Central falls to Stamford

Central falls to Stamford

Doug Bonjour

 December 17, 2014

Last year, Central had so many seasoned veterans that coach Barry McLeod rarely

had to worry about where his scoring was coming from.

But in the Hilltoppers' season­opener against Stamford on Tuesday, there weren't nearly enough

options on offense. It ended up costing them, too.

Three players scored in double figures for the Black Knights, who pulled away in the fourth quarter to

beat the defending FCIAC and Class LL champions 58­-56.

"We haven't won in this building in a long time," Black Knights coach Danny Melzer said. "It's a very

tough place to play."

Kweshon Askew's breakaway layup put Stamford (1­0) up 52­50 with three minutes left. He finished

with 12 points, while Gianni Carwin had 17 points and James Gronberg scored 14.

Forward Marcus Blackwell, who is the Hilltoppers' lone returning starter off last year's 27­1 team,

finished with a game­high 22 points. Dyshuan Pulliam contributed 18 points, but the Hilltoppers

didn't get close to enough help from the rest of a young roster.

"We've got to find some guards that can apply pressure," McLeod said. "The freshmen, sophomores,

juniors or seniors, I think we're going to find them somewhere. We're going to have to have tryouts.

"Everything we do predicates on pressure."

Central didn't apply it consistently, especially on the offensive end. Up as many as eight points in the

first half, Central fell behind for the first time, 32­-31, early in the third quarter.

"We've got to get away from the things we did tonight," McLeod said.

A 3­point play by Blackwell pulled Central within 54­53 late in the fourth quarter, but Stamford

didn't relinquish the lead. The Black Knights grabbed two offensive rebounds on the next possession ­

the first coming on a missed free throw by Carwin on the front end of an and­ 1.

"We got just enough stops to win," Melzer said.

The Black Knights were energized by the win, especially after losing both meetings against Central

last season by scores of 74­53 and 66­47 in the FCIAC semifinals.

"They're not the most talented Central team that we've seen, but they're going to be decent this year,"

Askew said. "We owed these guys, too. They came to our house last year and beat us, and we owedthem this. It feels great."

Central led 15-­9 after the first quarter and 25-­17 midway through the second before Stamford went

on a 7­0 run. The Hilltoppers led 29­-26 at the break thanks to a late basket by Jonathan Hartley.

Dondre Daniels, who played key minutes on last year's Central squad, chipped in seven points.

Stamford 58, Central 56

STAMFORD (1­0)

Kweshon Askew 5 2­2 12 Rich Benoit 1 0­0 2 Gianni Carwin 6 3­7 17 John Cascio 0 0­0 0 Malik

Clayborne 0 0­0 0 Dwight Depina 2 3­6 7 Whens Desther 0 0­0 0 Billy Devito 0 0­0 0 Jay Devito 2 0­

0 6 James Gronberg 5 3­6 14 Steffan Harding 0 0­0 0 Clerstevens Joseph 0 0­0 0 Yancarlos Marte 0

0­0 0. Totals 21 11­21 58.

CENTRAL (0­1)

Quinton Ballew 0 0­0 0 Marcus Blackwell 10 1­2 22 Dondre Daniels 2 2­2 7 Jordan Edmonds 0 0­0 0

Jonathan Hartley 2 0­0 5 Joaquim Johnson 0 0­0 0 Oumar Keita 1 0­2 2 Dyshaun Pulliam 8 1­1 18

Charles Richardson 1 0­0 2 Kayshone Washington 0 0­0 0. Totals 24 4­7 56.

STAMFORD 9 17 15 17 ­­ 58

CENTRAL 15 14 12 15 ­­ 56

3­pointers: S ­­ Carwin 2, J. Devito 2, Gronberg; C ­­ Blackwell, Daniels, Hartley, Pulliam.