GREENWICH — Monday’s matchup between NEPSAC hockey rivals Brunswick School and Hotchkiss School including outstanding saves, numerous scoring chances and a lot of near misses.

And with the way both teams battled against each other for 59 highly intense minutes, it wasn’t a surprise that neither team left the ice with the upper hand.

Senior forward Charles Shaffer tallied twice for Brunswick, while Greenwich native Alex Mozian posted two goals for Hotchiss in a back-and-forth 2-2 overtime tie at Hartong Rink.

Brunswick is 5-6-4 following the tie, while Hotckiss’ record stands at 6-3-1.

“It’s another New England Prep School hockey game,” Bruins coach Michael Kennedy. “Every team out there is good and every game has been a battle. The result is a little bit disappointing, heading into overtime with the power play and not getting it done. But we’ve got to keep pushing forward.”

The game was a homecoming of sorts for Mozian, who is doing a postgraduate year at Hotchkiss. Mozian, a 2018 Greenwich High graduate, starred at forward for the Cardinals ice hockey team the past four seasons and was looking forward to an opportunity to play at Hartong Rink.

“It’s good to be back in Greenwich,” Mozian said. “Growing up watching Brunswick play, I always wanted to be here and score a goal. But it just so happened that it came with another team.”

The Bruins registered 36 shots on goal and received 28 saves from senior goalie Dan Dachille. The Bearcats, meanwhile, got 34 saves from netminder Henry Wilder, a junior.

The home team claimed a 1-0 edge when Shaffer received a pass at the doorstep and one-timed a shot past Wilder at the 16:42 mark of the first period. Junior Henry Foster and sophomore Ryan St. Louis each assisted on Shaffer’s tally.

The visitors evened the score at 1-1 when Mozian converted a shot from the right faceoff circle 1:05 into the second period. Junior defenseman Jack Ferguson moved the puck to Mozian, who did what he accomplished so many times for Greenwich High School — light the lamp.

“They scored first and we needed to respond,” Mozian said. “My teammates set me up well for the goal. Our team is playing well so far this season and we have a lot of potential.”

The Bearcats went ahead 2-1 on Mozian’s second goal at the 15:09 mark of the second period — a play that saw the visitors finish a rush up the ice.

Shaffer notched the equalizer with 8:49 to go in the second period, beating Wilder to his glove side with a wrister from the left faceoff circle.

“We are in the second half of the season, so we have to build on this game,” Shaffer said. “We were flying all over the place and hopefully, we can win our next 11 games.”

Sophomore forward Matthew McGroarty and sophomore forward Matt Davey set up Shaffer’s second tally. Throughout the remainder of the third period, both teams threatened to score, but both goalies rose to the challenge.

Quinn Carlisle and Mozian tested Dachille several times in the final period and overtime, while Cooper Moore, Henry Hill and Shaffer came close to scoring for the Bruins.

“Both teams received great goaltending and had chances to win down the stretch and the goalies both came up big,” Kennedy said. “We heard about Hotchkiss being a big, physical team; they played a hard game, but I thought we matched them and played a physical game in our own right.”

Said Shaffer: “In prep hockey you can’t take 30 seconds off, every time you are on the ice you have to battle like we did tonight. If we play complete games, we’ll have success the second half of the season.”

dfierro@greenwichtime.com

BRUNSWICK 2, HOTCHKISS 2

HOTCHKISS 0 2 0 0 — 2

BRUNSWICK 1 1 0 0 — 2

Records: Hotchkiss 6-3-1; Brunswick 5-6-4; Goals: H — Alex Mozian 2; B — Charles Shaffer 2; Assists: H — Jack Ferguson; B — Henry Foster, Ryan St. Louis, Paul Davey, Matthew McGroarty; Goalies: H — Henry Wilder (34 saves); B — Dan Dachille (28 saves)

dfierro@greenwichtime.com

NORWALK — Artistry was not the word of the evening when the Westhill High School and Norwalk High School boys basketball teams tussled Monday night at the Bears’ Tom Scarso gym.

Choppy, physical and relentless were perhaps the better words to describe Norwalk’s 51-44 home triumph over Westhill. It was the Bears’ first FCIAC victory of the season.

“We didn’t have a good first half. I think we scored 10 points in the opening 13 1/2 minutes,” said Norwalk coach Matt Whelan. “We had no good looks at the basket. We were sloppy.”

SECOND HALF CHANGE FOR NORWALK

Norwalk trailed 16-14 at halftime. The Bears were receptive to change.

Norwalk (2-4, 1-2 FCIAC) decided to press Westhill’s guards. The result were transition opportunities.

The pressure combined with Westhill’s leading scorer Eli Stockman going to the bench after tweaking his knee became an 8-0 Norwalk surge and a 24-21 NHS edge midway through the third quarter.

Norwalk spent much of the first half settling for jumpers over a packed-in Westhill zone.

The second half the Bears spread out in the halfcourt set. They had senior Zyaire Sellers, freshman Mysonne Pollard and junior Jamal Boyd take turns in isolation driving to the basket.

Even when Norwalk missed, the trio drew fouls. NHS finished the night 11 of 24 on free throws including 7 of 18 in the second half.

The parade of fouls saw Westhill’s Jack Schlachtenhaufen foul out with 3:57 to play. Cameron Blake fouled out with 2:52 to go.

Sellers had nine of his 13 points in the second half while the lefty Pollard had 10 of his 12 after intermission.

“In the long term, we need to be able to move better without the ball,” NHS’ Whalen said. “But Pollard and Sellers are good athletes who can get to the basket.”

Norwalk led 39-31 with 4:40 left on Dylan Polka’s 3-pointer. The cushion proved too much for Westhill.

BACK TO DRAWING BOARD FOR WESTHILL

Westhill (3-4, 1-2 FCIAC) had no 3-pointers in the contest and were just 6 of 12 from the line.

Stockman (13 points) and tall freshman Craig Ottaviano (eight points) cashed in often on the offensive glass.

But the Vikings, who used 15 players in all, missed offensive opportunities in the first half. They never imposed their will defensively after intermission.

“We got away from our game plan. We tried to play up and down the court with Norwalk. We tried to do too much one-on-one on offense,” Westhill’s coach Howard White said. “I could tell that Eli (Stockman) wasn’t 100 percent after getting banged so we were cautious with him in the second half.”

