- Details
- Category: Current Issue
Gold prep
team opens
with win
It’s a difficult time of year for a prep basketball team to keep focus. The Christmas break begins for those at The Woodstock Academy at the end of the week.
“It’s a tough time. Everybody is going back home to see their family,” said center Jamine Charles. For Charles, it’s the first time he will be heading home to St. John, Antigua, since the early summer.
“It’s really good that these guys are going home to see their families. I always try to remind people what this is all about. You credit the schools that play over Christmas break but it’s still important that these guys go home and see their families,” said coach Jacque Rivera. “From a human side, it’s really good. From a basketball perspective, we will figure it out.”
For now the Centaurs Gold prep basketball team is scheduled to play in the Basketbull tournament in Springfield, Mass., Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
“We have Notre Dame-West Haven and South Kent when we come back and January is really a tough month for us. Every three to four years, the calendar falls in a weird way and we have 13 games in the month of January, but we can’t look past this week,” Rivera said.
The week began on a positive note. The Centaurs downed Winchendon School, 87-61, Dec. 12. The win followed a tough loss at St. Thomas More Dec. 10 and raised the Gold team’s record to 8-4 on the season.
“We wanted this so bad so we can get back on a winning streak. We don’t want to lose any more games after this,” Charles said.
Winchendon (1-4) opened a 9-3 lead in the first three minutes. It’s something Rivera is getting used to although he’s not fond of it.
“We got to stop these slow starts. They have come back to bite us multiple times. We played Friday against St. Thomas More and spotted them 18 points. You just can’t do that. Even though we know our pressure will allow us to get back into games because of the way we play, it’s not going to allow you to win games with these slow starts,” Rivera said. “I don’t know if we’re still in a pandemic bliss. I don’t know if every team is having a slow start or what. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m too calm.”
Woodstock took its first lead on a basket by Tyshawn Trail (12 points) with 12:40 left in the first half.
Charles helped by playing dominant defense in the paint and added six of his 12 points as the Centaurs outscored Winchendon, 29-20, the remainder of the half to take a 10-point halftime lead.
“We just had to play more aggressively. We started slow, didn’t finish our layups, we just needed to play more aggressive and get more touches in the paint,” Charles said.
The Centaurs ratcheted up the defensive pressure in the second half and pulled away by scoring 14 of the first 19 points and followed that up with a 14-point run to put the game out of reach at 77-49.
Jalen Bradberry led the Centaurs with 15 points while Dominic Strothers added 11 and was also instrumental in both runs, getting his hands on the ball, making steals and playing great defense.
“I thought Dominic was great,” Rivera said. “He’s starting to find his stride. He played great at South Kent and at St. Thomas More before getting into foul trouble. Everyone has small, quick guards so if we can bother people with our length up top, Dominic may have just clipped a 7-foot wingspan and is long and agile. He will be a really good college player because he knows how to play and can shoot the ball. He still has to get a little stronger but his best basketball is still ahead of him.”
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy