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Celebrate
The Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball team celebrated its seven seniors on Senior Night. Photo by Sean Saucier.
Academy wins
ECC North
Region title
It wasn’t the prettiest game the Woodstock Academy Centaurs boys’ basketball team played all season.
But it was their most important win.
The Centaurs captured the pandemic-abbreviated regular season ECC North Region title March 12 with a 45-37 win over Griswold.
The win meant the Centaurs finished the regular season with an 8-1 record.
They also guaranteed themselves home floor advantage throughout the EC postseason experience tournament which begins March 19 with a quarterfinal game at home at the Alumni Fieldhouse.
“That’s very important,” senior Logan Talbot said of the home court advantage. “I think it’s definitely cool for seniors to have every game that is left at home.”
The semifinals will be played next Wednesday with the championship game slated for next Friday.
“It’s big,” Woodstock Academy senior Andrew Johnson said of the win over Griswold and regular season title both of which also happened to occur on Senior Night for the Centaurs.
“Every time we play Griswold, they always catch us off guard, every year. I’m just really happy we came through with the win,” Johnson said.
Woodstock Academy coach Marty Hart agreed. “I have to give it to them,” Hart said of the Wolverines. “They really frustrated us with their deliberate level of play and took us out of our comfort zone. We did some things that were silly and unnecessary. We sped up when we shouldn’t have and slowed down when we shouldn’t have. We got the win and I would rather win ugly than lose pretty.”
Griswold was able to slow the Centaurs down and a pair of 3-pointers to end the first half pulled the Wolverines within three, 18-15, at halftime.
But, defensively, the Centaurs held Griswold to just a pair of points in the third quarter.
Offensively, Woodstock Academy junior Ethan Davis came alive as he scored eight of his 11 points in the quarter to put the Centaurs up by 13.
“I’m glad he went to the phone booth and went from Clark Kent to Superman in the second half, we needed that,” Woodstock Academy coach Marty Hart said of Davis.
Johnson, who finished with 14 points including 8-of-9 from the free throw line, helped close it out with a 4-for-4 performance from the charity stripe in the final quarter.
“He just had so much energy,” Hart said of Johnson. “Each time he came out, it was just to catch a break and re-compose and get back out there and he’s a machine at the (free throw) line.”
But Johnson did pick up his fourth foul late in the third quarter. He was back out there at the start of the fourth.
“I thought about leaving him on the bench to start the fourth quarter but I hate to have him sitting on the bench when he can be in the game. If the whistle blew and he had to come sit, I could have dealt with that. I don’t think I could have lived with knowing he was on the bench when he could have been in the game,” Hart said.
Logan Talbot (11 points) added a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter including the dagger with 2 minutes, 29 seconds left to end the Griswold (5-4) hopes.
Prior to the game, the Centaurs celebrated the seven seniors, Johnson, Talbot, Jacob Hernandez, Liam Blanchflower, Daimler Aleksjuks, Richie Hickson and Dmitrii Zinchenko.
There were plenty of smiles on the Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball bench when the game with Plainfield came to an end March 10.
The Centaurs accomplished what they came to do – they kept their destiny this season in their own hands with a 63-44 win over the Panthers.
“We’re thrilled,” Hart said. “We put all the pieces together. We’re glad that we’ve learned throughout the season and we just let the horses run (on Wednesday) and they did a great job.”
The Centaurs blew past their 16.7 point average in first quarter play this year by making 61 percent of their shots to help account for their 18 points.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t shake the Panthers early as senior guard Jalen Arriaga (18 points) hit a pair of 3-pointers and helped Plainfield record 14 points of its own.
Woodstock Academy, however, began to dominate the boards where they owned a 25-17 advantage over Plainfield on the defensive glass.
That opened up the outlet passes and the Centaurs feasted off those early. Especially Talbot. The guard scored 15 points in each half to finish with a game-high 30.
“A lot of those came off fast-break points, because we were getting rebounds. I give credit (to his teammates) for those,” Talbot said.
That was on clear display in the stats. Talbot made 13-of-18 (72 percent) from the floor.
Not only were the Centaurs clicking on offense, the defense wasn’t too bad, either.
Plainfield would only score four points in the second quarter when its shooting percentage dropped from 50 percent in the first quarter to 15 percent in the second.
“We were aggressive early, both physically inside and in transition,” Hart said. “Given our size, we felt like we had to close out on their shooters, we knew who they were, and really battle to get the boards. And every time we got (a rebound), just look up, and whoever is up, get it there and get going.”
The Centaurs held Plainfield sophomore Tyler Nordstrom, who had torched them for 24 points in the first meeting, without a basket in the first half and just five points in the second.
Johnson was the only other player in double figures for the Centaurs with 15 points.
The Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball team began the pivotal week of the 2021 season with a win over Killingly March 8. The Centaurs scored 14 of the final 19 points to post the 63-53 victory.
With the exception of an early 1-0 lead by Killingly, Woodstock Academy led the game throughout.
The Centaurs went on a 12-4 run in the second quarter that helped them turn a three-point lead at the end of the first quarter into an 11-point bulge with 4 minutes, 40 seconds left in the half.
Woodstock Academy was able to maintain that lead through much of the second and third quarters, leading by 10 going into the final period.
But Killingly came alive in the fourth.
“They stayed in the game,” Johnson said. “For a little stretch there, they were hitting some tough shots and I was just saying that we have to come back and play defense and play the game we know how to play.”
Killingly scored 10 of the first 11 points in the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer by sophomore Yianni Braibeau (22 points) pulling the visitors within one, 49-48, with 4:15 left.
Talbot, who scored seven of his team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter, answered with a 3-pointer of his own. Johnson followed with a basket and hit three-of-four from the line to help rebuild a comfortable eight point lead for the Centaurs.
A key for Woodstock Academy: It never let Killingly take a lead.
Johnson finished with 13 while Parker Anderson contributed 10.
The Centaurs also hit 16-of-18 from the free throw line, increasing their free throw percentage for the season to near 80 percent.
“This is a special group to me. They could be the best free throw shooting team I have ever coached or witnessed. We shoot them a little different in practice now. We shoot one and rotate because that first one is always the hardest one to get and they have got better with their focus,” Hart said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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