White was still frustrated after the contest after his long talk with his young Vikings.

“Team wise there are things we have to fix,” White said. “Things are going to change. We have guys who need to produce more. There’s no time to sit back and wait for improvement in the FCIAC. We need to find kids who are producers.”

NORWALK 51, WESTHILL 44

WESTHILL 9 7 11 17—44

NORWALK 5 9 16 21—51

WESTHILL (3-4, 1-2 FCIAC)

Eli Stockman 5 3-4 13 JeySon Slade 3 0-1 6 Jack Schlachtenhaufen 3 1-2 7 Wilmer Guevara 2 0-0 4 Nick Lappas 0 0-0 0 Sergio Thermidor 2 0-0 4 AJ Laccona 0 0-0 0 Brian Martin 1 0-0 2 Anthony Scott 0 0-0 0 Nate Yaghoubian 0 0-0 0 Alex Papademetriou 0 0-0 0 Cameron Blake 0 0-0 0 Conner Rondano 0 0-0 0 Rob Smeriglio 0 0-0 0 Craig Ottaviano 3 2-5 8. Totals: 19 6-12 44.

NORWALK (2-4, 1-2 FCIAC)

Deondre Bullock 0 0-0 0 Jadyn Grant 1 3-5 5 Zyaire Sellers 4 5-8 13 Dylan Polka 2 0-0 5 Aaron Epps 1 0-0 2 Jamal Boyd 2 0-0 4 Cam Edwards 0 0-0 0 Jahmai Green 3 0-0 7 Rudmayer Roberts 1 1-2 3 Mysonne Pollard 5 2-9 12. Totals: 19 11-24 51.

3-Pointers: N—Polka, Green.

WEST HAVEN — Wilbur Cross girls basketball coach Tyrees Thomas has plenty of belief in his team. So much so, he did not think of using a timeout early in the second quarter with his team trailing cross-town rival Hillhouse by 14 points.

The Governors rewarded their coach. Chipping away and closing the second quarter on a 23-7 run, Cross rallied to defeat Hillhouse 52-45 in a Southern Connecticut Conference Housatonic Division contest Monday evening at Hillhouse High.

“We picked it up and went to a full court man to man,” Thomas said. “We wanted to make it a speed game. We wanted to get our girls moving. We picked our level of play up and made plays.”

Sophomore April Artis, who had a game-high 21 points, got the Governors going in the run with the first six points, before baskets by Anaija Ricks and Kandie Everette had the Governors within striking distance at 24-16.

After one quarter. Hillhouse leads Cross 18-6 #ctgb pic.twitter.com/sz4FcttNqW

— Mike Madera (@MikeMadera2) January 7, 2019

With the Cross faithful now into the contest. Cross (6-2) never let up in the second quarter. A bucket by Jade Hill and a 3-pointer by Dejah Middleton got the Governors within four points, before another 3-pointer by Artis had Cross within 26-25.

A free throw by Tyree Allen Chappell gave Hillhouse a two-point lead, before a steal and bucket by Artis, and a basket by Rayne Durant closed out the first half with a 29-27 Cross advantage.

“They got a lot of second chance points,” Hillhouse coach Catrina Hawley-Stewart said. “That should not happen. We ran our offense, but we did not secure the ball.”

With Hillhouse on top by three points following a basket by Shaniya Butler, Cross went on a 6-0 run, with Artis scoring four of the points. Cross never trailed again.

Ricks, who finished with 14 points, gave her team a six point lead early in the fourth quarter, before a free throw by Hillhouse’s Fatihah Singleton got the Academics as close as they would get the rest of the way at 44-41.

“We came out nervous as a team, but once Coach (Thomas) gave us our motivational talk, we just did our thing,” Ricks said. “I think it is a respect thing. Cross has always been the underdog team. I think we showed we are a good team. We are playing top teams.”

Halftime. Cross leads Hillhouse 29-27 #ctgb pic.twitter.com/YfqwQ4NRQ9

— Mike Madera (@MikeMadera2) January 7, 2019

After a bucket by Ricks with 2:45 remaining gave Cross a 47-41 lead, the rest of the points came from the free throw line until a last second bucket by the Academics.

“When you are playing a city rival, it is always going to be a tough game,” Thomas said. “We want to prove we are one of the best teams in the area. We got back in this game with defense and hard work. We played lock down defense.”

The Academics (5-2) opened the game in impressive fashion, taking an 18-6 lead after one quarter. Hillhouse ran the court and closed the quarter on a 13-4 run, led by a 3-pointer from Ciara Little and a pair of buckets from Butler.

When Little recorded a steal and finished the sequence with a bucket, Hillhouse held an 18-6 lead. Tanayja London led Hillhouse with 16 points.

Player of the Game

April Artis — Cross sophomore led the way with a game-high 21 points.

Quotable

“I think it is a respect thing. Cross has always been the underdog team. I think we showed we are a good team. We are playing top teams.”

— Cross senior Anaija Ricks

MIDDLETOWN — Middletown was looking for a shot of confidence Monday night after losing four of its first five games of the season against some of the state’s top teams.

The Blue Dragons chipped away at Platt’s double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, getting within seven with 1:23 left, but they couldn’t come all the way back in a 79-67 CCC South-Colonial Division loss at LaBella-Sullivan Gymnasium.

Jamarius Russell led Middletown (1-5, 1-2 division) with 19 points. Jonathan Nkonoki added 15 and Tejan Lanser scored 12 points.

The guard-heavy lineups of Middletown and Platt made for an up-and-down game throughout the night. The Blue Dragons struggled from the perimeter and Platt’s transition game and second-chance baskets tipped the scales for the Panthers.

Guard Romello Leary scored 14 of his game-high 22 points in the second half for Platt. Tre Carter and Malcolm Andrews finished with 19 points each.

“They pushed the ball up the floor and they attacked the rim, and I thought we could have done a better job of stopping them from getting all the way to the hoop,” Middletown coach Rick Privott said.

Tied at 23 late in the second quarter, Platt hit Middletown with an 11-0 run to help take a 37-25 lead at the half.

At one point, Privott had three freshmen on the floor.

