Bristol Central boys basketball started the 2018-19 season with four straight losses. That’s a rough beginning for a team that starts two freshmen and a sophomore, along with one junior and one senior.
The Rams grabbed their first win in the consolation game of the Bristol Central Holiday Tournament against South Windsor on Dec. 29. On Wednesday night, Bristol Central made it two straight wins by beating Southington 47-39 on the road. Freshman big Donovan Clingan — 6 feet, 8 1/2 inches tall — scored 11 points, pulled down 22 rebounds, and blocked 11 Southington shots in the victory.
“All I want to do right now is improve every day, and they’re starting to buy in,” coach Tim Barrette said. “They’re starting to buy into what I’m trying to preach. “Sometimes young guys are a little hard-headed, they think they know more. We’ve been through a lot of games, we’ve been through a lot of wars in the last 13 years. My coaching staff’s got a lot of experience. We’re going to put you in the spot to succeed.”
The Rams worked the ball down into Clingan, and he showed great touch, not as a shooter, but as a passer.
“When you double and triple him, which people have to because he’s so big, he finds the open man,” Barrette said. “He did that a bunch tonight, especially in the first half, and got us out to a nice easy start.”
Bristol Central, which had struggled shooting the ball early in the season, got 3-pointers from freshman Victor Rosa and junior Austin Brown (team-high 13 points) to jump out to a 6-2 lead. Clingan tallied a basket off of an inbound pass, and he found a cutting Ryan Rodriguez (8 points) twice for layups as the Rams built a 12-4 lead. The Rams tallied six points off of inbound plays in the game.
Rodriguez is the lone senior in the starting lineup, and also the only Bristol Central player with real varsity experience.
“Ryan’s my heart and soul,” Barrette said. “He makes some mistakes, but he makes aggressive mistakes because he’s trying so hard, and any coach can live with that.”
Brown got loose for five points in the second quarter as Bristol Central stretched its lead from three points at the end of the first quarter to 27-21 by halftime. Clingan scored four points and assisted on a Rayon Buchanan bucket to get the lead to 27-21. Buchanan is a senior reserve for the Rams.
Southington pulled to within four points, 32-28, with 3:20 left in the third quarter. Bristol Central responded with two free throws from Buchanan and another 3-pointer from Brown to extend the lead to 37-28. The Rams led 37-30 after three quarters.
The lead reached nine points at 39-30 on a Rodriguez basket off of an inbound pass, but the Blue Knights ripped off nine straight points of their own to tie the game at 39-39 with 2:45 to go. The Rams responded with a closing rally not often seen from a young team, an 8-0 burst to finish the game.
Clingan hit the offensive glass and got two inside buckets for a 43-39 Bristol Central lead with 1:44 to play. Brown sank a pair of foul shots, and sophomore Sean Wininger and Buchanan each added a free throw. On the defensive end, Clingan, Rodriguez and company limited Southington to one shot.
“Just listen, execute, play as hard as you can, and good things will happen,” Barrette said he told his team.”
The Rams have done just that, and now they’ve won two games in a row. Bristol Central is home against Plainville on Friday.
Gallery
Here are my photos from Wednesday night’s Bristol Central win.
