Clark Tourney preview-- and more

By Steev Riccardo

The historic Clark Tournament will get underway this Sunday at Clark University in Worcester. Bartlett, Oxford, and Shepherd Hill have all been invited.

The tournament has been a permanent fixture in Central Mass basketball since it started in 1939 and is the place to be for some exciting high school basketball action. This year should be quite interesting as each of the local schools have a legitimate chance to go far—perhaps to win it all.

In the small schools bracket, Bartlett will be the #5 seed and take on North Brookfield on Sunday at 6:00 pm, while #7 seed Oxford High School will take on #2 seed Littleton at 2:45 pm.

Shepherd Hill, who is the #5 seed in the large schools division will take #4 seed Clinton at 6 pm on Monday.

The small schools semi-finals will be Tuesday, February 21, while large schools semi-finals will be Thursday, February 23.  The finals for both divisions will be Saturday, February 25. All games are played at the Clark University gymnasium in Worcester.

Clark Facts: The Bartlett Indians hold three Clark records that are unlikely to be broken in the near future.  They hold the record for most points in a game having scored 99 in 2006 against Narragansett in an overtime win. With Narragansett, they hold the record for most combined points in a game (195) in their 2006 overtime win. Third is their record for most combined points in a final game (185) in a 93-92 loss to Northbridge in 1978.

Bartlett has won the Clark Tournament 7 times (73, 74, 79, 80, 81, 86, 06), Shepherd Hill won in 1975 and 1976, and Oxford last won in 1949.

More Clark Talk: All three of the locals are in the running this year and have a chance. An ideal scenario in the small schools division could pit Bartlett vs. Oxford in the finals. When the two teams met earlier this year, Oxford upset Bartlett 48-38 in a game that saw The Pirates’ Donny Freeland shine defensively in his assignment against The Indians’ Nick Kobel.

 “Donny is a great defender, he played me really well in that game. I have a lot of respect for him,” said Kobel when asked about the match-up. He also said that he would love to play the Pirates again.

However, Bartlett Coach Tony Paranto is not looking past first round opponent North Brookfield.  Although he has not seen them play in person, he does know a lot about them through scouting.  “They play in a different conference against a more independent schedule. Their record is good at 12-5. Then again, when you get to Clark, it doesn’t matter what your record is or who you play.”
 
Bartlett senior co-captain DJ Kirby-Thomas is excited to be heading to Worcester next weekend. “The Clark Tournament has a great atmosphere to be at, I love being there, and we greatly appreciate that we are going to be back this year.”
 
Shepherd Hill Girls Hoop: The Shepherd Hill Girls Basketball squad had a great season with a 14-3 overall record at press time.  Meghan Fornoro has been the leading girls’ scorer in Central Mass all season and is the crème of the crop with an amazing 21.9 scoring average.  The Rams are in a good position to do some damage in the district playoffs.

Left: Bartlett Girls Hoopsters

BHS Girls Hoop: Despite have a rough campaign this season, the Bartlett girls definitely had some bright spots and their future looks good. They will be losing star player Lindsay Bond, who led the team all season long, but they have some young players that could help the team down the road.

Freshman Lindsay Finkel, who plays a tough, aggressive brand of basketball and eighth graders Olivia Mandeville and Katie Kobel are poised to step up and make heavy contributions in years to come.

Oxford Girls shine at Districts:  Juniors Emily Dawidczyk and Jordan Orrell, who both have been on top of their game in track all season, were outstanding at the Central Mass districts this past Saturday in Fitchburg. Dawidczyk took the 55-meter hurdles (8.64) and Jordan Orrell won the 300 meters for the Pirates.

Boys Division 2 District Results: Bartlett’s Arthur Hackenson finished third overall in the shot. Bartlett’s Nikita Truhanovitch finished second in the 55 meter hurdles, while Oxford’s Andrew St. Germain came in fourth overall. Bartlett’sRocco DiStefano finished third in the 55 meter dash.

Girls Division 1 District Results (Shepherd Hill):Stella Worters finished third in the two-mile run.Leonard Harmon finished third in 600 meter run.Daniel Stomski finished second in 1000 meter run.

Finally, congrats to Nick Kobel on a great feat: Reaching 1000 in a Bartlett uniform.

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