Stamford rolls over Westhill behind transfer Constant

STAMFORD — Waiting was the hardest part for Rasheed Constant.

After transferring from Trinity Catholic to Stamford High, Constant had to sit the first 10 games of the season before he could get on the court in a game.

He has been practicing with the team but pulling on the uniform and hearing his name called as he entered the court as a substitute in the first quarter, Constant felt like he was playing his first varsity game all over again, with butterflies in his stomach and all.

“It was a long wait. I have been working hard in practice just waiting for this day to come,” Constant said. “I’m not going to lie, I was kind of nervous but I got adjusted to it and helped my team get the lead and win the game.”

Constant scored 12 points in his Black Knights debut as Stamford defeated Westhill 68-52.

The win also gave Stamford the trophy in the inaugural Stamford NAACP MLK Basketball Classic.

The Stamford girls beat 1 Stamford girls topple Westhill, 5B Westhill earlier in the day and there was a Unified Sports contest in between the two varsity games.

Westhill (3-8, 1-6 FCIAC) played well most of the game, but when Stamford turned up the defensive pressure in the third quarter, the Vikings wilted, allowing a 14-0 run and going from up by one to down by 13 in just under two minutes.

“It is very frustrating when we are constantly turning the ball over, with no pressure. That’s been our Achilles’ heel all season and it’s been killing us all year long,” Westhill coach Howard White said. “Turnovers after turnovers after turnovers, for no apparent reason. Nothing against Stamford and nothing against their press but we just started giving the ball away. Five turnovers turned into 11 points, quickly. That took us out because we were playing good basketball up until then.”

The Vikings trailed by one at the half before the third-quarter meltdown.

Eli Stockman scored a game-high 24 points for Westhill.

Stamford (5-6, 3-4 FCIAC) did not let Westhill back in the game after the third-quarter run.

Along with Constant, Stamford had three other players in double figures scoring with Jay Jaudon putting in 11, Jaden Bell 13 and Josh Thervil with a team-high 14.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Rasheed Constant, Stamford. Constant not only scored 12, he created turnovers in the press and hit the glass hard for the Black Knights, allowing coach Zach Smith to stretch his bench a little further.

QUOTABLE

“Rasheed is 5-10 but he plays like he is 6-2 and getting him back helped us rebounding tonight,” Smith said. “(Constant) is a very good athlete. He helps us do what we want to do which is speed teams up and make them make bad decisions. When he’s out there, he can cover a lot of ground. He makes us faster and enhances what we do.”