By Michael Letendre
The Bristol Edition continues to look back at scholastic sports history in town as today’s focus is on the boys basketball program from Bristol Central.
On December 19, 2003, the Rams had their collective hands full against Bloomfield at the Doc Hurley Classic from Weaver High School in Hartford.
Central dropped its first game the previous day in a 58-50 loss to Northwest Catholic, but in the showdown against the Warhawks, the Rams had a quick reversal of fortunes.
And that included an outstanding performance by Steve Hasler, a sweet sharp-shooter who was looking for a bit of a bounce-back after going scoreless against Northwest.
Hasler, who loved to shoot in that old Weaver Gymnasium, dropped in a season-high 31 points as Central defeated Bloomfield by a 64-57 score.
It was the first victory of the campaign for the Rams as Hasler blasted in six three-pointers to lead the Bristol aggression.
Central’s team was stacked that season in terms of size, scoring punch and speed (speed when the Rams sat down their nearly 7-foot center).
That squad, who finished the year at 19-6 overall for head coach Pete Wininger, included both D.J. and Aaron Hernandez, Chris Klepps, Nick Michaud, Hasler, and – of course – Jeff ‘Big Deli’ Salovski.
Against Bloomfield, Hasler canned 10-of-19 shots from the field and went a slick 5-for-5 from the charity stripe to lead all players in scoring.
Central needed that scoring outburst from Hasler as Salovski (six points, eight rebounds) was saddled with foul trouble and never got on track during the showdown.
D.J. Hernandez might have been known as a football star for Central, but the amazing athlete always did well on the hardwood and against Bloomfield in particular.
He once dropped 32 points in a victory at Bloomfield and in the contest from Weaver, Hernandez filled his plate against the Warhawks.
Hernandez piled up 13 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, and five steals as the Central defense made critical stops throughout the game.
Chris Klepps, possibly the toughest point guard in the CCC South that season, added six points and six assists to the winning effort.
With Salovski on the bench, Nick Michaud was extremely productive with the extra playing time – scoring six critical points over first quarter play.
Also filling in for the foul ridden Central center was Aaron Hernandez and Karl ‘Chopper’ Robinson, as the Rams dug a little deeper down the bench to keep high-scoring Bloomfield guard Saunnie Pilcher from going off offensively.
The defense-by-committee approach held Pilcher to just 15 points that evening.
Hasler scored eight straight points early in the first quarter to help Central to an imposing 18-5 edge.
Central saw its lead pushed to 26-13 through just eight minutes of action.
But the Warhawks chopped the deficit at the half and midway through the third frame, Bloomfield was leading by a 35-31 push.
However, Central’s offense went into overdrive once again.
This time, a 19-4 run made it a 50-39 contest and Central was back in charge.
However, Bloomfield refused to yield, as an 18-7 jaunt – capped by a lay-in from Pilcher – knotted the affair at 57-57 with less than two minutes to play.
But the Warhawks never scored again as Central notched the final seven points of the game, and the Rams came away with an impressive 64-57 win to improve to .500 early on in the season.
The senior tandem of D.J. Hernandez and Salovski were impressive in their final year at Bristol Central as both players ended up with over 1,000 points for the program.
Hernandez averaged a team-high 21.0 points that season along with 6.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.4 steals-per-game before heading off to play football at the University of Connecticut.
Salovski, playing a season at UMASS before transferring, was the program’s second leading scorer (16.7 points) and led the team in rebounds (9.4) and blocks (4.3) per-game.
Salovski scored 1,269 career points while Hernandez added 1,033 for the Rams.
Hasler was second on the squad in three-pointers made with 38 while averaging 12.1 points, 1.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and just under one steal a night over the 2003-04 season.
Aaron Hernandez, in his freshman year, pitched in 9.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.6 assists-per-game while shooting an amazing 59.6-percent from the field.
Klepps did a little of everything well for the Rams (5.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.3 steals and a team best 5.1 assists-per-game) while Michaud nearly averaged two points and two rebounds an outing.
Central only lost to the top teams that year in Central Connecticut Conference play, which included setbacks to Northwest Catholic, Windsor and New Britain during the regular season.
In CIAC Division I postseason play, No. 9 Bristol Central defeated No. 24 Brien McMahon by a 68-53 final to open the playoffs while ending the year with a 63-54 loss to No. 8 Bridgeport Central in the second round.
