By Michael Letendre 

BRISTOL – When tangling with a state power in boys basketball, any mistake or miscue can lead to unfortunate consequences.

That’s exactly what happened to the squad over at Bristol Central against East Catholic on Tuesday night.

Each and every missed shot, turnover, or plain old missed opportunity by the Rams was turned into points by the Eagles, leading to a rough 88-44 decision that did not favor the Rams in Bristol.

The Eagles, a smooth shooting group with two guys by the name of Reilly draining every three-pointer in sight, seemingly turned every single non-scoring Central play into a hoop, a big 3 or free throws.

The East Catholic press is lethal and steals out of that smothering defense led to lay-ups and high percentage buckets – helping lead the Rams to that 44-point setback.

“Live ball turnovers will kill you, especially against East Catholic,” said Central coach Tim Barrette. “They do such a good job rotating [and] then their size eliminates any easy looks down at the other end. They play great team defense.” 

But even as bigger East Catholic had its way on the scoreboard, Central did yeoman’s work on the rebounding front as second chance points by the visitors were far and few between.

Credit belongs to Central big man Jayeson VanBeveren and shooting guard/forward Carmelo Thompson – combining for 12 rebounds – as a total team effort kept the Eagles off the glass and did not allow the program to notch a 90-plus point evening.

“I thought we did a hell of a job on the backboards tonight,” said Barrette. “[We gave up eight offensive rebounds and] eight for them is nothing. [Allowing just] four offensive rebounds [at the half] to a team that big in the first half, we did a pretty good damn job and a couple of those were on their own missed shots.” 

East Catholic coach Luke Reilly knew what his squad was getting into on Tuesday night, marking Central shooters such as Joey Pikiell and VanBeveren from the get-go.

On the Eagles’ bench, Reilly mentioned about not leaving Pikiell, who just missed out on several great looking attempts from three-point territory, and VanBeveren open.

Reilly told his group before the game “the big guy can shoot” in reference to Central’s senior center.

But Catholic gave him looks as VanBeveren cashed in on 13 points, seven rebounds while hitting 3-of-4 shots from 3.

If the last six teams that Central faces this season leaves players like Mikey McMahon, Carmelo Thompson, Pikiell and VanBeveren open in critical situations, that grouping is going to surprise a couple of those programs before the completion of the regular season.

The Best of the Best

The competition has been intense for Central over the past twenty days or so.

Between Windsor (100-47) running up the score with a full court press until the final buzzer, Northwest Catholic (80-43) and now East Catholic, the locals have fought ever big contender the CCC has to offer – which could be considered part of a revenge tour after the Rams walloped those programs last season over its 28-0 CIAC Division II title run.

And while Central was outscored in those contests 268-134, those battles will help Central over the final six games of the year and into state tournament competition.  

“We faced the preseason one, two and third [ranked teams] now in the last three weeks,” said Barrette. “It’s only going to help us. It’s only going to help us over the next six games. Obviously, Southington, Lewis Mills, all those teams are playing great. But the speed of the game will be different for us. This is a different pace and it’s only going to help us be prepared for the last six games and hopefully surprise someone in the Division I Tournament.”

The Schedule

Most of the CCC giants have already been played Central but the squad must still contend with a couple tough foes.

Tonight, it’s another tough challenge, this time from Southington High School.

Lewis Mills is in town on February 7 while the Rams have to tangle with All-Stater Riley Fox and Conard one week later (February 14 in West Hartford).

To end the regular season, Middletown comes to the Mum City on February 17 and then its BC/BE on February 20 from the Thomas M. Monahan Gymnasium in Bristol.

Bristol Central’s Remaining Schedule (All games to commence at 6:45 p.m. unless noted)

*February 2, at Southington

*February 7, vs. Lewis Mills

*February 10, at Berlin

*February 14, at Conard

*February 17, vs. Middletown

*February 20, at Bristol Eastern (6 p.m.)