Bulldog boys rebound from “speed bumps”
Even the best teams come across bumps in the road over the course of a basketball season.
The key is recovering before those bumps become a season-stalling skid.
The key is recovering before those bumps become a season-stalling skid.
The Centennial boys basketball team seems to have mastered that skill this season. The Bulldogs lost two in a row in January but closed the regular season with seven consecutive victories.
That earned Centennial (22-4) the Northwest League’s No. 1 playoff seed, and the Bulldogs host Western (21-7) in the Sunset Region quarterfinals at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“I told them we were going to hit some speed bumps, but through thick and thin, you’ve got to stick together,” Centennial coach Todd Allen said.
A year ago the Bulldogs didn’t respond well to those bumps. They started the season 11-1, then lost six consecutive league games and ended up missing the playoffs. So when Centennial lost back-to-back games to Palo Verde and Legacy, Allen concedes he got a little nervous.
“When we lost two in a row, we were kind of like, uh-oh, is it going to happen again?” Allen said. “But it’s (what’s) inside these kids. They’ve got heart. They’ve got character.”
Senior point guard Aaseem Dixon said the team underestimated opponents last season after its hot start.
“This year, we’re not doing that,” Dixon said. “We’re staying on top, keeping our heads on straight and playing our game and just letting everything flow.”
Allen attributed much of his team’s success to Dixon, who averages 15.9 points and 5.5 assists.
“Aaseem is just a gamer,” Allen said. “He’s so competitive, and he makes all these guys better. And he’s really rubbing off on these guys. They’re a special group, and they want something together.”
The team has showed off its balance late in the season. Sophomore Marcus Allen averages 11.3 points, and four other players average from six to nine.
Reserve guard Joe Marshall is almost as likely to lead the team in scoring on a given night as Dixon is.
“Our chemistry is pretty good this year, better than I’ve ever seen,” Dixon said. “And we don’t really care who scores as long as we get the win.”
Keeping the other team from scoring has been just as important as offensive balance. The Bulldogs have allowed more than 57 points just once since December.
“They’re starting to see what they can do if they buy in defensively,” Todd Allen said. “You can have a bad shooting night. As long as we don’t have a bad defensive night, we’re going to be in games.”
