The first season for the Woodstock Academy prep basketball program came to an end last week with the Centaurs Gold team posting a 35-5 record.
“It was a great first year. We had really good kids and we’re excited about how many of them are making their way to college with scholarships,” said coach Tony Bergeron.
The Centaurs Gold team qualified for the National Prep Championship at Connecticut College in New London and lost in overtime to eventual national champion, Putnam Science Academy, in the semifinals.
The Gold squad also won the Power 5 Conference tournament.
“Those (achievements) are for the kids and for the school, I was excited about that. For me, my goal is college for free for all of my kids so until I get that, I’m not done. But any time you have a chance to hang a banner and play basketball on the very last day of the season is a good thing,” Bergeron said.
Junior center Tre Mitchell was named the Co-Player of the Year in the Power 5 Conference.
Teammates Luis Rodriguez, Jakigh Dottin, Joe Kasperszyk, Jeameril Wilson and Ty Perry were also named All-Conference Players while Perry, who recently committed to Fordham, was named the Most Outstanding Player in the AAA Power 5 Conference tournament.
The Centaurs fell to the Mustangs in overtime, 80-72, in a national semifinal March 8.
The Centaurs trailed by seven at the half and fell behind by as many 13 before they rallied.
Dottin tied the game at 52 with 6:45 left in regulation.
The score was tied again at 57 when the Centaurs went on a 7-1 run to open a 64-58 advantage. Unfortunately for Woodstock, a 3-pointer by Kasperszyk with 3:59 left was its next-to-last basket of the second half.
The 1-for-8 performance from the floor for the remainder of regulation by the Centaurs allowed Putnam Science to tie the game at 67 with 1:58 left on a bucket by Osun Osunniyi (13 points, 13 rebounds).
Kasperszyk, who lifted the Centaurs into the semifinals with the game-winning bucket with 3.7 seconds left against Brewster Academy, couldn’t repeat the feat. His shot from half court just before the buzzer hit the rim, but bounded away.
Osunniyi hit the first two baskets of the extra period to give the Mustangs a cushion that they would carry into the final minute.
The Centaurs also went into overtime in the quarterfinal game where they prevailed over Brewster Academy, 94-93.
With 11.7 seconds left on the clock in overtime, Brewster Academy’s Joel Brown stepped to the line.
Brewster was up by a point and Brown had a one-and-one opportunity.
He did what the Woodstock Academy Gold Prep team were all hoping he would do.
Brown missed the front end.
There was only one thought in the mind of Kasperszyk.
“We’ve got to score,” said Kasperszyk, the former Hillhouse High standout.
Mitchell pulled down the rebound and tossed the outlet to Dottin. The guard from Cambridge, Mass., saw Kasperszyk breaking down the left side and delivered the pass.
Kasperszyk scored the game-winning basket, shielding a defender with his left hand while he laid the ball in with his right with 3.7 seconds left to send his team into the semifinal.
“The program has started off so positive and these kids have set the bar so high that the kids that follow will have a lot of work to do,” Bergeron said.
The season may be over, but Bergeron said the work for him has just begun.
While he continues to work on college placements for the current crop of athletes, he is also engaged in bringing the next crop in.
More than 120 have already indicated interest in coming to Woodstock Academy.
“A lot of work, always a lot of work,” Bergeron said with a shake of his head. “The easiest time is when you have them on campus and you are working with them. Now, it’s time to put the team together. Make sure you get the right kids who will compete and fit into this school,” Bergeron said.
The Blue prep squad also received some postseason honors.
Gedi Juozapaitis was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Power 5 Conference AA tournament and was also chosen as an All-Conference player. Joining him on the All-Conference list was E.J. Dambreville, Alex Ilic and Danny Dade.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director

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It’s never easy to stomach a state tournament loss.
But Woodstock Academy girls’ basketball coach Will Fleeton was hardly disappointed March 9.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
The Academy, the sixth-seed in the Class L state tournament lost to No. 3 Farmington, but didn’t go down without a fight, 52-44, in a quarterfinal game.
“I think we played with tremendous heart,” said Fleeton. “Absorbing everything that has happened this year, throughout this whole season, I’m nothing but proud of them. I’m proud of what they displayed (Friday).”
The Centaurs were the underdog.
Farmington plays in a difficult Central Connecticut Conference and had put together a fine 17-4 season prior to the state tournament.
The Indians featured three players, Isabelle Lipinski, Chardae Saunders and Molly McGuigan, who all hovered near or above six-feet.
That length and the ability to shoot from the outside caused the Centaurs (17-7) some trouble early.
Farmington doubled up on the Centaurs in the first quarter, jumping out to an 18-9 lead after a 3-pointer by sophomore Rylee Fountain (10 points).
But the Centaurs didn’t lose sight of the Indians.
Mackenzie Cayer picked up where she left off.
The senior hit six 3-pointers against Bacon Academy in a second-round win, she hit the first of her five 3-pointers to cut Farmington’s lead to six at the end of the first.
“Big players perform in big games,” Fleeton said of Cayer’s game-high 19-point outing.” She’s showed that the past couple of weeks. She shot the ball well again (Friday) and forced them to make some adjustments to try and slow her down. For us to do that speaks to the quality of my kids.”