“With the youngsters that we have, falling behind at the half, our biggest job was to get them to understand that the game was not over,” the coach said. “It’s like they got deflated. Their body language, was, ‘we’ve lost.’

“And you have to coach through it and they have to learn that they need to play with that same intensity all the way to the end. Under control, of course.

“Again, it’s a learning process. I thought (the freshmen) played well enough to earn additional minutes.”

Platt (6-2 overall, 3-0 in the Colonial) came out firing in the second half, with Adriel Gill knocking down a 3-pointer in the opening seconds to push the lead to 15.

Middletown was able to cut the deficit to eight at 48-41 when Nkonoki scored on a drive to the basket and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but got his own rebound and put it back.

Platt’s transition game, as was the case throughout, never let up. The Panthers were able to steer their lead back to 10 as the third-quarter ended — although the Panthers were called for a foul on Nkonoki’s heave from just past half-court as the buzzer sounded.

The sophomore, however, missed all three free-throw attempts, another example of the Dragons’ inability to sustain a run.

Middletown trailed by as many as 13 points with about four minutes left before mounting its rally.

Russell hit a runner along the baseline, scored again in transition after a Platt turnover, and Nkonoki also scored in the paint to get Middletown within 69-62 with 2:46 to go.

But Carter finished a fierce drive with a layup, and after the Dragons missed two shots on their next possession, the Panthers got a second-chance bucket to bring their lead back to 11 inside of two minutes remaining.

“We played well in spurts,” Platt coach Shawon Moncrief said. “We match up well with Middletown. We don’t have a true big man and they don’t, either. We both play classic, similar styles and we both have a lot of young guys.

“Middletown plays hard and felt their record was not an indication of how hard they would be playing tonight.”

Middletown’s early-season struggles include road losses to East Catholic, ranked second in this week’s GameTimeCT Top 10 poll, No. 4 Bassick. The Blue Dragons visit Bridgeport Central on Wednesday before returning home for a Friday night game against No. 9 East Hartford.

“Platt is a very good, athletic team,” Privott said. “It’s tough to play from behind. Our foul shooting didn’t help us either. We’re just going to have to practice it and continue to get the guys to learn basketball instincts.”

After suffering a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss against Northwest Catholic on Saturday, the New Canaan boys ice hockey team was in need of a little morale boost.

The Rams found it in the form of a 4-0 shutout win over the St. Joseph Cadets Monday night at the Darien Ice House.

New Canaan scored once in each of the first two periods, including a short-handed goal from senior forward Campbell Lewis, and added two goals in the last period.

“It was definitely great,” Lewis said. “Our morale was definitely low after the last game, and we knew we had to come out and put up a few goals to win this game. Everyone’s happy right now.”

“We’re focusing right now on the details or how we can generate more offense from our own zone,” New Canaan head coach Clark Jones said. “We’re getting clean outs and we’re attacking the neutral zone with speed. There were times we saw that tonight. And our kids played hard.”

The game was the first official FCIAC contest for both teams, as the league schedule is getting underway this week. New Canaan is now 4-4 overall, while St. Joe’s dropped to 0-8.

“Our goaltending has been very solid and we’re working on our morale,” Cadets head coach Eddy LeMaire said. “We’ve got to work on situational play. Our passing is not good, so we’ve got to be better at that. We’ve got to keep the morale at a high level because we’ve got a tough schedule this year.”

It was the second meeting of the season between the two teams, as the Rams won an 8-0 game against the Cadets two weeks ago.

As was the case in the first game, New Canaan generated a plethora of shots on Monday, but thanks to the solid play of St. Joseph’s senior goalie Will Brady (38 saves), the scoring total was cut in half.

“Their goalie is very good,” Lewis said. “He blocked a lot of shots and we had a lot of opportunities, but he put on a heck of a show. We had fewer goals (than the first game) but we worked hard and got the win.”

The Rams had a big showing from senior co-captain Gunnar Granito, who bookended the game with the first and last goals. He also set up sophomore Griffin Deane for a third-period goal.

On defense, New Canaan’s senior goalie Dylan Shane made 20 saves for the shutout, and the Rams skated six defensemen: Senior co-captains Shane Pickering, Walker Ker and Turner Ives, along with juniors Bennett Ong, Justin Wietfeldt and Eric Wills.

“From a defensive standpoint, we played well,” Jones said. “We’ve been working on managing risk, which killed us in the last game (against Northwest Catholic) and has hurt us a few times this year. You have to make sure the risk-reward is in your favor if you’re going to take a chance. They did a good job of that tonight.”

The Cadets were dealing with a short roster, as three players — two captains and starting defenseman — were sidelined with injuries from Saturday’s 5-1 loss against Watertown/Pomperaug.

St. Joe’s had fine play from some younger players, including junior James McLaughlin, sophomore AJ Gerace and freshman Trevor Kellogg on defense.

“A lot of young kids stepped up, filled in holes and did a great job,” LeMaire said. “That says a lot for our JV program and the young talent coming up.”

New Canaan outshot St. Joseph 18-8 in the opening stanza, but the Rams came away with just one goal thanks to the play of Brady in the net.

Granito scored that goal unassisted when he won a faceoff in the right circle, stepped forward and wristed the puck just under the crossbar with 3:42 on the clock.

New Canaan then had penalty problems with two late in the first period and three in the second, but Shane and the defense kept the Cadets off the scoreboard.

The Rams actually doubled their advantage while on the penalty kill, as the persistent Lewis took advantage of a loose puck and a rare miscue by Brady to score a shorty 28 seconds into the second period.

“I was exhausted,” Lewis said. “Our defense just fired it down the ice and I used every last bit of energy I had. The goalie just whiffed on it and it popped in front of the net, so I just banged it in.”

“Our kids worked hard,” Jones said. “Campbell Lewis stood out as far as his work ethic goes and he scored that short-handed goal. We need that consistently from everyone every game.”

Brady, meanwhile, bounced back and shut out New Canaan for the remainder of the period.

“What I liked was his recovery,” LeMaire said. “He had that one hiccup and then he stopped another 10 shots in a row.”

The Rams made it 3-0 midway through the third period when Granito slipped a pass in front to Deane, who one-timed the puck into the net. Granito’s empty-netter with 22 seconds remaining was the final goal.

