By Marc Thaler
Staff Writer

It’s early, and championships aren’t won in the first weeks of the season. But already, Manchester Central’s boys varsity basketball team – a state semifinalist last year – appears powerful and primed to finish what it couldn’t a year ago.

COLLISION COURSE – Seniors Ryan Provencher(No. 22, right) and Ben Glide meet along the baseline under Central’s hoop in the first quarter of an eventual 63-33 Little Green win on Dec. 21. Central once again appears strong, repeating as winners of the Queen City Basketball Invitational Tournament during the holiday break. (Marc Thaler Photo)

Manchester West can attest to Central’s collective strength, dropping a 63-33 decision to Gang Green inside Quinn Gymnasium prior to the holiday break on Tuesday, Dec. 21.

Central graduated Sam Carey from last year’s Final Four team. Still, the standout’s departure to Southern New Hampshire University hasn’t slowed the Little Green hoops machine.

Central comes complete with height, speed, tenacity and a host of other quality characteristics. Although to hear head coach Doc Wheeler tell it, his players have plenty of areas where they can improve. Quite simply, maximum effort is a must – or else. “We’ve got enough guys on this team that if somebody doesn’t want to play, we’ll find somebody who will,” Wheeler said. “We could easily play 11 guys.” “They have so many weapons, you can’t shut them all down,” said West head coach Colin Burke.

The focal point of this club is undoubtedly junior Tyler Roche, who’s already received attention from several big-name Division I-Acollege basketball programs. According to Wheeler, Boston College, Georgetown, Georgia, Kentucky and Providence are among the schools that expressed some level of interest in Roche.

“We don’t know if that will translate into scholarships, but it’s exciting,” Wheeler said.

Game planning for Central takes on added difficulty because of the team’s solid corps of key contributors, including seniors Matt Lemieux and Nate Bernard, plus junior Joe Fremeau.

Particularly with Lemieux running the point, Wheeler knows the offense is in good hands.

“He’s a three-year starter,” Wheeler said. “He’s the heart of our club. He plays with such passion that he himself lifts everybody around him – players and coaches. He has the heart of a lion in a 5-foot-8 body.”

Central entered the Christmas break 2-0 in Class L, eclipsing the 60-point mark in each win.

Although offensively the Little Green posted a two-game total of 132 points, there was also an equally significant reason behind the boys winning their first two contests by an average of 26.5 points.

“We pride ourselves on defense,” Wheeler said. “It’s our goal to try and become the top defensive club in the league.”

Along with Lemieux and Bernard, Central’s seniors include James Desmarais, Ben Glide, Dan Hayden, Ryan Leach and Tyler Norton.

In addition to Fremeau and Roche, the juniors include John Bumpus, Tim Field, Max Stisser and Bryan Tracy. The roster is rounded out by sophomore Josh Last and freshman James Jackson.

Forced to face this strong Final Four candidate in its second game of the season, a young West team, 0-2 in Class L through Monday, Jan. 3, picked out the positives not necessarily reflected in the final score.

Burke was pleased with the effort of several players, namely seniors Ryan Johnson and Ryan Provencher. As a team, the Blue Knights also worked for several quality shots, but were unable to consistently convert from the floor.

West only trailed by eight after one quarter. However, the Blue Knights’collective inexperience playing at the varsity level, against one of the state’s premiere teams, proved too much to overcome.

“They present so much pressure with the experience they have in their backcourt,” Burke said of Central. “But the mistakes we made are OK because they’re correctable. We were just out of position at times.”

Along with Johnson and Provencher, West’s roster includes seniors Daniel Boucher and Dustin Rousseau, plus juniors Nick Cientiempo, Jeremy Colon, Nathan Cook, Ryan Glasgow, Conor Levis, Robert Litterst, Michael Lungo and Brandon Santos.