The Indians were able to stretch the lead again in the second quarter and led going into the locker room, 29-19.
But Fleeton was not disconcerted at the break.
“I felt we were right where we should be,” said Fleeton. “We had just found a couple of openings. Some adjustments were starting to work for us. We had a couple of good possessions going into the half. I didn’t feel too bad. I didn’t think this game was out of reach.”
The Centaurs made some more adjustments at the break as they decided to pay more attention to the 6-foot-1 Lipinski (11 points) who is the catalyst to the Indians’ offense.
“They did a really nice job of not letting us get a lot of our normal stuff inside, cross-screens and stuff like that for her. So we had to find other ways,” said Farmington coach Keith Garbart.
McGuigan picked up her game early in the second half.
The junior forward scored five of her 13 points to put the Indians up, 37-24.
“We couldn’t take anything for granted at that point,” Garbart said. “They are a senior team. They weren’t going to go easily.”
The Farmington coach was correct.
Cayer hit a pair of 3-pointers and baskets by Jamie Woods (11 points) and Heather Converse over the next 2 ½ minutes cut the deficit to five, 39-34, with 7:35 to play.
Just a little over three minutes later, Converse and Woods again hit back-to-back buckets to get the Centaurs back to within one possession, 43-40, with 4:06 left.
“I thought there was a chance. Those adjustments were having an impact on them offensively. We were closing that gap with that good stretch, but we could only get it to (three) and couldn’t get over the hump,” Fleeton said.
The Indians always had the answer.
McGuigan hit a layup to extend the lead to five,  but Cayer answered with a two-point basket to reduce the lead to three, 45-42.
Freshman Emma Novajaski, who led the Indians with 14 points, then added the three biggest points of her young high school career to put the Indians up by six, 48-42, with just 1:30 left.
A Converse basket 18 seconds later made it a four-point game.
“We’re a solid team. I felt we had a chance the whole game,” Cayer said of the four-point deficit.
The Academy was forced to foul and Farmington was up to the task from the line.
Lipinski and McGuigan both hit a pair of free throws each and the Centaurs misfired on a pair of 3-pointers.
It sent the Indians back to the Class L semifinals.
It’s the first time Farmington advanced to the final four since Lipinski was a freshman in 2015.
It was the second consecutive year that the Centaurs season ended in the quarterfinals.
“It’s brutal, one word, it’s awful, but I love my team,” Cayer said.” We had a lot of good runs. We had a lot of good memories that I will never forget. I love (her teammates) to death.”
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director

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Boys' basketball
ends in 1st round
The Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball team produced 13 points in the first quarter, 11 of those by Chase Anderson.
On any given day, that would have them in the game.
Not so against North Haven.
The 10th-seeded Indians doubled the No. 23 Centaurs output in the first quarter, put 51 points on the board by halftime and rolled to a 91-53 Division III first-round state tournament win early last week.
The loss ended the Centaurs season at 11-14.
“North Haven was a solid basketball team,” said coach Marty Hart. “Strong guards along with size inside and lights-out shooters almost all the way around.  Our defense has carried us through the season, but (on Monday) we couldn’t locate and close out on the shooters quickly enough to challenge their shots.”
The Centaurs trailed 51-25 at the break and North Haven extended that to 38 points by the end of the third quarter.
Anderson was the only player in double figures for The Academy with 25 points. Cole Hackett added nine.
“Of course we are disappointed about the outcome (Monday), but when we step back and take a look at the season as a whole, we can be very proud of how far we have come,” Hart said.  “In the locker room after the game, I said I was proud of each and every one of the players for the work they put in and the progress we made.  Playing a physical opponent who can handle pressure and shoot so well, shows us we have plenty of room to improve.”
The boys’ basketball team has plenty to be proud of.
After a 2-8 start, they rebounded to post a 9-6 record in the second half of the season and postseason.
Hart pointed out numerous highlights.
The wins over Stonington at home and Bacon Academy on the road which paved the way for the victory at Fitch that clinched a postseason berth for the Centaurs.
There was also the near-upset of a very good Waterford team at the Alumni Fieldhouse and a 57-point loss in Waterford.
“Our run through the (Eastern Connecticut Conference) Division II tournament as the seven seed with wins over Plainfield and Griswold to advance to the championship game versus St. Bernard gives us a blueprint for success moving forward,” Hart said.
The biggest plus of all; the Centaurs manufactured the turnaround without a senior on the roster.
Anderson led the team in scoring with 16.6 points per game and 49 3-pointers. He was named an ECC Division II first-team All-Star while Hackett, who averaged 10 points a game, was a Division II honorable mention selection.
Both will be back next season.  
“I challenged the players to improve in the off-season because that’s the time to work on strength, conditioning, and individual skills.  Teams get better at playing together during the season, but players get better during the off season,” Hart said.  “With no seniors to say goodbye to, imagine how much further along we can be at the beginning of next season.  Already, we have developed maturity and composure down the stretch this season.  We have also learned how to best handle adversity and that working together as a team we can achieve more than the sum of the parts.”
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director