“We haven’t scored first a whole lot, so from a game management standpoint that’s big.” Jones said. “We did score the first goal against Northwest Catholic and them immediately gave up another. After we scored first tonight, we worked on managing the game and even though we didn’t put the puck in the net and we had a ton of chances, they managed the game well.”

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Gunnar Granito, New Canaan. The Rams’ senior co-captain had a hand in three of the team’s four goals, starting the scoring with an unassisted tally in the first period. He also assisted on New Canaan’s third goal before ending the game with an empty-net goal.

QUOTABLE

“Going into it, we knew we were the better team so we tried to stick to the basics. We’ve been working on speaking because on the ice, it’s been very quiet. So we worked on speaking, cycling the puck, and doing the simple things, which is what helped us win. Communication was key.” — New Canaan senior forward Campbell Lewis

New Canaan 4, St. Joseph 0

St. Joseph 0 0 0 – 0

New Canaan 1 1 2 4

First Period: NC – Gunnar Granito, 11:18

Second Period: NC – Campbell Lewis (Gavin Reid), short-handed, 0:28

Third Period: NC – Griffin Deane (Granito, Boden Gammill), 7:58; NC – Gunnar Granito, empty net, 14:38

Goalies: SJ – Will Brady 36 saves; NC – Dylan Shane 18 saves

Shots: SJ 18; NC 40

RIDGEFIELD — In order to pick up its point production, the Danbury girls basketball team needed to slow down its offense.

“For the first three quarters I kept telling our players that they couldn’t dribble through five people,” Danbury coach Jackie DiNardo said following her team’s 44-36 road win over Ridgefield on Monday night. “Once we started setting up our offense in the fourth quarter we got baskets.”

The outcome kept the two teams going full-speed ahead in different directions. Danbury has now won six straight games to raise its record to 6-3. Ridgefield, meanwhile, lost for the fourth straight time and is now 3-5 this season.

After trailing for two-and-a-half quarters, Danbury closed the third with a 6-0 run that produced a 29-29 tie heading into the final eight minutes. Ty’Lynn Ith’s 3-pointer gave the Hatters their first lead of the game, at 32-29, with 5:55 remaining, and the visitors stayed in front from there.

Kate Garson’s transition basket on a nice pass from Sabrina Grizzaffi got Ridgefield within one, but Danbury scored eight unanswered points to go ahead 40-31 with 55.1 seconds left.

“That’s been our season in a nutshell,” Ridgefield coach Tom DiMarzo said. “I can’t fault our effort or our defense, but you can’t expect to get held under 40 points and win. At some point you need to start making shots.”

The Tigers generated enough offense to open several leads of five or more points in the first two quarters. Despite a host of missed shots and turnovers, Danbury was able to take advantage of Ridgefield’s scoring lapses and keep the game close.

One instance came in the latter part of the second quarter. When Kate Wagner hit a 3-pointer to cap a 9-2 run, Ridgefield had a 22-15 lead with 1:35 left before halftime. But Danbury scored the next four points to pull within 22-19 at the break.

“We weren’t playing well, but we did enough to hang around,” DiNardo said. “I was happy that we were able to keep coming back.”

The pattern continued in the third quarter. After five straight points from Garson put the Tigers ahead 29-22 midway through the quarter, Danbury embarked on a 7-0 run that ended with Kianna Perry’s basket and a 29-29 tie.

Ith then hit her 3-pointer to give the Hatters the lead, and Ridgefield’s offense was unable to come up with an answer.

“We’re out of synch, and I think we’ve lost some confidence,” DiMarzo said. “We’re not going to pack it in and give up, but it’s on me to try and figure out why we are having so much trouble scoring.”

NOTES: Perry finished with a game-high 12 points for Danbury. Ith added 11 points and Susana Almeida had eight points (six on free throws in the final quarter). … Garson led with Ridgefield with eight points. Wagner and Grizzaffi each added seven points (all in the first half), and Norah McNeece and Flynn had four points apiece.

DANBURY 44, RIDGEFIELD 36

DANBURY     11 8 10 15 — 44
RIDGEFIELD  13 9 7 7 — 36

BOYS BASKETBALL

Hamden 56, Cheshire 55

Victor Rosario’s 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in the game led the Hamden boys basketball team to a 56-55 SCC win over Cheshire on Monday in Cheshire.

Rosario ended up with a game-high 22 points and Fabian Cox added 11.

Alec Frione led the Rams (2-4) with 17 points and Aidan Godfrey added 12.

Hamden (5-2-0)

Victor Rosario 6 3 1-2 22, Fabian Cox 4 1 0-0 11, Justice Washington 4 0 1-2 9, Heston Tucker 4 0 0-0 8, Jayvon Chapman 1 0 0-0 2, Jermaine Dennis 2 0 0-0 4

Cheshire (2-4-0)

Alec Frione 4 2 3-4 17, Ian Battipaglia 1 2 2-4 10, Aidan Godfrey 5 0 2-3 12, Eli Battipaglia 3 0 0-2 6, Colby Griffin 1 1 0-0 6, Shaan Vatti 1 0 1-2 3, Colby Hayes 1 0 0-0 2, Jason Smith 1 0 0-0 2

Stratford 66, Pomperaug 54

Joe August scored 17 points to lead Stratford to its SWC win. Jack Ryan dded 13 points and John Bike had 12 for Stratford (3-3). Dion Zhuta led Pomperaug with 18 points.

