By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – On February 21, 2022, the scholastic boys basketball landscape changed in the city of Bristol forever when Donovan Clingan – Bristol Central’s All-State dynamo – tallied his 2,000th point over the Rams’ 76-50 victory against Bristol Eastern on February 21.
Tallying 2,000 points was one of Clingan’s many lofty goals and when he hit his first shot of the third period against the Lancers, just 10 seconds into things, the big man had that amazing total in hand and the crowd from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium gave the 7-foot-2 center an immediate standing ovation.
“It felt good,” said Clingan of the milestone. “To do this at a Bristol Central/Bristol Eastern game meant a lot because that’s just a big rivalry that we always loved.”
Since that Eastern game, the big man has been on complete fire – romping through the Central Connecticut Conference Tournament as the Rams went 4-0 against some of the best squads in the league.
Clingan posted 136 points over CCC Tournament play, averaging 34.0 points-per-game, notching 45 points in Central’s exciting 63-56 victory over Northwest Catholic.
Clingan now averages just over 30.0 ppg for the season and has 2,142 total points for his career.
And that tally is simply amazing to behold with COVID absolutely causing havoc in the scheduling and ultimate cancellation of several games over Clingan’s sophomore and junior campaigns.
“Who would think about that with two seasons cut short due to COVID,” said Central coach Tim Barrette of Clingan’s scoring exploits. “That’s a bigger accomplishment right there.”
Just this season alone, Clingan has scored over 720 points and will add to that total over four possible Division II state tournament games.
Right now, Clingan is 17th all-time leading scorer in state and is just a mere 50 points away from tying all-time great Calvin Murphy (2,192 points) of Norwalk for 12th place.
“He’d be chasing the state record, I believe, if he hadn’t had so many games canceled due to COVID,” said Barrette. “With that being said, what an accomplishment.”
If Central was able to play those lost games over Clingan’s sophomore and junior years, his point totals would have been one of the best Connecticut has ever seen.
Clingan averaged 24.8 ppg over his sophomore year when Central (17-5) was ranked fourth when the postseason was postponed.
If the Rams went all the way to the finals, over a five-game stretch, that would have meant an extra 124 points for the center.
And then as a junior, when the CIAC played a limited schedule (12 regular season games) and put together a ‘playoff experience’ due to COVID, Central should have played at least a dozen additional games.
At 27.3 ppg, that would have meant somewhere around 328 additional points.
In total, those lost games could have netted Clingan 452 points and adding to his totals now, that’s 2,594 points which would have put him in second place over South Windsor’s Tom Roy (2,501).
Connecticut’s all-time leader in points, Walt Luckett, played scholastically at Kolbe Cathedral high school, went on to Ohio State and then was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the second round.
However, no matter how you slice it – 2,500 points or not – the 2021 Gatorade Connecticut State Player of the Year will end his career as one of the greatest scholastic players in Nutmeg State history, both on the offensive and defensive end.
“He’s been a hell of a player for four years,” said Barrette. “The best this city has ever seen [and] the most impactful player this city has ever seen. And I’m going to tell you something, every time people play against him, they can’t believe the impact he has, especially on the defensive end. He gets his hands on everything and he can deter so much and generally after that happens, people stop going at him.”
Here’s a look at Connecticut’s all-time leading scorers in boys scholastic hoops:
CIAC Boys 2,000-point scorers
1. Walt Luckett, Kolbe Cathedral, 2,691
2. Tom Roy, South Windsor, 2,501
3. Anthony Harris, Danbury, 2,491
4. Alex Jensen, Stonington, 2,357
5. Rashamel Jones, Trinity Catholic, 2,301
6. Tyshon Rogers, Crosby, 2,292
7. Matt Curtis, Cheshire, 2,263
8T. Jordan Williams, Torrington, 2,228
8T. Kahlil Dukes, Capital Prep, 2,228
10. Phil Lott, Wilby, 2,212
11. Kris Dunn, New London, 2,201
12. Calvin Murphy, Norwalk , 2,192
13. Stepfan Holley, Capital Prep, 2,180
14. John Pinone, South Catholic, 2,174
15. DeJuan Ransom, Wilcox Tech, 2,154
16. Dave Vigeant, Litchfield, 2,149
17. Donovan Clingan, Bristol Central, 2,142
