By Michael Letendre
ENFIELD – It was one more time into the Central Connecticut Conference boys tournament gauntlet for the program from Bristol Central – the top ranked team in the fray – battling No. 2 Northwest Catholic in the finals on Thursday evening from Enfield High School.
And for the second straight year, the Rams scooped up the conference championship behind a sterling 63-56 victory over the Lions – moving to a perfect 24-0, tying the program’s record for wins in a season.
It was Central’s 39th straight victory while Northwest fell to 22-2 overall and lost for the first time since mid-December.
Central’s Donovan Clingan was an unstoppable force, dropping in a game-high 45 points, 28 rebounds, and six blocks over the title tilt.
“It feels great,” said Clingan of the win. “We’ve still got four more [games] to go. This is one more step to where we want to be. We’re all happy, we’re all proud of each other. We love each other. It’s great.”
And even when Clingan was double-teamed and sealed off, Central’s pinpoint passes found the mark just about every time – leading to high percentage hoops and rim-rattling dunks by the 7-foot-2 giant.
“We have the x-factor standing in the paint,” said Central coach Tim Barrette of Clingan. “He’s the best player in the state of Connecticut, hands down.”
On the flip side, Northwest’s Matt Curtis was sensational in defeat, posting 28 points – hitting from outside-in – and nearly helped his squad draw even by the halftime break.
“Curtis is one heck of a player,” said Clingan. “I’ll give all the love to him. He shoots it, he scores it…that’s my guy. No matter what, win or lose, I love Matt to death. That’s my guy.”
Central’s defense was on-point as no other player from the Lions notched more than eight points.
Gianni Mirabello scored eight, London Jemison hit for six while the dynamic Badara Diakite was saddled with foul trouble – dropping in two threes for six.
Victor Rosa and Carson Rivoira (seven points) did an incredible job slowing down the talented Curtis.
Rosa started the game on him, slowing the shooter down, and in the second half, Curtis was harassed and hounded by Rivoira over the final 16 minutes of regulation.
“We threw everything we had at him,” said Barrette of defending Curtis. “I appreciate Carson and Victor, the way they took that personal and tried to stop one of the best guards in the state. It was a total team effort tonight.”
Central had all five of its warriors, its starting crew, play the entire thirty-two minutes without any substitutes.
Steve Alseph (three points) had his arm scratched with 5:54 left in the third frame and was nearly lifted for Jayson VanBeveran but the game was stopped due to the blood.
Alseph was bandaged up and quickly returned – meaning the entire starting crew went the distance against the second rated team in Connecticut.
“Iron man basketball tonight,” said Barrette. “That’s a testament to the shape we’re in because I only used two timeouts and we got through thirty-two minutes only using five guys.”
Rivoira hit for five early points – including a 3 – but when Northwest’s Jehyvic Spencer, filling in for Diakite who picked up his second foul 4:38 into things, hit a three-pointer of his own, the Rams trailed 10-9 nearly halfway through the first frame.
From there, Central used a 14-4 run, never trailing again, as Clingan nabbed 12 of those points while Damion Glasper (seven points) added a jumper, and with 6:28 to go in the half, the Rams etched up a 23-14 lead.
The Lions responded with a 12-2 burst as Curtis posted nine to make it a 26-24 game with 1:11 left before the break.
Clingan held his ground on a couple of those Curtis drives to stay out of foul trouble.
“We had to play a little bit smarter tonight,” Barrette. “We gave up a couple lay-ups early to Curtis without [Clingan] contesting because we didn’t want to get him into foul trouble early. We knew we needed him in the third and fourth [quarters]. We didn’t want him playing tentative in the second half.”
To end the second, Alseph found Rivoira for a lay-up and Rosa made a slick pass to Clingan for a dunk as Central grabbed a 30-26 halftime push.
A Diakite 3 trimmed the deficit to one to open the third period and after Clingan and Curtis exchanged hoops, Northwest still only trailed by one – this time at 34-33 before Central added to its slim cushion.
Ahead by four, a 7-3 run – highlighted by a three from Alseph – made it a 46-38 game with 50 seconds remaining in the third.
Leading by five through three quarters (46-41), the teams exchanged hoops but off a three by Mirabello, Central was still in charge, leading 52-48 with 4:08 remaining.
And then it was bread and butter time as Central, slowing things down in a near stall, went exclusively to Clingan and the big man, off a lay-up and three consecutive dunks, helped the Rams establish its biggest lead of the evening at 60-48 with 1:52 left.
“We didn’t work on that until last week because we’ve been winning games by so much,” said Barrette of the stall. “At the same time, I thought we executed it to perfection in the last three minutes.”
Curtis hit the Lions last eight points but the squad only got as close as seven the rest of the way.
Clingan drained a late three-point play to ice the game as Central won the 2022 CCC Tournament over a tremendous 63-56 effort.
“I can’t be prouder of my guys,” said Barrette.
2022 CCC BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT – FINALS
No. 1 BRISTOL CENTRAL 63, No. 2 NORTHWEST CATHOLIC 56
from Enfield high school
Northwest Catholic (22-2) 14 12 15 15 – 56
Bristol Central (24-0) 19 11 16 17 – 63
NORTHWEST CATHOLIC (56): Jehyvic Spencer 1 0 3, London Jemison 3 0 6, Gianni Mirabello 3 0 8, Matt Curtis 12 3 28, Hayden Abdullah 1 0 2, Badara Diakite 2 0 6, Tanner Ostop 1 0 3. Totals: 23 3 56.
BRISTOL CENTRAL (63): Victor Rosa 0 1 1, Damion Glasper 3 0 7, Steve Alseph 1 0 3, Carson Rivoira 3 0 7, Donovan Clingan 22 1 45. Totals: 29 2 63.
Three-point goals: Diakite (NWC) 2, Curtis (NWC), Mirabello (NWC) 2, Spencer (NWC), Ostop (NWC), Glasper (BC), Alseph (BC), Rivoira (BC).
Records: Bristol Central 24-0 overall; Northwest Catholic 22-2.
