By Liam Reilly
@liampreilly852
The Springfield Central High School Boys basketball team have been off to a hot start on the season. The Golden Eagles have an 8-2 record on the year, and are sitting in first place overall of the Valley League.
Winning is engraved in the team’s culture at Springfield Central, and head coach Bill Watson recognizes that wins are everything for the Golden Eagles.
“Our standards are very high for Central, so we want to win all the time,” Watson said. “When teams play us, it’s a game that they circle. They play us like it’s a championship game, and that helps us get better, be accountable and be honest with each other.”
The team is coming off of two successful years under Watson. In 2022 Springfield Central had a deep run in the State Division I Tournament that saw them reach the semifinals, and in 2023 they made it to the round of 16.
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The Golden Eagles played two games at the 2024 Spalding Hoophall Classic – one on Thursday night against fellow Springfield school Putnam Vocational High and the other Friday night versus St. Raymond High School.
In their duel with Putnam, Springfield Central started off the game in sloppy fashion as Andrew Mabry cashed in the opening possession for Putnam and was sent to the line after stealing an inbound pass that bounced off his leg.
Turnover trouble continued in the first half of quarter one for the Golden Eagles, as dropped passes and poor ball-handling gave the Beavers the early lead. Springfield Central clawed their way back through their fast pace offense and ended the first half up 32-29.
The third quarter played out similar to the beginning of the game as Putnam took advantage of more Springfield Central turnovers to build a 38-35 lead. But a Zavion Monroe three knotted the game at 45.
Monroe has been the team’s sharpshooter this season.
The senior has averaged 12.1 points-per-game and cashed in 18 threes this year. Ironically enough, Monroe started out his high school career with Springfield Central, however he transferred to Putnam his sophomore year before coming back to the Golden Eagles for his junior year.
“It’s great to have him back, I think he’s one of the best players in the area,” Watson said. “He’s an efficient scorer that has the ability to shoot from three, he gets rebounds and plays defense, he’s the total package.”
Monroe’s credits his fearless shooting to his mother and teammates.
“She always tells me to do what I have to do,” Monroe said. “Whenever my teammates help me do what I got to do, I want to do the same for them.”
The battle of Springfield continued to provide entertainment in the fourth quarter as both teams were neck and neck with each other. Poor ball control from the Golden Eagles generated a 71-63 lead for the Beavers. Back-to-back layups from Calvin Godbolt brought Springfield Central down three, but Andrew Mabry iced the game with two free throws.
Monroe left the game late in the fourth quarter due to a leg injury. Not being able to finish the game against his former school left the junior upset.
“I was mad,” Monroe said. “It was a close game against the old school I used to play at. I wanted it so bad.”
Springfield Central’s offensive woes continued against St. Raymond where sloppy rebounding led to the Golden Eagles being shut out for most of the first quarter. Monroe provided the team’s first points after laying in two free throws.
Stellar defense couldn’t last forever for Springfield Central, as St. Raymond created a 26-14 lead. The Golden Eagles ended the half with a 15 point deficit.
Springfield Central refused to go down without a fight. Slowly chipping away at the Ravens lead through an electric third quarter performance from Monroe, the Golden Eagles had found their spark. Monroe banked in the game-tying three, making the score 46-46.
Some teams give in and quit when down 15 at halftime, but the Golden Eagles didn’t fall into that trap. Monroe credited the team’s ability to keep their high energy flowing to his coaches.
“Our coaches get us into the game, give us the energy, and he talks into us and we get it,” Monroe said.
Unfortunately the team’s energy didn’t carry into the fourth quarter. St. Raymond slowly started to pull away, winning the game 72-62. Watson spoke on how the team can work on keeping the game close.
“We put so much energy into coming back and sometimes when you get close you need a second to regroup,” Watson said. “When you regroup, the other team goes on a run. We need to create and work on our depth a little more and need to have effective minutes off the bench. I gotta coach these guys up better and get them ready to come out and perform at that level.”
Coaching isn’t Watson’s sole focus at Hoophall, as his daughter Jada Watson played early Friday against Hamden High School. Watson is excited to see her dawn the black and gold.
“I’m proud of her and happy seeing her out there competing,” Watson said. “She doesn’t look overwhelmed, she’s poised, and she’s playing well. Being able to teach her parts of the game is what I love about sports the most.”
Springfield Central will start a three game home stretch, two of those being against Northampton, the only team’s loss prior to today. When looking forward to the rest of the regular season, Watson is focused on getting the team to where they need to be.
“I’m not judging us about the team we are today, because we’re not near where we need to be to compete for a state championship,” Watsons said. “I’m so locked into trying to get better and teaching all the things I need to teach so we’re clicking at the end.”
Photo by Patrick Fergus/The Student