Pomperaug (0-3-0)

Dion Zhuta 6 0 2-5 18, Cam Collette 3 0 0-0 6, Michael Stirk 2 0 0-0 5, Dan Minchella 1 0 0-0 2, Jack Messina 2 0 1-3 6, Chase Breyer 5 0 1-2 13, James Ortale 2 0 0-0 4

Stratford (3-2-0)

Jack Ryan 6 0 1-1 13, Joe August 4 0 0-0 8, John Bike 5 0 0-0 12, Preston Williams 1 0 1-1 3, Zack Fedak 4 0 1-4 9, Jayquan Kirkland 1 0 0-0 2, Brady Knorr 0 0 2-2 2

Portland 62, North Branford 54

Portland (3-2-0)

Brett Thivierge 5 1 6-8 19, Josh Doering 7 1 5-7 21, Cam Latronica 3 0 0-0 6, Bryan Dinnis 4 0 0-0 8, Mason Piersall 0 0 2-4 2, Peter McNickle 2 0 0-0 4, DJ Hughes 1 0 0-0 2

North Branford (0-6-0)

Matt Cosgrove 0 0 4-4 4, Jordan Rosario 1 0 1-2 3, Trevor Holzer 1 0 0-2 3, Gary Robinson 1 0 1-1 1, Brett Fee 4 0 1-4 9, Mike Sitro 4 0 1-1 9, Ronny Longo 3 1 0-0 9, Dylan Martinik 2 1 2-3 9, Cam Dientima 1 0 0-0 2

Amity 60, North Haven 46

Mike Young had 16 points and Joe Benedetti added 15 to lead the Spartans to an SCC win. Tanner Thomas added 10 points for the Spartans.

North Haven (2-4)

Jaden Watson 8 4 0-0 20, Bryce Charney 0 0 2-2 2, Dave Christoforo 1 0 5-5 7, Josh Monk 1 0 0-0 2, Mike Collins 2 0 3-6 7, Justin Shea 2 0 4-4 8

Amity (3-1)

James Van Hise 3 0 2-2 8, Mike Young 5 1 5-5 16, Joe Benedetti 7 1 0-1 15, Joe Digelo 1 1 0-0 3, Cole Wissnick 1 0 3-6 5, Tanner Thomas 4 0 2-4 10, Sebastian Formica 0 0 1-2 1

Notre Dame-West Haven 63, Shelton 49

Trevon Setzer-Smith had 15 points and Zach Laput added 14 to lead the Green Knights to an SCC win.

Beni Carroll had 12 points and Jaiden Kimbro added 10 for the Green Knights (7-0). Brian Berritto and Peri Basimakopoulos had 13 points each for the Gaels (4-2).

Notre Dame-West Haven (7-0)

Jaiden Kimbro 4 0 1-3 10, Justin Covington 1 0 0-0 2, Zach Laput 5 0 3-3 14, Connor Raines 2 0 1-2 6, Trevon Setzer Smith 6 0 1-2 15, Bangaly Cherif 1 0 0-0 2, Eddie Zanor 1 0 0-0 2, Beni Carroll 6 0 0-0 12

Shelton (4-2)

Brian Berritto 6 0 1-4 13, Brian Belade 3 0 0-0 6, Peri Basimakopoulos 5 0 1-1 13, Martin Dominguez 1 0 4-4 6, Kevin Belden 1 0 0-0 3, Melvin Kolenovic 3 0 2-3 8

Guilford 68, Branford 38

Ian Slattery had 16 points and Colin Kellaher added 11 to lead the Indians (4-3) to an SCC win in Branford. Justin Elpi had 14 points for the Hornets (0-6).

Guilford (3-2)

Ryan Costanzo 4 0 0-0 8, Colin Kellaher 4 0 2-2 11, Ian Slattery 7 0 0-1 16, Brayden Stephens 2 0 1-2 5, John Petonito 1 0 0-0 3, Ethan Vashel 3 0 1-2 7, Michael Stebbins 1 0 0-0 2, Brayden SantaBarbara 1 0 0-0 3, Ben Panagoulias 3 0 0-0 6, Jack Stanton 2 0 0-0 4

Branford (0-6)

Justin Elpi 5 0 2-2 14, Aiden Jacobson 1 0 0-0 2, Cameron Holmes 3 0 2-4 8, Kevin Baxter 3 0 0-0 8, Dillon Sachs 1 0 0-0 2, Dom Bonano 1 0 0-2 2, Jack Van Gelder 0 0 2-2 2

Hand 39, Lyman Hall 38

Pierson Chapman had 11 points to lead the Tigers (5-2) to their SCC win in Wallingford. Cameron Regan had 12 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Trojans (1-5).

Hand (4-2)

Scott Testori 2 0 2-2 6, Josh Cabral 1 0 2-2 4, Pierson Chapman 4 0 0-0 11, Colin Telford 0 0 1-2 1, Ethan Haberman 3 0 2-2 8, Jason Wallack 0 0 3-4 3, Nick Donofrio 2 0 0-1 4, Jeremy Long 0 0 2-4 2

Lyman Hall (1-5)

Shakespeare Rodriguez 2 0 1-2 5, Austin Ruiz 2 0 2-2 6, Zach Ranney 3 0 1-2 7, Cameron Regan 4 0 4-5 12, Jack Vegliante 3 0 0-1 6, Lucas O’Reardon 1 0 0-0 2

Jonathan Law 70, East Haven 52

Diontae Eady had 30 points and Jon Vitale added 11 to lead the Eagles (6-0) to an SCC win in Milford.

Jon Vitale added 11 points and Garrett Tutlis chipped in 10 points for the Lawmen, while Nate Furino and Alias Ford reached double figures in scoring with 13 and 10 points, respectively, in the loss for the Yellow Jackets (3-3).

East Haven (3-3)

Hunter Santana 3 0 0-0 9, Alias Ford 3 0 4-4 10, Nate Furino 3 0 6-8 13, Ian Reynolds 1 0 0-0 3, Asaiah Ford 0 0 2-2 2, Shane Franklin 1 0 2-2 5, Nick Furino 4 0 1-4 9, Trey Garea 0 0 1-2 1

Jonathan Law (7-0)

Tyler McKenna-Hansen 2 0 0-2 4, Garrett Tutlis 4 0 0-0 10, Jon Vitale 5 0 0-0 11, Noah Tutlis 4 0 0-0 9, Diontae Eady 10 0 9-10 30, Antonio Brown 2 0 2-3 6.

Canterbury 75, Hamden Hall 65

Canterbury (1-0-0)

Hoch 4 2 2-2 16, Short 11 0 2-2 24, Campbell 2 2 0-0 10, Hyland 0 1 0-0 3, Massing 2 0 3-4 7, Powell 5 1 2-2 15

Hamden Hall (3-1-0)

Tim Dawson 1 3 1-2 12, Christian Adams 3 1 2-3 11, Jackson Benigni 4 1 4-5 15, Jahki Pettway 0 1 0-0 3, Byron Breland 6 2 6-6 24

BASSICK 89, HARDING 57

HARDING

Isaiah Hanley 0 1-4 1 Marcell Robinson 4 2-2 10 Xavier McBride 2 2-2 6 Amajee Williams 2 1-2 5 Shawn Allen 0 2-6 2 Ja’Harie Mack 3 0-2 6 Markis Christie 9 0-2 19 Qasim McKnight 4 0-1 8. Totals: 24 8-21 57.

