By Michael Letendre
Before going off on a tangent on starters playing long into the fourth quarter of a game that’s essentially over, the Bristol Central boys basketball team defeated Hartford Public by an 85-71 decision in Hartford on Thursday.
After going 15-0 last season, the win against the Owls pushed the Rams to 12-0 overall this year with a big week on tap.
The victory over the Owls was the program’s 27th consecutive win – the longest winning streak in Connecticut.
According to Central coach Tim Barrette, no fans were allowed at the venue and it was an extremely quiet gymnasium on the campus of Hartford Public.
Donovan Clingan led the charge with another incredible stat line.
He pitched in 31 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, and seven blocks over another monster game.
Clingan notched all his assists and six of his seven blocks over first half of action.
He played in the first three quarters as when the game became a blowout, the starters were pulled.
The Rams were without the services of back-up guard Tre Blair and Public pressed Central’s second team into oblivion in the fourth frame.
In the end, Owls’ starters forced several turnovers to turn a significant deficit into a 14-point final.
But it didn’t matter as Central moved to 12-0 on the year and continues its onslaught into the new week.
Rankings
In terms of state rankings, the GameTimeCT Boys Basketball poll saw the Rams remain the number one team in Connecticut, entering the week at 10-0 and earning 18 of the 19 first place votes in the state.
Northwest Catholic (8-1) tallied the other first place vote and Barrette knows what kind of challenge the Lions could pose to Central come tournament time.
Windsor, a future Central opponent, is ranked third while Wilbur Cross – another squad the Rams will tangle with – were rated tenth at 7-3.
While the state rankings are sometime subjective, the Rams sitting at No. 1 for the entire year to date seems a logical choice.
CIAC Division II standings
Oh my, what a surprise.
Bristol Central (12-0) is currently in first place of the CIAC Division II rankings with 54 power points.
It’s a position the squad spent in for most of the season apart from a short period.
Conard (third place, 11-1 overall, 55 power points) and Amity (ninth, 9-2, 37) were early leaders – along with the Rams – but other challengers are at the top of the Division II leaderboard to end the week.
Westhill (11-1) is in second place with 45 power points, Wilton (10-1, 53 power points) is fourth while Northwest Catholic (10-1, 52) lurks in fifth and is dangerous as any team out there.
How many teams are undefeated to start the week?
The answer is seven and Bristol Central is in that mix.
In Division I, Notre Dame-West Haven (14-0) and Naugatuck (12-0) are both undefeated while Central is the only perfect squad in Division II.
RHAM (13-0) in Division III could be the surprise in the state but must contend with East Catholic, East Hartford, and Conard to end the regular season – not exactly a desirable schedule.
Division IV sees Cromwell (11-0) and Bloomfield (10-0) without a loss and in Division V, Sports Medical and Sciences Academy (11-0) is perfect on the campaign.
Leading Scorers at BCHS
In another landslide surprise, Donovan Clingan is still Central’s leading scorer, entering this week with a 26.0 points-per-game scoring average.
Damion Glasper is second on the squad in scoring (11.75 ppg) followed by Carson Rivoira (8.7 ppg), Steven Alseph (7.8 ppg), Victor Rosa (4.4 ppg), and Julius Powell (3.4 ppg).
Hitting the Three
Central has kicked in 48 total three-pointers this season with Glasper leading the charge at 12.
Alseph snuck into second place with nine and Carson Rivoira is one behind (eight) in third – channeling his inner Larry Bird from time to time.
And Mason Stokes is tied with that Clingan guy for fourth place with five 3s apiece.
The five 3s by Clingan are a career high.
Bristol Scoring check
After Clingan dropped 31 points on Public, the future UCONN standout has 1,733 scholastic points.
And in terms of simple addition and subtraction, he’s just 92 points away from the school scoring record – held by Martin Huckaby (1,825 points).
Clingan needs just 103 points to become Bristol’s all-time leading scholastic scorer (Carey Edwards, 1,835 points).
Using his current average of 26.0 ppg, it’s conceivable that Clingan sets a new record on February 7 at Lewis Mills.
If not there, wouldn’t that be something to establish the new record against Windsor.
Next Week…
Three games on the slate for the Rams this week.
Central takes its shot at Platt on Monday (6:45 p.m.) while traveling down to New Haven on Wednesday to battle Wilbur Cross from the Floyd Little Athletic Center at 8 p.m.
That’s going to be a big-time bout.
And then on Friday, Berlin travels to Bristol for a CCC South entanglement.
Game time is 6:45 p.m.
