 18-9, in the first quarter.
“We were getting the shots we wanted; we just weren’t able to knock them down. They started out a little cold, like us, and we were rebounding well, but they got a few to fall and got hotter at home. In a 10-point game, that’s five possessions. You miss on a couple of shots, give up three and that’s 10 points,” Hart said.
The Wildcats extended the lead to 16 by halftime, 31-15.
The Centaurs hung with the Wildcats in the third quarter but saw NFA lock it away in the fourth.
Luke Mathewson led the Centaurs with 11 points while Cole Hackett added eight while leading scorer Chase Anderson, who was averaging 18.7 points per game coming in, was held to seven.
All of Anderson’s points came in the third quarter.
“The opponents certainly key on him and he does a number of other things to try and score. He’s a great passer, a great rebounder, and if a team keys on him, we do need to be a little better and be a bit more balanced to try and counter that,” Hart said.
The Centaurs did get a more balanced effort and a win Jan. 15 against the Windham Whippets at the Alumni Fieldhouse.
Anderson scored 18 points while Aaron Johnson added 12 and Mathewson 11 in the 68-55 win.
Johnson played a large role with his ability to lead the attack in transition.
In a key part of the game, Johnson assisted on four consecutive Woodstock Academy baskets.
“He’s such a quick ballhandler and if we can stretch the defense by getting the ball out to him and him being the point guard of our transition – that’s great,” Hart said. “We’ve got a number of capable guards who can help handle the ball, but it’s important for him to facilitate for us. He’s the sparkplug and he gets us going.”
Hackett, just coming off an elbow injury, scored only nine points but was a monster off the boards, pulling down 19 rebounds, and 14 of them off the defensive glass.
That kind of effort made it easier for Johnson to get things ignited.
“We have really worked on the transition. Let’s get our 3, 4, and 5 rebounding and get out 1 and 2 spread out wide and get the transition going. That way we can run a little sideline break and look for trailers up the middle. The guys want to run. That’s great with me and I want to do it with a purpose and make sure we always get back on defense,” Hart said.
The Centaurs broke away from the Whippets in the middle quarters.
It was close in the first with the Centaurs leading by only two, 19-17, before they outscored Windham 15-9 and 19-5 in the second and third quarters.
The win broke a two-game losing streak for the Centaurs who had fallen to Fitch and East Lyme on the road the week before.
“When you go on the road against the upper division in the ECC it’s very steep, so it’s nice to come back home to the friendly confines of the Alumni Fieldhouse,” Hart said. “We put together a lot of the phases of our game against Windham. It was a nice game for us and it showed that a lot of the things we’re working on are improving.”
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy
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