By Michael Letendre
TOLLAND – Twenty-six seconds into the Bristol Central boys basketball game at Tolland on Monday evening, coach Tim Barrette was already calling for a timeout.
Off two consecutive misses at the free throw line by the Eagles, an offense rebound and putback from Matt Tybor had Barrette steaming mad.
That Jim Calhoun-like timeout, something we’ve seen the former the University of Connecticut men’s coach call so many times more, helped get the wheels churning defensively for the Rams.
And that defense led to offense, helping Central to a huge 58-45 road victory in a CCC Interdivisional tilt for the first win of the young season.
“That first time out, not boxing out is non-negotiable,” said Central coach Tim Barrette. “We’re not good enough. We have too many deficiencies to not play hard on the defensive end. What I said [in the huddle] was ‘not playing defense is non-negotiable.’ We have to do better than that.”
Central trailed 7-2 out the gate but soon after the returning Mike Allan (seven points, four steals) was inserted into the game, his defense caused havoc all over the floor.
He helped cue a slick 8-0 burst to end the first quarter as the visitors led 10-7 after eight minutes and never looked back.
Jayson VanBeveren (14 points, 13 rebounds, four assists) canned consecutive 3s to give Central the lead for good and two Joey Pikiell (seven points) free throws – off that tremendous hustle by Allen – got the Rams back on track.
“Let’s give Mike Allen a lot of credit,” said Barrette. “Mike was a spark plug tonight. He had four steals and he got his hands on everything. The dive on the floor to Joey Pikiell for [two points] in the first quarter changed the entire intensity of our team defensively.”
“Give Mike a lot of credit. He turned that switch.”
In the second period, Central’s Carmelo Thompson (team-high 15 points, eight rebounds, five assists) hit three lay-ups over a stretch of 1:20, Tre Blair added a hoop of his own, Allen dropped in a 3 and when Thompson sent a slick pass over to Jonmanuel Gomez for a high-percentage bucket, the Rams led 25-18 with 1:55 remaining before the half.
But Tolland was hitting some big, contested threes over the second period which included two from Mitchell Enman (14 points) and another by Cameron Lumia that kept things close at the half.
Central’s cushion was 30-24 at intermission
“Enman, I didn’t really get a good scout on him,” said Barrette. “He was sick the other night in [Tolland’s loss] at New Britain. I knew he could play. He came out and hit some big shots early on, tough shots with hands in his face.”
Tolland hung around in the third quarter, trimming the deficit to 36-31 with 4:53 left in the stanza.
However, a quick 8-1 burst by Central – highlighted by two 3-point bombs from Mikey McMahon (11 points) – the squad scooped up a 44-32 lead with 3:22 remaining in the frame.
Tolland came firing back, chopping the Central lead to six but to end the third, VanBeveren hit a jumper, Thompson sank a hoop for an eventual and-1 and when Gomez slipped a pass over to Pikiell for a lay-up, the Rams were in charge, 51-38, with eight minutes left.
The Rams didn’t score a single point over the first 6:24 of the final period as a slow burn 7-0 Tolland run made it a 51-45 game with 2:31 left on the clock.
Central was patient when Tolland went to its 1-3-1 defense but the ball refused to fall through the net but the visitors eventually scored late insurance hoops to ice the affair.
“We had a couple good looks at the rim [but] we couldn’t get anything to fall,” said Barrette of the fourth quarter lull. “I couldn’t even complain about the effort. We had five, six seven taps ins that just didn’t go in there in the fourth quarter. We were attacking. I told them we didn’t do a great job finishing. We have to be better versus better teams or we would’ve lost tonight.”
A critical three-point miss by Enman could have made it a single-possession game but Central’s defense resumed control and the squad made all the late plays count.
Thompson banked a shot off his own miss and off a missed Tolland 3, McMahon drained a baseline trifecta that effectively ended the contest as Central led 56-45 with 1:16 remaining.
To end the event, Thompson found Allen for one last lay-up as Central wrapped up its first win, downing Tolland by 13 points.
“We have a couple goals that we’re trying to accomplish. We’re going to go in smaller stretches this year,” said Barrette. “We have a five game goal. But we needed this one. I circled this one. I said I said to the guys ‘Tolland is circling this game [as well] because they think they can beat you. They are going to play tough at home’ but we needed to win one of these on the road.”
“A win on the road in the CCC, no matter who you play, is not easy.”
NOTES…Central’s Mason Stokes did not score but supplied eight rebounds over the winning effort…Aiden Lopez and Dylan Brown also made appearances in the game for the Rams.
Bristol Central Boys Basketball – CCC Interdivisional Action
BRISTOL CENTRAL 58, TOLLAND 45
from Tolland High School
Bristol Central (1-1) 10 20 21 7 – 58
Tolland (0-2) 7 17 17 7 – 45
BRISTOL CENTRAL (58): Mikey McMahon 4 0 11, Mike Allen 3 0 7, Tre Blair 1 0 2, Carmelo Thompson 6 2 15, Joey Pikiell 2 2 7, Mason Stokes 0 0 0, Aiden Lopez 0 0 0, Dylan Brown 0 0 0, Jayeson VanBeveren 6 0 14, Jonmanuel Gomez 1 0 2. Totals: 23 4 58.
TOLLAND (45): Kyle Vanpeventer 3 1 7, Cameron Lumia 3 1 8, Mitchell Enman 5 1 14, Evan Tubbs 1 2 4, Matt Tybor 5 1 12. Totals: 17 6 45.
Three-point goals: Lumia (T) , Enman (T) 3, Tybor (T).
Records: Bristol Central 1-1 overall; Tolland 0-2.
