It was two games that the Woodstock Academy Centaurs boys’ basketball team wasn’t exactly looking forward to.
The Centaurs had to make not one but two trips to southeast Connecticut in three days and brought back with them a pair of losses.
“They are both very good. East Lyme is probably one of the top two teams that we will face this year, them and Waterford. Fitch is much improved and a lot more disciplined,” said Woodstock Academy coach Marty Hart. Senior forward Cole Hackett landed hard on his elbow in the Fitch game Jan. 10 and, while he was able to finish that game, the arm stiffened up on him Jan. 11 and Hart opted to hold him out of the game with the Vikings which the Centaurs lost, 84-41, Jan. 12 to fall to 4-3 on the season.
It was the eighth straight win for East Lyme which raised its record to 8-1. The Centaurs held East Lyme’s leading scorers, Dev Ostrowski and Ned Diaz, to just three points between them, a Diaz 3-pointer, in the first quarter and only trailed, 13-8. But the good feeling would not linger into the second quarter. Ostrowski and Diaz also came alive in the second quarter, scoring 26 of the 28 Viking points.
Shields scored 14, 12 on 3-pointers, and Ostrowski added six two-point field goals in the second quarter as East Lyme expanded its lead to 20 points, 41-21, by the half.
Ostrowski and Diaz, both of whom finished with 23 points, added 15 more in the third quarter between them as the Vikings extended the lead to 30 going into the fourth quarter and sailed to the victory.
Chase Anderson led the Centaurs with 12 points and 10 rebounds while Luke Mathewson added 10.
The Centaurs also lost by double digits to the Falcons, 78-56 Jan. 10 and fell to 2-1 in Division II of the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
The Falcons also forced the tempo a bit by pressing hard in the back court. Woodstock Academy was able to handle that, according to Hart, but couldn’t slow things down on the offensive side.
The Centaurs hung in the game through the first half, trailing only 39-32 at the half.
Hackett, despite falling on the elbow, led the Centaurs with 14 points and Aaron Johnson added 12.
The Falcons (5-3, 2-0 Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II) held Anderson, who came in averaging over 20 points a game, to just eight points. Despite the two losses, Hart is still pretty happy where the Centaurs are. “I’m OK with 4-3, I would like to be 6-1, but 4-3 will work for me. It took us several games to get to this point last year and it’s something to build on,” Hart said.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

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Porcic steps up
PUTNAM — Putnam Science Academy has had a rough couple of years playing against Cushing Academy. Two years in a row the Mustangs have carried an extended winning streak into Cushing Academy and have left with a loss.
“It’s a tough place to play” said Tom Espinosa, head coach of the boys’ prep team. “The crowd gets into it, the rims are stiff, they are an athletic team and if you don’t shoot the ball well then you’re more than likely going to lose.” PSA traveled up to Cushing Academy at 19-0 and had won 43 straight games. Someone had to step up for the Mustangs and knock down shots.
Dan Porcic was up to the task.
The hometown kid, who dominated at Putnam High School before transferring to Putnam Science, has always been a knock-down shooter. “I know my role on the team and when my number is called, I gotta do whatever I can to help this team win” Porcic said. Porcic’s number was called in the second half with 14 minutes remaining as the Mustangs saw their eight-point lead disappear after a 17-4 run from Cushing Academy to start the half.
“We needed a spark and I saw the way Dan was shooting in pregame, he came up big for us when we needed it” said Espinosa.
Porcic hit a 3 on the second play in the game and caught fire knocking down 4 of 5 from downtown to keep the Mustangs in the game. After struggling from the free throw line in the early going, PSA made free throws when it mattered with Kareem Reid and Demarr Langford going 6-7 late to close out the 78-67 win.
Josh Sanchas
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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Woodstock Academy girls’ basketball coach Will Fleeton knew the last two games of a four-game week were going to be difficult.
That proved to be accurate.
The Centaurs traveled to Colchester Jan. Jan. 12 and lost to Bacon Academy for a second time this season, 48-41.
“We didn’t start to play Woodstock basketball until Bacon went on a 13-2 run in the second quarter and we never recovered,” Fleeton said.
The Centaurs (6-4) did lead, 12-10, after the first quarter, but the Bobcats run put them up by nine at the half and they extended that to 12 by the end of the third quarter.
Heather Converse had another double-dThe senior scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds while Katie Papp added 10 in the loss for Woodstock Academy.
Jan. 10 the Centaurs learned that it’s not easy to play a team that has not only speed, but quickness, not only size, but strength.
The Whalers (9-1, 2-0 Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II) bolted out to an 18-4 lead over the Centaurs thanks to the inside play of Taina Pagan and Xaryia Melendez who combined for 13 of those points.
But the Centaurs (0-2 ECC Division I) may have exposed an Achilles’ heel for New London.
Pagan (13 points, 8 rebounds) picked up her third foul with 6 minutes, 14 seconds left in the first half.
“That was part of the plan after she got a couple of fouls was to get that third one on her. She’s very smart so she didn’t commit it. We kind of forced it upon her to commit her third and then we tried to take advantage while she was gone,” Fleeton said. The Centaurs were successful in doing so.
When Pagan went out, Woodstock Academy trailed by 10, 22-12. But senior guard Aislin Tracey (8 points) hit a pair of buckets and Papp added a pair of free throws to help the Centaurs close to within six, 24-18.It was the closest they would get. The Whalers responded to the threat.
Desiree Johnson and freshman Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick (18 points, 12 rebounds) combined to score the next 12 points for New London without an answer from the Centaurs.
New London went into the half with a 38-20 advantage but it would have been much worse had it not been for the effort of Converse.Converse scored 10 of her 19 points in the first half.
She also pulled down 16 of the 23 rebounds the Centaurs had in the game.
Pagan returned in the third quarter and the Whalers put the lights out. Pagan scored six points but it was the play of Melendez that buried the Centaurs.
Woodstock Academy traveled to Longmeadow, Mass., to start the week and brought home a 43-31 win.
The Centaurs only led, 18-14, at the half but extended that advantage to doublequ-digits in the arter. Junior guard Kayla Gaudreau paced the Centaurs with a 12-point, four-rebound effort.
Converse, who is averaging a double-double with 11.8 points and 13.1 rebounds per game this season, put together one of those efforts with 10 points and 12 rrebounds. Tracey and Marina Monrabal each added eight.
The Centaurs followed up that effort with a 50-41 win over Waterford Jan. 8.
Monrabal, the junior point guaard scored eight points with 10 rebounds, six of those off the offensive glass, six assists and four steals. Monrabal set the tone early, getting a breakaway bucket off a steal to start the game.
Despite that effort, the Centaurs trailed, 24-23, at the break and by two points at the end of the third quarter before outscoring Waterford (3-6), 20-9, in the fourth.
The Centaurs built a 10-point lead in the fourth, only to see Waterford close to within six on a 3-pointer by Julia Bonilla (13 points). But Centaurs junior Caroline Hamill answered with a 3-pointer of her own.
Marc Allard
Sports Information Director
The Woodstock Academy

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