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Commits
Woodstock Academy Gold prep basketball player Dyondre Dominguez has committed to play Div. I basketball at UMass, joining a host of former Centaurs. Photo by Marc Allard.



A comfortable situation. Unlike many student-athletes who are walking into the unknown when it comes to playing Div. I collegiate basketball, Dyondre Dominguez knows a lot of what he will be dealing with.
Dominguez committed recently to play for the UMass basketball program next season.
He joins former Woodstock Academy prep players Tre Mitchell, Preston Santos, T.J. Weeks and Dibaji Walker.
Also on hand will be former Woodstock Academy head coach Tony Bergeron, who is now the assistant coach at UMass, and a current teammate, Cairo McCrory who committed to the Minutemen prior to coming to Woodstock Academy this season.
“It’s going to be real comfortable on the floor because we know how each other plays. I think we will do well both on and off the court,” Dominguez said.
The 6-foot-8 wing player made his official visit to UMass recently and liked what he saw.
He came home and just before the final Gold prep regular season game made the decision that UMass was the right place for him.
And it’s the right choice, according to Woodstock Academy coach Jacque Rivera. “It’s a good fit for Dyondre,” Rivera said.
“UMass got a kid that a lot of other schools missed on. He’s had some breakout games this year. His body of work is better than a lot of other people’s, UMass saw that, got ahead on it and I think he will be another Centaur who goes to UMass and finds success.”
Dominguez hails from Providence, another good reason to choose UMass since his family is close by, and was introduced to Woodstock Academy by Bergeron.
“I’ve known Coach B since about eighth grade. We’ve kept our relationship very close for the past couple of years. He’s been great. I knew everybody up there and the campus felt like home to me,” Dominguez said.
The Minutemen are just under .500 for the season but have experienced resurgence with this year’s freshman class.
“Recruiting is a relationship-based thing and the perception is that he is going there because he’s another Woodstock kid. But UMass as a whole showed the (Dominguez) family what it had to offer as a flagship institution.
Dyondre is close to his family, wanted to be close to home, but having kids coming from the same place after their post-grad year, gives them a leg up,” Rivera said.
The style of play is also very similar.
 “Plus, they have a kid named Tre Mitchell, which helps,” Rivera said with a smile. “He gives UMass something it needs. Having the dominant presence of Mitchell, Dyondre gives them someone else who can stretch the floor and they will have T.J. Weeks back. He fits and he walks into a place where he has to continue to prove himself and he will do just that. Dyondre is a kid who loves basketball. He is in love with the game; sometimes you have kids who happens to be good at it, but doesn’t really love it. Dyondre loves the game, loves training, and plays with a great deal of passion.”
Dominguez plans to major in sports management at UMass.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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PSA welcomes
Jose Guerrero
PUTNAM – Putnam Science Academy announced the addition of Jose Guerrero to the school’s men’s basketball program for the 2020-21 school year.
Guerrero, 16, is from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. A 6-foot, 2-inch point guard with terrific defensive capabilities who can defend multiple positions, Guerrero played for the Dominican Republic U16 National Team last year. He also led many of his club teams to Top 3 finishes while leading the teams in scoring.
In the past year, Guerrero was invited to play for The Rising Star Basketball Academy U17 team at the Baller at the Beach Tournament in Miami, where he averaged 12 points, seven rebounds, and four assists per game. That performance led to an invite to play for The Rising Star Basketball Academy’s U19 team at an AAU tournament at the ESPN complex in Disneyworld.
“We are looking forward to having Jose here and contributing to our program,” said PSA coach Tom Espinosa. “We hope to help him continue his development as a player as he helps the PSA Mustangs continue to succeed.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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The girls’ basketball season for the Woodstock Academy Centaurs came to a close last week.
But the Centaurs did leave a little something behind; momentum going into next winter.
“I’m really proud of these kids to start 1-9, but keep their nose to the grindstone and finish 6-4 on the back half. The opponents didn’t change much. It was just as competitive, still tough teams, had a couple of close games that we won. I think it’s a true testament to them that they stayed focused,” said Woodstock Academy coach Will Fleeton.
The Centaurs did so with only four seniors on the roster.
Katie Papp, Kayla Gaudreau, Rachel Lambert and Hallie Saracina have donned a Woodstock Academy basketball uniform for a final time.
“They will certainly be missed. They brought some of the grit that has been created in the program. That will, obviously, be missed and I hope they were able to transfer that same passion to the underclassmen,” Fleeton said. “They’ve been in the program all four years and I watched them grow up in life and in basketball.”
Papp finished tops on the team with eight points and seven rebounds a game despite being undersized.
Gaudreau averaged 7.6 points per game and led the team with 29 3-pointers while Saracina was the assists leader with almost two per game. Lambert chipped in just about everywhere.
Aurissa Boardman, sidelined for over half the season with a broken finger, will return as the leading scorer for the Centaurs next season.
The sophomore finished with 7.2 points a contest and, despite playing only half a year, was third on the team from beyond the arc with 11 3-pointers.
Junior Alexa Pechie will have the honors as the top returning long-distance threat as she had 16 on the season and averaged a solid six points a game.
Other players the Centaurs expect to have back include soon-to-be-seniors Peyton Saracina and Kaitlin Birlin and Victoria Garcia who will be a junior next season.
One thing he would like to see is his players get on the court in the offseason between now and next winter.
Most of his players have other athletic pursuits.
“I think it’s necessary considering the opponents we face because their players all play (in the offseason). I think the more we touch the basketball the better although we seem to be well-rounded with other sports and activities. That’s good. It’s a problem per se for a basketball coach, but it’s not a problem in life. They should experience everything they can right now. One day, they won’t be able to. They just have to find time to wiggle time in for things that they want and it’s necessary (for his players to play offseason basketball) if we’re going to compete in the (ECC),” Fleeton said.
The Centaurs got a taste of it again in their final game of the season, qualifying for the Class LL state tournament as the 29th seed.
Unfortunately, for the third time this season, they were matched up with Norwich Free Academy, the No. 4 team in the division. The result was similar to the two previous meetings, a 65-37 win for the Wildcats.
The game was close early but a 16-0 run by NFA, thanks in part to nine steals, contributed greatly to the Centaurs downfall. Woodstock Academy trailed, 37-16, at the half.
“I think that game symbolized the whole season. We played neck-and-neck with them for a quarter and a half. They made a run going into the half and then we battled the rest of the way with them. We may have fallen behind, but we were still battling and that’s a credit to my players and their effort and desire to play. That’s what made it a successful season in my mind,” Fleeton said.
Gaudreau led the Centaurs with 10 points in the loss while Papp added seven.
Woodstock Academy finished the season with a 7-15 overall record.
The ECC did decide recently to shift the Centaurs to Division II next season.
Bacon Academy will move up to Division I while Stonington will move from Division II back to Division III and Killingly will move up.
It means the Centaurs will play Fitch, Ledyard, Killingly and Waterford twice each.
It will only have to play NFA, New London, East Lyme and Bacon Academy once.
“I have to say, I think it’s better but every game out, we will play someone tough regardless. I think where it will help is that we will have a fuller schedule from the league because there are more teams in the division. I think that’s a bonus. We’re not going to have to go shake the bushes to fill the schedule out. That’s the biggest benefit but I don’t think much changes on the basketball court. We still face the better teams in the league,” Fleeton said.
The Centaurs have also been invited back to play in the Cranston (R.I.) tournament during the Christmas break next season.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy

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