By Michael Letendre
A trio of basketball players from the Bristol Central boys program earned Central Connecticut Conference, Region B All-Conference honors this week – headlining a star-studded list of athletes.
Junior Donovan Clingan, senior Sean Wininger and junior Damion Glasper all took home postseason honors over a very memorable season for the Rams, under head coach Tim Barrette.
The CCC Tournament champions went 15-0 this year, playing the most games of any squad in the league, along with East Catholic, and the Rams finished up number one in the state polls once the postseason was put to bed.
Everything clicked for Central, a program that was determined to not only take on the best squads in the CCC, but to beat all those teams as well.
That mission was clearly accomplished with Clingan, a 7-foot-1 center with size, skill, determination and ended up being the best player in the Connecticut this season – hands down.
And when the stage got bigger for Clingan, his production increased to near video game levels.
For instance, over Central’s first two CCC Tournament games, Clingan averaged 37.5 points and 26.5 rebounds-per-game which were unheard of numbers by a local player.
In that championship showdown against East Catholic, a contest Central won in overtime by a 69-68 final, Clingan roped up 33 points, 26 rebounds, five assists, and seven blocks over an MVP effort.
The 2021 CCC Tournament championship was the first for the squad since the program won it back in 2003 under the guidance of then coach, now Central principal, Pete Wininger.
This season, Clingan averaged just under 27.3 points-per-game – scoring 409 points overall in the pandemic shortened season.
And it was that amazing postseason effort that saw Clingan raise his average over two points (25.1 to 27.3 overall) by the completion of the CCC Tournament.
To hit his regular average, plus improve that tally against three of the top four ranked teams in the state during the postseason, speaks volumes of the player he’s becoming.
The 39 points Clingan scored against Windsor in first round, CCC Tournament action propelled him to a new career high.
During that contest, he snared a triple double of 26 rebounds and 10 blocks to go along with those 39 points.
Overall in the postseason, Clingan collected 108 points and snared 79 total rebounds as Central went undefeated (3-0).
For his career, Clingan has tallied 1,421 points and the scoring record in town, held by Carey Edwards at St. Paul (1,835 points) is in serious jeopardy come next season.
Along the way this year, his 20-rebound efforts usually were followed up with about half-a-dozen blocked shots as Central did not taste defeat in 2021.
Clingan was already back to work this weekend, this time with the Team Spartans AAU team.
His 17U squad squares off against Rhode Island Elite from the Providence Country Day School – proving once again that there’s absolutely no rest for the weary when it comes to Central’s big man.
And don’t forget, he has scholarship offers from about twenty NCAA Division I programs including UCONN, Michigan State, Georgetown, and Syracuse.
But Central wasn’t just a one-man show as Wininger and Glasper provided critical all-around efforts to augment their All-World teammate.
Wininger played in all 15 games this season, adding 8.2 points-per-game, along with some tough rebounding and plenty of leadership to boot.
The Rams’ made 54 total three-pointers and Wininger lead the charge by canning 15 of those long-range bombs.
He tallied a 12-point effort in the opening season victory against Avon and dropped 11 on New Britain and Lewis Mills.
Wininger’s season-high of 13 points came against Mills on March 12.
His biggest performance might have been during the opening round of the CCC Tourney when the senior forward roasted Windsor for 10 first-half rebounds over Central’s big win.
Wininger leaves the program with 42 career three-pointers while improving his scoring each year from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium.
He’s been a starter for head coach Tim Barrette since his sophomore season.
And then Glasper will team with Clingan one more time next year as Central should – finally – be able to contend for that elusive state title the pandemic has not allowed the Rams to compete for.
Glasper was the second leading scorer for the Rams with 9.7 points-per-game and was an important cog in Central’s outside shooting schemes when Clingan was double and tripled team.
He came into the season with a career-high of 14 points but established a new one early in the campaign.
Glasper drained 21 points in the season opener against Avon, hitting three 3s in the program’s 78-76 victory on February 10.
And in the second to last regular season contest against New Britain on March 15, he drained a new career-high of 25 points as he dropped in 10 field goals and five free throws over another winning effort.
He drained 11 three-pointers this year but proved he could also finish at the rim.
The guard did plenty of penetrating and dishing off and if Glasper continues to improve, Central is going to be a tough squad to contend with once again when the team can play a full slate worth of games next year.
