By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – When a basketball team gets desperate to beat the number one team state, you’ll see different defensive strategies thrown at that top-ranked program.

That’s what happened on Saturday night at Bristol Central as the Berlin boys basketball squad to slow things down against the high-octane Rams.

And that meant a ton ball holding and stalling in attempting to deny a certain 7-foot-2 center extra chances at the hoop.

But when Central’s outstanding defense took away the Redcoats’ offense on the flip side, that strategy eventually flopped.

On senior night at Central, Donovan Clingan’s final regular season home game saw the big man collect 27 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and five assists as the Rams scooped up a 54-33 victory from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium in Bristol in a CCC South tilt.

Central moved to 17-0 overall – winning its program-record 32nd straight game – while Barrette tied the all-time record for victories by a boys basketball coach at BCHS.

Berlin, winners of five straight games coming into the Central showdown, fell to 11-5 overall and was without the services of head coach Stan Glowiak who was on vacation (it appeared Glowiak called in and talked to his coaching staff at intermission).

The game was a make-up of a previous postponement as the Redcoats showed extreme patience on offense, made early long-range bombs count and nabbed a 7-6 edge with 1:00 to go in the first quarter.

But Central’s defense was smothering and once Clingan got rolling, he netted 13 straight points, giving the Rams a 19-10 cushion with 1:16 left before intermission.

“We were working our tails off in the first half,” said Central coach Tim Barrette. “Berlin banked two 3s, things like that. But our message at halftime was they can’t do that if we get up 17 or 18 points. We played defense for a minute and a half and then take a shot we don’t need to take because we have a 7-foot-2 kid that they can’t stop.”

“Obviously, sometimes it’s like you play that ‘I want a shot’ down at the other end but come state tournament time, we have to make sure we lock in and do what we have to do to combat any style that teams play against us.”

And once Berlin started to miss shots, the visiting aggression never was in contention again.

Over a stretch that lasted from the tail-end of the second period into the final quarter of play, Berlin went 10:31 scoring just four points and by the time the Redcoats started hitting shots again, it was a 25-point game with under 7:00 to play.

Carson Rivoira had another sensational game, dropping in 12 points, collecting nine rebounds while his passing was on-point.

There was a play late in the game that kind of typified the night when Rivoira tracked down a loose ball via an offensive rebound and then passed off the ball to Clingan for a loud dunk.

As usual, it was another night of outstanding, unselfish play by the locals.

“They shared the ball great tonight,” said Barrette of his team. “[Rivoira and Clingan] share the ball great. It’s nice that two guys go get the ball every time it goes up and rebounds.”

Victor Rosa and Damion Glasper each scored five points, Zach Vanesse canned a 3 while Carmelo Thompson added a late hoop for good measure.

Steve Alseph played well on the defensive end, despite foul trouble, and even as the contest got chippy, the home team never lost its focus.

Berlin’s Marino Fannelli notched all 12 of his points with 6:04 to play as his three-point barrage came too little too late.

Zach Skinner pitched in nine points while Jake Smalley – attempting to physically frustrate Clingan, living in the All-Stater’s jersey on several possessions – scored eight.

The slow down plan worked early while Clingan was double and tripled teamed on the back end.

Rosa, Rivoira, and Glasper all canned shots to start the first quarter but Berlin held its one-point cushion late in the stanza.

Clingan then got on-track, scooping in all 13 points of Central’s 13-3 push as the home team collected a 19-10 edge.

Smalley then banked in a 3 late in the second period while Clingan made a sweet feed to Glasper for a trifecta to end the half as Central went into the locker room ahead on the scoreboard, 22-13.

And then Clingan and Rivoira combined to score all 18 third period points as the duo finished at the hoop with zest while the defense went into overdrive.

Berlin was limited to a single free throw over the final 6:03 of the third tilt and going into the final eight minutes of play, it was a 40-17 game as Central was simply awesome on defense.

After Fannelli kicked in two threes midway through the fourth, trimming the deficit to 19, Central put the thing away via an 8-0 burst.

Vanessa hit a 3 then found Clingan for a lay-up and when Rosa canned one last three with 3:04 left, Central’s edge was 52-25, the game was all but over as the starters were pulled – getting a great ovation one final time from the home crowd.

With the postseason fast approaching, the Rams end the regular season with three contests on the road, starting with a big showdown against Middletown (Tuesday, 6:45 p.m.).

“We’ve got to get ready for Middletown. They want us, I know that,” said Barrette. “It’s always a tough place to play. But I told my guys every game means something at this point. Our goal is to put away our maroon jerseys. If we win out in the CCC [Tournament] and the states, we’ll be putting away the maroon jerseys. We’ll be the home team throughout as long as we can make it in.” 

RIM DUST…Central honored its senior cheerleaders and boys basketball players before the game. Players honored from the 2021-22 undefeated Rams were Victor Rosa, Carson Rivoira, Donovan Clingan, Damion Glasper, Steve Alseph, Zach Vanesse, Aaron Brown and Jelani Walton. 

BRISTOL CENTRAL BOYS BASKETBALL

BRISTOL CENTRAL 54, BERLIN 33

from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium, Bristol

Berlin (11-5)  7 6 4 16 – 33  

Bristol Central (17-0)  13 9 18 14 – 54

BERLIN (33): Marino Fannelli 4 0 12, Mike Ciarcia 0 0 0, Toby Lavender 0 0 0, Zach Skinner 3 2 9, Jake Smalley 3 0 8, Kyle Hyde 0 0 0, Tanner Sparks 0 0 0, River Eberhardt 1 1 4. Ryan Stec 0 0 0, Jonathan D’Amore 0 0 0. Totals 11 3 33.

BRISTOL CENTRAL (54): Victor Rosa 2 0 5, Carson Rivoira 6 0 12, Julius Powell 0 0 0, Donovan Clingan 13 1 27, Damion Glasper 2 0 5, Steve Alseph 0 0 0, Jayeson VanBeveren 0 0 0, Mike Allan 0 0 0, Zach Vanesse 1 0 3, Mason Stokes 0 0 0, Aaron Brown 0 0 0, Jelani Walton 0 0 0, Carmelo Thompson 1 0 2. Totals: 25 1 54.

Three-Point goals: Fannelli (Berlin) 4, Skinner (Berlin), Smalley (Berlin) 2, Eberhardt (Berlin), Rosa (BC), Glasper (BC), Zach Vanesse 9BC0.

Records: Bristol Central 17-0 overall; Berlin 11-5