By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – The Bristol Central boys basketball team did exactly what it set out to do in its first-round showdown against Bristol Eastern on Tuesday night.

The Rams, hosts of the Bristol Central Holiday Classic, forced turnovers, shot a high percentage, got everyone involved, and proceeded to the championship round of its own holiday tournament with a 73-24 thumping of the Lancers from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium.

With South Windsor’s 70-54 victory over Wolcott in the opening game, the Rams and Bobcats with compete for the championship on Thursday night at 6 p.m.

Eastern and Wolcott will battle it out in the consolation round at 3 p.m.

Everything worked for Central (3-0) as defense led to a whole lot of offense that came from multiple fronts on the court over a very unselfish display.

The Rams’ 2-3 zone proved too tough for the Lancers (0-3) as the home team rolled off twenty-five consecutive points over the first and second periods to turn a one-possession edge into a 31-3 cushion with 6:16 remaining before the half.

“Defensively, I thought we were really active,” said Central coach Tim Barrette. “But I was more impressed on how we shared the basketball tonight. Talk about the ball movement, no one was looking for their own tonight. Everything was share the basketball, look for the open guy and I thought it was total team game tonight for thirty-two minutes.”

Donovan Clingan rolled out 23 points and eight rebounds – four of those coming off the offensive glass – while Damion Glasper notched nine of his ten points over first half play.

Julius Powell added eight points, Victor Rosa, Steve Alseph, and Jayeson VanBeveren all scored six while Mason Stokes scooped in five off the pine.

Ben D’Amato led all Eastern players with six points, canning two three-point bombs in the process, while Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum added five points and four rebounds.

Preston Guarda, Caleb Molinsky and Naseem Walker-Jenkins all scored their first varsity baskets for Eastern, short two starters due to sickness and the like.

Eastern shot only 21-percent from the field while 25 turnovers kept the Lancers away from the hoop on multiple sets and drives.

“They’re the number one team in the state,” said Eastern coach Bunty Ray of Central. “We’re struggling a little bit. We’re going to have struggles against teams that are physical [and tonight], that’s beyond physical. That’s just a team that has a lot of answers, a lot of Division I players.”

But Eastern hung in early as Lawrence-Bynum hit a long jumper over Clingan and his charity toss made it a 6-3 game with 5:04 left to play in the first.

Then, Central turned defense into offense as Eastern went scoreless over a seven-minute stretch.

Clingan posted back-to-back dunks, Rosa cashed in a steal, and on a Glasper bucket, the Rams put the game out of reach early – quickly establishing a double-figure tally.

And after one period of play, the home team led 22-3 and never looked back.

“In the beginning of the game, you think in your mind ‘alright, let’s see if we can hold it, move it, you’ve got to shoot a high percentage, some shots go in here and there’ [but] it just doesn’t take long for a mistake and a dunk [or] a turnover” for Central to increase its lead said Ray. “I was more upset of our lack of awareness to get shots. I thought we turned the ball over more than we should have against a team that wasn’t forcing that kind of tempo.”

“They were kind of playing physical and strong. They weren’t trapping us. We were just kind of throwing the ball away from young mistakes [and] not being in the passing lane.”    

Central notched the first 11 points of the second stanza as Eastern’s misses began to pile up.

Rosa added another lay-up, Glasper drained a three and another high-percentage hoop and when Clingan rattled the rim once again, the Rams held its 31-3 push as the Lancers’ outside shooting attack did not produce offense.

“It’s tough because if you take [those three-point attempts] away, then they have to go inside and there’s a seven-foot monster sitting behind,” said Barrette. “Obviously, one of the strategies for us is to get up ahead and that zone has been the best defense we’ve played all year.”

Guarda and Bynum then added back-to-back hoops for Eastern before 11 straight Central points – including a corner 3 from Stokes – propelled the Rams to a 37-point edge before a buzzer-beating three by D’Amato made the halftime score 44-10 in the home team’s favor.

“With young kids, you’re going to see a flash here, a flash there,” said Ray. “Of course, all the young kids out there are trying. You’re asking a lot from kids that are playing varsity basketball for the first time against that kind of team.”

To open the third, Clingan buried a 3 – part of a 10-0 burst – and when a Rosa jumper hit paydirt with 5:04 left, Barrette pulled his starters for good.

Powell and VanBeveren combined for 10 points to end the third tilt as Central’s cushion was 66-15 with eight minutes remaining.

“I played 15 guys for more than seven minutes today,” said Barrette. “Obviously, you try to keep the game in check but also, I want to give these guys an opportunity. They work hard every day, get beat up by the best starting team [that] beats up on them too. They deserve the effort.”

Late in the game, Nasir Walker-Jenkins hit a 3, Molinsky cashed in on a three-point play and Naseem Walker-Jenkins canned a three-pointer for the Lancers but in the end, Central rolled up a 73-24 win to stay undefeated on the campaign.

“I’m really proud of my guys,” said Barrette. “It was a whole team effort and we have to keep going and hope COVID doesn’t stop us.”

Eastern hopes to get to the pay window in the game against Wolcott on Thursday in the consolation showdown, looking for a little better execution to finish the 2021 calendar year.

“We’ve got to get healthy. We’re down two starters,” said Ray. “We don’t have enough depth to be missing guys. Those guys would have helped us a little bit in terms of the physicality that was going on. But you get what you get and we have to move on. If we don’t start executing a little bit better, I don’t care who we play, I think what’s happening is we’re starting to wear down a little bit mentally. It’s early in the season.”

“We just have to keep grinding and figure out how to get ourselves a little bit better execution and see if we can get our guys back and get some sort of chemistry going.”

RIM DUST…Central honored Clingan before the game as the program’s new all-time leading rebounder. With 1,033 to his credit entering the contest against Eastern, Clingan had one more rebound than his late mother Stacey Porrini Clingan (1,032) to take the top spot…The Bristol Central girls basketball team will be in action on Thursday at 4:30 against Gilbert. The squad from Torrington defeated Wolcott Tech by a 47-38 final on Tuesday in tournament play to advance.

BRISTOL CENTRAL HOLIDAY CLASSIC

BRISTOL CENTRAL 73, BRISTOL EASTERN 24

from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium, Bristol

Bristol Eastern (0-3)             3 7 5 9 – 24

Bristol Central (3-0)             22 22 22 7 – 73

BRISTOL EASTERN (24): Nasir Walker-Jenkins 1 0 3, Elijah Borgelin 0 0 0, Lucas Sward 1 0 2, Ben D’Amato 2 0 6, Nate Fries 0 0 0, Preston Guarda 1 0 2, Isaiah Lawrence-Bynum 2 1 5, Cheniel Serrano 0 0 0, Caleb Molinsky 1 1 3, Dante Depass 0 0 0, Naseem Walker-Jenkins 1 0 3. Totals: 9 2 24.

BRISTOL CENTRAL (73): Jaysun Dominquez 0 2 2, Victor Rosa 3 0 6, Mike Allen 0 1 1, Damion Glasper 4 1 10, Tre Blair 0 2 2, Steven Alseph 3 0 6, Zach Vanasse 0 0 0, Mason Stokes 2 0 5, Aaron Brown 0 0 0, Harry Ross 1 0 2, Dylan Brown 0 0 0, Carson Rivoira 1 0 2, Donovan Clingan 11 0 23, Julius Powell 4 0 8, Jayeson VanBeveren 3 0 6. Totals: 32 9 73.

Three-Point goals: Nasir Walker-Jenkins (BE), Ben D’Amato (BE) 2, Naseem Walker-Jenkins (BE), Damion Glasper (BC), Mason Stokes (BC), Donovan Clingan (BC).

Records: Bristol Central 3-0 overall; Bristol Eastern 0-3