On Tuesday night, the Central Bears hosted Weeki Wachee in a double header at John J. Sedlack Court. The first matchup of the evening saw the Hornets (14-4) eviscerate Central’s (3-13) girls’ squad 62-22. The Bears boys (11-5) fared much better against the two-win visitors and won by a somewhat comfortable 49-37 score.
Hornets head coach Billy Hughes was extremely proud of the girls’ performance in a “huge team win.” His crew led from wire-to-wire and got off to a hot start in a showdown that was never in doubt.
The Green and Black opened the scoring with 16 straight points, 9 of which came from Senior Reese Halter (13 points), before the home team put their first points on the board. The visitors would take a 27-5 lead heading into the second quarter.
Sophomore Joelys Rodriguez (20 points) would close out the period with 9 of her team’s last 11 points. Sophomore Karly Pasmore (11 points) enjoyed a similar performance. After a relatively quiet quarter for the Hornets, Pasmore logged three fast break layups in the span of 27 seconds to end the half 42-13.
Besides the two talented student athletes’ performances, the rest of the team played well not only offensively but defensively as well. It would be hard not to in a 40-point victory, and that is by design.
Coach Hughes heavily emphasizes defense in every practice, and he knows that “great defense always creates these opportunities of offensive points” whether they be layups or jump shots. It is critical for the type of tempo they like to play and his squad is clearly buying into it.
Game two of the double-header was more competitive, but the matchup ultimately got away from the visiting Hornets. However, the game would end a little closer than the Navy and Silver would have liked it.
The opening frame was back-and-forth and saw several lead changes with Central holding a slim 10-9 advantage. The second frame was all Bears, though.
Following an early bucket by Weeki Wachee’s Junior Logan White, the home team scored 13 straight enroute to a 23-11 advantage at the intermission. Junior Rommy Abreau contributed 9 points over the first 16 minutes to help the Bears build a double-digit lead.
“I think we had a really good start, we had a good defensive game, and I think we fell asleep for a little bit,” said Central Head Coach Jeff D’Angelo. “Frustrating, we want to play a game for four quarters.”
As the head coach mentioned, the game would finish closer than expected. Despite outscoring the Hornets 18-8 in the penultimate period, the final 8 minutes would see the home team be outscored by the same differential.
Thanks to Sophomore Jayden Parent’s nine fourth quarter points and White’s six, the night got a little more interesting. The home team also had playmakers, however. One such athlete, Junior Forward Braydon Prospero (14 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks) made his presence felt at the rim with dunks and rebounds.
Though his play can be a little mercurial at times, he is supremely talented and has only been participating in the sport for about a year and a half. It will be exciting to see how his raw athleticism develops moving forward.
“[Braydon] is a kid who is pretty new to basketball and has some incredible athleticism, and he’s learning […] the game is starting to come to him,” said Coach D’Angelo. He has moments where he looks like a super star and he has moments, as a coach, that’s very frustrating. We joke around and say we’re riding the Braydon rollercoaster. We just want him to be a little more consistent. The highs are there. We just need him to stay up.”
Coach D’Angelo added that he would like to see his guys finish matchups stronger in the future and play smart basketball. If they do, he feels his squad is good enough to “overachieve” and beat other teams that may have more veteran leadership than they do.