BASSICK

Kevin Crawford 8 6-17 23 Giovanni Santiago 1 0-0 2 Jermaine Grant 2 1-3 5 Deandre Morgan 1 0-0 2 Julio De Los Santos 1 0-0 3 Javier Hernandez 2 2-2 7 Emery Linton 3 1-4 7 Jason Marrero 3 0-0 8 Rasheen Payne 1 1-2 4 Jordan Gallimore 5 1-2 12 Ricky Irby 2 0-0 6 Sincere Sullivan 2 3-6 8. Totals: 32 15-36 89.

HARDING  10 18 9 20—57
BASSICK  23 24 19 20—89

3-pointers: H—Christie; B—Marrero 2, Irby 2, Crawford, De Los Santos, Hernandez, Payne, Gallimore, Sullivan.

Technical fouls: B—Santiago 2, Crawford.

Highlights: B—Gallimore had 15 rebounds. Linton had 10 assists.

TRUMBULL 66, MCMAHON 63

MCMAHON

Peter Neglia 1 0-0 2 Justin Lebron 5 2-3 15 Saikwon Williams 10 4-8 24 Tsai Zoe 0 0-0 0 Jack Fitzpatrick 1 0-0 2 Justin Longo 2 0-0 6 Jajuan Wiggins 4 1-3 10 Mike Fuller 2 0-0 4. Totals: 25 7-14 63.

TRUMBULL

Mileeq Green 2 0-0 4 Lance Walsh 0 0-0 0 Chris Brown 8 2-2 19 Isaiah Johnson 0 0-0 0 JP Fromageot 1 0-0 2 Jack Therriault 1 0-0 3 TImmond Williams 4 6-9 16 Evan Gutkowski 5 2-3 12 Quentar Taylor 3 4-4 10. Totals: 24 14-18 66.

MCMAHON13 17 16 17—63
TRUMBULL16 12 16 22—66

3-pointers: M—Lebron 3, Longo 2, Wiggins; T—Williams 2, Therriault, Brown.

Fouled out: M—Fuller.

Technical fouls: T—Taylor.

Highlights: T—Gutkowski had 11 rebounds and three blocks. Brown had seven rebounds. Green had eight rebounds.

LUDLOWE 47, GREENWICH 42

LUDLOWE

James Bourque 5 2-2 13 Patrick Kilbride 2 0-0 5 Ian Bentley 0 0-0 0 Christian Peterson 1 4-4 6 Jeff Meyers 3 3-4 9 Jadyn Tabois 3 1-2 8 Rowan Keesser 0 0-0 0 Jake Northrop 0 0-0 0 Patrick Leverty 2 0-0 6 Chris Carlucci 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 10-12 47.

GREENWICH

Chris Genaro 4 2-3 11 Gavin Muir 0 0-2 0 Greg Altamore 4 5-5 14 Billy Nail 2 0-0 6 Oliver Milledge 5 2-7 12. Totals: 15 9-17 42.

LUDLOWE9 10 13 15—47
GREENWICH16 8 7 12—42

3-pointers: L—Leverty 2, Bourque, Kilbride, Tabois; G—Nail 2, Genaro, Altamore.

ST. JOSEPH 56, WARDE 52

ST. JOSEPH (5-1, 4-0 FCIAC)

Dan Tobin 5 1-2 12 Paul Fabbri 3 3-4 11 Tyler Dubose 0 0-0 0 Jason James 1 0-0 3 Steve Paolini 11 1-2 23 Brendan Kade 3 0-2 6 Glenn Manigault 1 0-0 3 Kyren Jones 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 4-10 56.

WARDE (4-2, 3-1)

Christian Homa 1 0-0 3 Jeff Seganos 3 0-0 8 Matt Becker 1 4-8 7 Brendan McMahon 6 0-0 15 Matt Houghton 4 1-2 12 Eli Feay 2 1-2 6 Jack McKenna 0 1-2 1. Totals: 17 7-14 52.

ST. JOSEPH8 17 14 17—56
WARDE10 21 6 15—52

3-pointers: SJ—Fabbri 2, Tobin, James, Manigault; W—Houghton 3, McMahon 3, Seganos 2, Homa, Becker, Feay.

Highlights: SJ—Paolini had seven rebounds, six steals and three assists. Tobin had seven rebounds and three steals. Fabbri had five rebounds and four assists. W—Becker had 18 rebounds. Feay had 12 rebounds.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Hamden 62, Sacred Heart Academy 29

Congrats To Makaela Johnson on scoring her 1000 point tonight. Hamden leads Sacred Heart 17-0 late in the first. #goDragons #SCC #ctgb pic.twitter.com/uhJEuWta0O

— Hamden Athletics (@AthleticsHamden) January 8, 2019

Taniyah Thompson had 23 points and Mikaela Johnson added 15, including the 1,000th of her career, to lead the Green Dragons to an SCC win in Hamden.

Rebecca Oberman-Levine added eight points for the Green Dragons (6-0). Ally Kirck led Sacred Heart Academy (0-6) with nine points.

SHA        0 10 13 6 — 29
Hamden  23 17 12 10 — 62

Hamden (6-0)

Asya Brandon 2 0-2 4, Rebecca Oberman-Levine 2 4-4 8, Makaela Johnson 6 2-2 15, Taniyah Thompson 11 1-2 23, Diamond White 2 0-0 4, Kyndal Russell 1 0-1 2, Yarliz Santiago 0 1-2 1, Jordyn Alston 0 1-2 1, Montsho Canton 2 0-2 4, Camilla Tate 0 0-4 0. TOTALS 25 9-21 62

Sacred Heart (0-6)

Ally Kirck 3 2-8 9, Emily Copenhaver 2 0-0 5, Claire Vissers 1 0-2 2, Rosa Rizzitelli 2 1-4 5, Sidbhan Lowman 1 0-0 2, Carina Ciampi 2 1-2 6. TOTALS 11 4-16 29.

