By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – Turnovers, miscues and mental mistakes were causing the Bristol Central boys basketball team all sorts of trouble against winless South Windsor in the consolation round of the BC Holiday Classic on Thursday afternoon.
But even with those gaffes, and serious foul trouble for Central’s super sophomore Carmelo Thompson, it was just a 17-15 deficit at the half with the home team hanging around.
But once the third period commenced, Central’s defense took charge and most of those setbacks melted in the rearview mirror.
The Rams used a stretch of nearly 16 minutes to limit the Bobcats to just five points as a 17-10 deficit became a 37-22 edge for the home team – leading to a 46-32 win over South Windsor to move to 2-3 on the season.
“We did a pretty good job of taking away what [South Windsor] wanted to do” offensively said Central coach Tim Barrette. “Even the shots they made were actually difficult shots when they hit them in the second half. I thought the difference was we allowed just one or two offensive rebounds in the second half. We had allowed six at halftime which was not good enough with a team that doesn’t have much size.”
Central shooting stud Mikey McMahon was on-point with his long range marksmanship, draining five three-pointers on his way to a team-high 15 points – all scored over the final 21 minutes of the contest.
Central’s inside-outside attack saw the squad eventually get the ball down low and eventually to the baseline where McMahon was willing and able to shoot those backbreaking 3s.
“We’re not telling him ever to hesitate” shooting the ball said Barrette of McMahon. “Mikey and Joey [Pikiell can] shoot the ball. [We tell them] ‘do what you do best. When you’re open, shoot the basketball.’”
Also for the Rams, Jayeson VanBeveren was absolutely tremendous over second half play – netting 11 of his 13 points – to go along with 11 rebounds, five assists and four blocks.
Thompson notched six points and six rebounds while Mike Allan added five points and three steals for the victors.
South Windsor’s Landon King nailed home a game-high 16 points and when the Rams were throwing the ball away over first quarter play, the visitors were able to scoop up the lead.
King canned two 3s over the first eight minutes of the contest as the Bobcats grabbed a 12-7 push.
Trailing by seven early in the second, McMahon flipped in two three-pointers but Central just couldn’t draw even, trailing 17-13 with 4:11 before the break.
South Windsor didn’t score a single point over the final 5:06 of the first half and when Central’s Mason Stokes found VanBeveren for a hoop with 2:22 remaining, the Rams trailed just 17-15 when intermission commenced.
Over the third and fourth frames, Central’s ball movement improved and committed just four turnovers.
And once the home team went down low, the ball seemingly moved to all the right spots on the hardwood with Thompson and VanBeveren making several smooth passes for good shots.
“We weren’t moving the ball fast enough,” said Barrette of the 14 turnovers. “Our guards, we were allowing them to play so high because we were not exposing the big seam in the high post area. In the second half, we made an adjustment and put [Thompson] in the high post and once he started getting the ball at the high post, he’s such a dangerous player, you have to respect that little jump shot that he has, and he dumped [the ball] to Jay.”
“And once Jay started to go inside, it really changed the game.”
Central went ahead by four midway through the third period before King added a hoop for the Bobcats to trim the deficit to 24-22 with 4:25 left.
From there, Central went on a blazing 13-0 run, highlighted by a lay-in from VanBeveren, a big three-pointer from McMahon late in the third and once Pikiell popped in a 3 with 5:30 to go in the fourth, it was a 37-22 contest as the home squad was cruising.
“We were hoping Mikey and Joey tonight would have a good night versus that zone, but it all starts with getting the ball inside,” Barrette said. “They didn’t get anything off in the first half really because [South Windsor] didn’t have to respect the inside. In the second half when Melo made that change to the high post, it made the entire defense change.”
“That’s when Mikey started finding he corner 3.”
J.P. Dargati hit a late trifecta with 5:06 to go that chopped the deficit to 11 but a 9-0 Central blitzing made things academic.
Thompson flipped in two hoops, VanBeveren scored from the paint and when McMahon added his final three, South Windsor trailed by 20 (46-26) with 2:36 remaining.
And in the end, after such a tough start, Central earned the consolation prize via the 14-point triumph.
“I told the coaches when I came down from the team meeting, I was a little nervous [about] the 4:30 p.m. matinee coming off a loss against our crosstown rival,” said Barrette of the early start. “It’s kind of hard to get up sometimes especially with no crowd here. But we definitely responded in the second half.”
“We came out with a whole different energy and it was very obvious to everyone.”
BRISTOL CENTRAL HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT – BC Boys Basketball, Consolation Round
BRISTOL CENTRAL 46, SOUTH WINDSOR 32
from the Charles C. Marsh Gymnasium
South Windsor (0-5) 12 5 5 10 – 32
Bristol Central (2-3) 7 8 17 14 – 46
SOUTH WINDSOR (32): Damian Ayala 1 0 3, Ethan LaGuardia 3 1 7, J.P. Dargati 1 1 4, Joey Bemis 1 0 2, London King 7 0 16. Totals: 13 2 32.
BRISTOL CENTRAL (44): Mikey McMahon 5 0 15, Mike Allan 2 1 5, Tre Blair 0 0 0, Carmelo Thompson 3 0 6, Joey Pikiell 1 0 3, Mason Stokes 1 0 2, Aiden Lopez 1 0 2, Jayeson VanBeveren 5 3 13, Jonmanuel Gomez 0 0 0, Jaysun Dominguez 0 0 0, Dylan Brown 0 0 0, Harry Ross 0 0 0. Totals: 18 4 46.
Three-point goals: Ayala (SW), Dargati (SW), King (SW) 2, McMahon (BC) 5, Pikiell (BC).
Records: Bristol Central 2-3 overall; South Windsor 0-5.
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