Help On Way For Ledyard Basketball

It was a season to forget for the Ledyard High boys' basketball team.

The Colonels posted a 1-19 record, beating only tiny Wheeler of North Stonington. The coach, Jeff Brown, resigned with six games left to play. In only one game did the Colonels crack the 55-point mark.

Basketball has always taken a back seat during the winter scholastic athletic season to wrestling at Ledyard, but the Colonels were not always a hoop doormat. Pete Vincent, the current athletic director, coached Ledyard to a 15-5 regular season in 2002-03, 14-6 in 2004-o5 and several state tournaments in his coaching tenure.

Better days may soon follow. The Ledyard Middle School boys' team recently completed a 9-2 season behind a talented nucleus of six eighth-graders for fourth-year coach Mark Blask.

"This group has played a lot of basketball together in AAU and town leagues," Blask said. "It was clearly my best team here, a nice group to coach and one with a lot of talent. We averaged close to 60 points a game in a fast-paced tempo. We pressed full-court, used half-court traps and dictated the pace."

The Thomas twins, 5-foot-11 shooting swingman Phyllip Thomas and 5-8 point guard River Thomas, led the way. Fraternal twins, the Thomases are different sizes with different games. Phyllip averaged 18 points a game, and River tossed in about 15 per game.

"Two totally different styles," Blask said. "Phyllip is a tremendous shooter with three-point range and he handles the ball very well. River is a true point guard and very active defensively. His defense changes the pace of games. I would say both have great potential to be all-star caliber players at the next level."

The Thomas twins were integral members of the Ledyard Senior Colonel youth football team that reached the Southern New England Youth Football Conference Super Bowl. So if their family chooses to send them to Ledyard High, the Colonels will be getting multi-sport standouts.

Other starting regulars in the rotation were guard Michael Booth, 6-foot center Paul Bossardet and 5-9 forward Kevin Ma.

"Michael is a nice all-around guard," Blask said. "Paul is a good rebounder, very physical and commands a lot of attention in the middle, drawing defenses away from Phyllip on the perimeter. Kevin is very physical, kind of like Kurt Rambis was with the Showtime Laker teams in the '80s. He came on throughout the season."

Michael McDowell, another key Ledyard Senior football player, was a consistent contributor as the sixth man.

Ledyard opened the season with an impressive championship at the Kelly (Norwich) Middle School Tournament, winning by 30 to 40 point margins in three games. The team bested all competition from Pawcatuck, Groton, Montville and Waterford until losing by 10 at Bennie Dover Middle School in New London. They lost their final, 65-64, on a last-second three-pointer to Mystic Middle School.

"I would have loved to play New London in our gym, but we didn't have a home-and-home situation," Blask said. "We were that close from going 10-1 until that buzzer beater at Mystic. Still, it was a very cool season."