3-POINTERS: Hamden— Johnson 1; Sacred Heart— Kirck 1, Copenhaver 1, Ciampi 1.

East Haven 75, West Haven 27

Taylor Salato had 16 points and Alexis Pendziwater added 14 to lead the Easties to their SCC win in East Haven. Isabella Ragaini had 13 points and Angelina Munoz added 10 rebounds and eight points for the Easties (5-2).

West Haven  6 6 6 9 — 27
East Haven  21 24 21 9 — 75

West Haven (1-5)

Natalia Frazer 2 0-0 4, Keegan Riccio 1 0-0 2, Ny’aire Serrano 1 0-0 2, Davina Mendez 1 3-4 5, Brianna Sebatian 1 0-0 3, Diamond Dixon 1 0-0 2, Jasmine Powell 0 2-2 2, Dynastee Francis 1 0-0 3, Savannah Gray 1 0-0 2, Jayden Steinman 1 0-0 2, Elena Petrie 0 0-2 0. Totals: 10 5-8 27.

East Haven (5-2)

Makenzie Helms 3 2-4 9, Erin Curran 0 1-2 1, Isabella Ragaini 6 0-0 13, Alexis Pendziwater 5 1-1 14, Taylor Salato 6 4-7 16, Alannah Doheny 4 0-0 9, Angelina Munoz 3 2-5 8, Tanner Punzo 1 0-0 3, Karen Solorzano 0 0-2 0, Jaime Gallo 1 0-0 2. Totals: 29 10-21 75.

3-point goals: West Haven 2 (Sebastian 1, Francis 1); East Haven 7 (Helms 1, Ragaini 1, Pendziwater 3, Doheny 1, Punzo 1); Records: East Haven 5-2, West Haven 1-5. Notes: Munoz had 10 rebounds.

Foran 62, Harding 28

Jasmine Lord had 22 points and six steals and Mia Tunucci added 18 points, five blocks and five steals to lead the Lions (7-0) to their SCC win in Milford. Foran remained unbeaten.

Harding    8 3 12 5-28
Foran       20 15 11 16-62

Harding

Range 2-0-0-4 Bass 1-2-4-4 Mackenzie 0-0-0-0 Wright 0-0-1-0 King 5-0-4-12 Almanzar 1-0-0-2 Johnson 3-0-0-6 Christmas 0-0-0-0 Totals 12-2-9-28.

Foran

Heenan 2-2-3-8 Sanwald 0-0-0-0 Tunucci 6-4-8-18 Lord 6-9-12-22 Musante 2-2-2-6 Lucas 0-0-0-0 Collins 0-3-6-3 M. Loewenberg 1-0-0-2 Wisniewski 1-0-0-3 K. Loewenberg 0-0-0-0 Totals : 18-20-31-62 3-point goals H: King 2 Foran Lord, Heenan 2, Tunucci 2, Wisniewski

Fouled Out: H: Johnson Foran: None

Highlights :  Records: Harding 1-6 Foran 7-0.

Mercy 54, Law 36

Law      4 4 16 12 — 36
Mercy  16 13 13 12 — 54

Law {6-2}

Cali Jolley 4 2-4 8, Samara Thacker 2 4-8 8, Pam Ellision 0 0-0 0, Fallon Andriolas 5 1-3 14, Maddie Lula 0 2-2 2, Olivia Kowalski 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 9-17 36

Mercy {3-4}

Sandra Fronc 2 0-0 4, Kameryn King 8 1-4 18, Sophia Finkeldey 1 1-2 3, Lilly Hedge 2 3-6 7, Vienna Knox 5 2-3 12, Rachael Cipolla 2 0-0 4, Nicole Bauman 3 0-0 6. Totals 23 7-15 54

3 Point Goals Law Andriolas 3, Mercy King 1

North Haven 46, Lauralton Hall 42

Julia Bogen had 14 points and Carly Fresher added 11 to lead the Indians to their come-form-behind SCC win in North Haven. Laura Petrafesa added 10 points for the Indians (4-4).

LAURALTON HALL  12 9 8 13 – 42
NORTH HAVEN 10 12 7 17 – 46

LAURALTON HALL

Sendzik 4 5-7 13 Dowling 0 0-1 0 Adams 3 0-1 7 Rush 1 0-0 3 Chirigos 3 0-0 6 Redgate 3 0-0 5 Emmanuel 2 2-4 6 Pinho 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 7-13 42.

NORTH HAVEN (4-4)

Laura Petrafesa 4 0-1 10 Leah Zeisner 2 1-6 5 Mia Antonino 0 0-0 0 Colleen Lucey 0 0-0 0 Carly Fresher 4 3-6 11 Julia Bogen 5 4-11 14 Giuliana Ciarleglio 0 0-0 0 Sarah Puzone 2 1-6 5 Olivia Stefanik 1 4-4 6 Emily Konopka 0 0-1 0. Totals: 16 12-32 46.

3-pointers: LH – Rush, Redgate; NH – Petrafesa 2.

Westbrook 61, Norwich Tech 12

Westbrook       19 19 9 14 61
Norwich Tech    3 3 4 2 12

Westbrook (61)

Savannah Marshall 8 2-3 20, Kelly Donlan 2 1-4 5, Gabby Ehlert 2 2-4 6, Olivia Archer 3 0-0 6, Lexi Koplas 2 1-1 5, Jami Sacco 5 1-2 11, Sadie Susi 3 0-0 6, Emma Parkhurst 1 0-0 2

Norwich Tech (12)

Geovonna Taitigue 3 3-6 9, Ashley Williams 0 0-2 0, Elisa Barry 0 0-2 0, Julia Robert 0 0-2 0, Lucie Jules 0 1-2 1, Kiara Jerard 1 0-0 2

3 pt goals: Westbrook (Marshall 2). Records: Westbrook 5-3 Norwich Tech 1-8.

Guilford 40, Shelton 37

Elle Petra led all scorers with 17 points and added 11 rebounds and five steals to lead the Indians to their SCC win in Guilford. Clarissa Pierre led the Gaels with 13 points.

