- Details
- Category: Current Issue
It was two different tales for the Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball team this week.
Jan. 16 produced a nice win for the Centaurs while the Jan. 19 matchup with Bacon Academy could have gone better.
The Alumni Fieldhouse was not a home sweet home for the Woodstock Academy boys’ basketball team Jan. 19.
“I feel like we never got off the bus,” said coach Marty Hart after his Centaurs suffered a 46-32 defeat at the hands of Bacon Academy. “It was a home game for us so go figure. It kind of shows how young our team is. We played a heck of a game the other night (a 69-49) win over Stonington) and then (Friday), we acted like we had never met ourselves.”
Hart doesn’t have a senior on the team and that lack of poise was evident early on.
The Centaurs had their feet stuck in the mud early and never seemed to get out of the quagmire.
The home team barely produced double digits in the first half, scoring only 11 points.
Fortunately, the Bobcats (7-2, 3-1 Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II) weren’t very proficient either and led only 15-11 at the half.
“We were turning the ball over, thinking it was going to blow up in our hands. We were just having a hard time with it. We have to go back to the little things; screening, possessing the ball, making the good cut, getting open with our feet and communicating with our hands,” Hart said.
Chase Anderson (15 points) hit five of the first nine points scored in the second half to cut the Bacon lead to 19-16.
But the flurry was the only one of the quarter for the Centaurs (2-7, 1-3).
A 3-pointer by Luke Mathewson was the only basket for Woodstock Academy in a 12-3 Bacon run that gave the Bobcats a 31-19 lead at the end of three quarters.
Jared Smith scored 11 of his game-high 18 points in the second half, including five from the free throw line where the Bobcats were 10-of-12 in the second half.
“I thought we would take the oven mitts off in the second half and play basketball. We talked about some adjustments we wanted to make and we did it on defense, we just couldn’t string anything together on offense,” Hart said.
Mathewson scored eight points for the Centaurs, no one else had more than three.
Jan. 16, the Centaurs ended a six-game losing streak and knocked Stonington off of its perch atop Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II.
The Centaurs handed the Bears a 69-49 defeat.
Anderson led the way with 21 points for the Centaurs. Anderson scored 14 of those points in the second half and added eight rebounds.
The Centaurs held the Bears to just two first quarter points, but Stonington (6-6, 3-2) rebounded with an 18-point effort in the second quarter.
The Centaurs kept the Bears at bay with a 19-point effort of their own to lead by 10 at the break. They added 10 points to that advantage in the second half.
Mathewson scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Cole Hackett led the Centaurs in caroms with 12.
Aidan Morin was also in double figures with 10.
“Our defense contained the Stonington shooters and our rebounding limited them to one well-challenged shot (on most occasions),” Hart said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
.