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Seniors Hunter Larson, left, and Eric Mathewson will be two of the guiding hands for the Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball team this winter. Photo by Marc Allard.


The Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball team fell one win shy of qualifying for the state tournament a year ago.
It doesn’t mean the team wants to forget last season. In fact, quite the opposite.
The Centaurs finished off the regular season with victories over Waterford, Griswold and Old Lyme.
“We just want to keep building on the end stretch of the season last year. We were pretty good,” senior Hunter Larson said.
“We knew that it was all or nothing to make a run at States,” senior Eric Mathewson added. “If we keep that same intensity ...  we’re going to have a very successful year.”
It will be a case of building from the back, however.
The Centaurs will return much of their frontcourt strength but the backcourt did suffer a pair of graduation losses in Braiden Saucier and Brandon Nagle.
“We’re working on the back court,” said second-year head coach Donte Adams. “We’re looking at a lot of the ball handling to come from Garrett (Bushey) and one of our biggest additions in Matt Hernandez.”
Adams is hopeful that Hernandez will relieve Bushey of much of the ball handling responsibilities because Bushey (7.6 points per game, 25 3-pointers) is one who will be counted upon to fill up the basket.
“Garrett will be playing the 2 (guard) but they will be interchangeable. We have a team that will cause a lot of mismatch problems. I am looking for Matt to do a lot of the ball handling,” Adams added.
Mathewson, Teddy Richardson, Larson (8.1 points per game, 18-3’s),  and newcomers Will Bushey, Camden Nason, and T.J. Osborne will all see time in the backcourt.
Everyone will have to play, at least, a little faster: There is now a 35-second shot clock in boys’ and girls’ high school basketball in Connecticut.
The frontcourt features the return of 6-foot, 6-inch center Brady Ericson. The junior led the team with a 10.8 point per game average, 116 rebounds and 13 blocks.
Senior Keon LaMarche, sophomore Mike Therrien, Larson, Mathewson, Richardson and Nason will also play up front.
While last season may not be remembered for not making the state tournament, getting to the Div. IV tournament this year is on the Centaurs radar.
 “Our guys last year set the ground work. They came in and competed. We won three of our last four and I believe everything happens for a reason. We lost a lot of early games. So we’re coming in with a chip on our shoulders. We want to get double-digit wins, make the state tournament, and play with a little more hunger,” Adams said.
The Centaurs open the season at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Alumni Fieldhouse against Waterford.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy