By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – Connecticut scholastic boys basketball teams simply cannot find a way to slow down Bristol Central’s All-State center Donovan Clingan.

Gimmick defenses, triple-teams, and physical play don’t slow down Clingan in the least and when the squad from Middletown tried to be overly aggressive against Clingan on Tuesday night, it energized the big man.

Clingan put together one of his finest performances of the season, dropping a tremendous triple-double of 19 points, 22 rebounds, and 16 blocked shots as Central downed Middletown by an 80-50 final from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium in Bristol.

Central is now 10-0 at the midway point of the season while Middletown fell to 3-3.

The program has won a school record 25 straight games, surpassing Central’s 24-0 ledger during the program’s 1989-90 Class L championship campaign.

The Blue Dragons attempted to seal off Clingan, throwing multiple bodies his way and while the 7-foot-2 pivot man was knocked down to the floor on more than one occasion early in the game, he dusted himself off and got right back to work.

After those knockdowns, Clingan started blocking shots like Hakeem Olajuwon, snared all the rebounds away from Middletown offenders, and just missed a first-half triple-double by one point over a motivated attack.

“It’s not easy when you’ve got two guys taking out your knees on every play and obviously, I understand why people are physical with him,” said Central coach Tim Barrette of Middletown’s approach against Clingan. “What I liked most I thought was he didn’t take a play off on the defensive end. He led us defensively while allowing guys on the offensive end, taking advantage of the 4-on-3 we were playing because of the double-team.”

“Carson, Damion, Victor and Steve made shots early [and] if you’re not going to guard one of them, people don’t give us enough credit. We can shoot the ball when we’re open.”

And while Clingan did not make a second period field goal, sinking three free throws on his way to nine first-half points, Central’s other offensive weapons made Middletown’s defense pay with jumpers, 3-point bombs, and slick drives to the hoop.

Steve Alseph attacked the rim with zest, notching a Bristol Central career-high of 12 points, Victor Rosa re-tied his season-high of seven points and someone forgot to give Middletown the memo on Carson Rivoira’s outside shooting touch as he cashed in three 3-pointers on his way to 11 points.

But Damion Glasper, Central’s second leading scorer this season, put together a big performance as he dropped in 12 of his 17 points over first half play when Middletown’s attention was directed towards Clingan.

Glasper’s early offense helped the Rams establish an 18-point cushion early in second stanza.

“He found his rhythm last night” against Maloney said Barrette of Glasper. “He made his first shot [Monday] night and things seemed to open up. You’ve got to understand, he’s the second-best basketball player in terms of scoring. And when that happens, everyone saw his performance against East Catholic – that’s the film that’s out there – so a lot of teams have been focusing on taking him away. But at the same time, he’s just got to keep his head in it. He did a good job.”

Matt Steuerwald led the Blue Dragons with 12 points while Chace Petgrace dropped in 11 but no other player tallied more than five points as foul trouble, missed shots, and rejected field goal attempts by Clingan never let the visiting aggression get a foothold in the game.

Middletown threw everyone at Clingan with the likes of Elijah Wilborn and Tim Vaughters fronting and backing the center while later calling upon Omar Gutierrez and deep reserve Teejay Jackson to attempt to push and frustrate Clingan.

None of those tactics worked as Alseph opened the game with a baseline 3, Clingan put-back a miss and when Rosa flipped in a lay-up, it was a 7-2 game 5:44 into things.

The Blue Dragons chopped the deficit to 9-7 midway through the tilt but a four-minute defense-to-offense surge by the Rams led to a 16-2 run.

Rivoira canned two 3s, Julius Powell (four points) had an offensive rebound and put-back for a hoop and when Glasper canned two free throws during the scoring barrage, Central’s edge was 27-9 with 7:27 left to go in the second quarter.

Middletown made a little push towards the tail-end of the tilt as a Petgrace dropped in a hoop and when a Steuerwald 3 fell through the net, it was a 33-20 game with 2:47 left in the half.

Central then ended the second quarter on a 9-2 push as Glasper found Alseph for a hoop, Rosa hit another lay-up, and a charity toss by Clingan propelled the Rams to a 42-23 lead at the halftime break.

Middletown tried to keep things close in the third period as a 3 by Petgrace saw the squad get within twenty at 52-32 but one last run by Central made the game academic.

An 15-2 jaunt by the Rams put a capper on the third quarter as Alseph opened the run with another 3 while Clingan notched the final eight points, which included a crafty little fallaway in the lane, and with eight minutes remaining, the Rams etched up an imposing 67-34 cushion.

“I thought Middletown shot the ball pretty well and you look up at the scoreboard, they only had thirty-four” points said Barrette of Central’s outstanding defense. “We’re active. We’re trying to play that zone very much like Syracuse. Sometimes you give up a little bit of easy baskets but for all the times that [the opponents] score, Clingan defends a lot more than we give up.”

All the Central starters were on the bench quickly into the fourth period though a 34-point lead – aided by an Aaron Brown 3 – shrunk to 25 with 3:48 to go before the Rams’ reserve players eventually got into the groove offensively

To end the encounter, Powell scored his second hoop, Zach Vanesse (five points) canned a three and dropped in a lay-up, and Jelani Walton flipped in a floater as Central moved to 10-0 via the thirty-point win.

“I thought we overshared a couple times tonight but I thought our guys are sharing the basketball,” said Barrette. “They enjoy playing together and that’s very obvious when you watch them on the floor.”

Bristol Central Boys Basketball – CCC South Action

BRISTOL CENTRAL 80, MIDDLETOWN 50

from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium, Bristol

Middletown (3-3)                   9 14 11 16 – 50

Bristol Central (10-0)           23 19 25 13 – 80

MIDDLETOWN (50): Chace Petgrace 4 0 11, Matt Steuerwald 4 2 12, Tim Vaughters 1 0 2, Omar Gutierrez 1 0 3, Eli Wilborn 2 1 5, Quadir Murphy 1 0 3, Marshall Butler 1 0 2, Addison Brown 0 1 1, Nasir McDaniel-Cade 2 0 5, Justice Freeman 1 0 2, Branden Torres 2 0 4. Totals: 19 4 50.

BRISTOL CENTRAL (80): Victor Rosa 3 1 7, Mike Allen 0 0 0, Damion Glasper 6 4 17, Tre Blair 0 0 0, Steven Alseph 5 0 12, Zach Vanasse 2 0 5, Mason Stokes 0 0 0, Aaron Brown 1 0 3, Carson Rivoira 4 0 11, Donovan Clingan 8 3 19, Julius Powell 2 0 4, Jayeson VanBeveren 0 0 0, Jelani Walton 1 0 2. Totals: 32 8 80.

Three-point goals: Chace Petgrace (M) 3, Matt Steuerwald (M) 2, Omar Gutierrez  (M), Quadir Murphy (M), Nasir McDaniel-Cade (M), Damion Glasper (BC), Aaron Brown (BC), Steph Alseph (BC) 2, Zach Vanasse (BC), Carson Rivoira (BC) 3.

Records: Bristol Central 10-0 overall; Middletown 3-3