SHELTON

Kiera O’Conner 3 0-0 6 Clarissa Pierre 6 1-3 13 Leya Vohra 1 3-3 5 Mackenzie Joyce 0 2-2 2 Maggie Howard 2 2-5 8 Alex Capalbo 1 1-2 3. Totals: 13 9 15 37.

GUILFORD

Janie Danaher 1 4-6 6 Elle Petra 8 1-4 17 Sammantha Leiby 2 1-2 5 Moira Kellaher 1 2-3 4 Mia Diaz 0 3-5 3 Faith O’Donnell 1 2-2 5. Totals: 13 13-22 40.

SHELTON5 10 13 9—37
GUILFORD6 9 13 12—40

3-pointers: S—Howard 2; G—O’Donnell.

TRUMBULL 60, MCMAHON 30

TRUMBULL (9-0, 6-0 FCIAC)

Emma Gentry 2 0-2 4 Meghan Lesko 1 0-0 2 Bella McCain 0 0-0 0 Emi Roberto 4 4-4 13 Maeve Hampford 0 0-0 0 Kelly O’Leary 1 0-0 3 Krystina Schueler 4 0-1 8 Jenna DeSabella 3 1-2 8 Sarah Stolze 1 0-0 2 Cassi Barbato 2 2-2 7 Gianna Ghitsa 0 1-1 1 Allie Palmieri 5 2-2 13. Totals: 23 10-14 61.

MCMAHON (3-5)

Michelle Perea 2 2-4 6 Meagan Bombace 1 1-2 3 Bryanna Perez 1 0-0 2 Isabella DeJesus 3 0-1 7 Ashley Aquirre 0 0-0 0 Lila Young 1 0-2 2 Stephanie Skidmore 0 0-0 0 Michelle Menard 0 0-0 0 Aija Andrews 5 0-0 10. Totals: 13 3-9 30.

TRUMBULL17 16 15 13—61
MCMAHON4 8 11 7—30

3-pointers: T—Roberto, O’Leary, DeSabella, Barbato, Palmieri; M—DeJesus.

ST. JOSEPH 51, WARDE 41

WARDE (4-5)

Caroline Aufiero 4 2-4 11 Kristina Krasniqi 5 0-0 10 Aleysha Henry 4 1-2 11 Kirsten Rodriguez 3 1-2 7 Carolyn Mills 1 0-0 2. Totals: 17 4-8 41.

ST. JOSEPH (5-5)

Veronica Lubas 2 2-2 6 Kathryn Zito 0 0-3 0 Kate Rudini 1 2-2 5 Kaitlin Capobianco 2 4-5 9 Rahmia Johnston 4 0-2 9 Maddie Johnson 2 0-0 4 Dennaye Hinds 2 1-1 5 Emma Elrod 5 1-2 13. Totals: 18 10-17 51.

3-pointers: W—Henry 2, Aufiero; W—Elrod 2, Rudini, Capobianco, Johnston.

Highlights: W—Aufiero had 11 rebounds and four assists. Krasniqi had four steals.

LUDLOWE 55, GREENWICH 22

GREENWICH

Jordan Moses 0 1-2 1 Michelle Morganti 0 7-10 7 Kristin Riggs 1 0-2 2 Violet Mikalopas 0 0-0 0 Kelly Martyanov 1 0-0 2 Taylor Stamos 2 0-2 4 Marielle Povinelli 0 0-0 0 Ciara Munnelly 0 2-3 2 Bea Owens 1 1-2 3 Kate Loughran 0 1-2 1. Totals: 5 12-23 22.

LUDLOWE

Sophie Lemley 0 0-0 0 Juliet Bucher 4 0-2 10 Anna Paulmann 3 0-0 6 Emma Torello 4 3-4 14 Bridget Paulmann 5 2-3 14 Paige O’Connell 2 0-0 4 Laura Herron 0 0-0 0 Trish Carey 0 0-0 0 Ira Boci 1 1-3 4 Campbell Eckert 1 0-0 2 Bridget Reynolds 0 0-0 0 Lauren Iannazzo 0 1-2 1. Totals: 20 7-12 55.

3-pointers: L—Torello 3, Bucher 2, B. Paulmann 2, Boci.

BOYS SWIMMING

Xavier 108, Haddam-Killingworth 67

200 Medley Relay: Xavier (Noah San Vicente, Andrew Mitchill, Yavier Carbo-Colon, Donald Frost) 1:42.06. 200 Freestyle: Zach Houlton (HK) 1:47.47; 200 IM: Donald Frost (X) 2:06.66, 50 Freestyle: Christopher Garrelts (HK) 23.74; 1m Diving: Nick Kirejczyk (X) 127.85. 100 Butterfly; Elijah Houlton (HK) 54.61. 100 Freestyle: Kyle Mazziotti (HK) 50.67. 500 Freestyle: Zach Houlton (HK) 4:48.10. 200 Freestyle Relay: Xavier (Ben Howell, Yavier Carbo-Colon, Andrew Mitchill, Nikita Zuev) 1:36.28. 100 Backstroke: Kyle Mazziotti (HK) 54.95. 100 Breaststroke: Adam Anziano (X)/Malone Revis (HK) 1:08.63. 400 Freestyle Relay: Xavier (Donald Frost, Andrew Mitchill, Nikita Zuev, Ben Howell) 3:28.88. Records: Xavier 4-1, H-K 1-1.

GIRLS HOCKEY

AMITY/NORTH HAVEN/CHESHIRE 7, MASUK/BARLOW/NEWTOWN/LAURALTON HALL 4

Sunday’s result

AMITY/NORTH HAVEN/CHESHIRE5 1 1—7
MASUK/BARLOW/NEWTOWN/LAURALTON HALL0 3 1—4

Goals: A—Nadia DiNatale 3, Haley Cable, Andrea DelVecchio, Mia Dow, Tess Csejka; M—Mackenzie Cambra 2, Catie Gregory, Erin Webdale. Assists: A—Sara Cable, Csejka, DelVecchio, Meaghan Hogan, Hannah Sosensky; M—Gregory 2, Christina Moniz, Webdale, Mari Bischoff.

DANBURY— The Danbury boys basketball team doesn’t need to look too far into its past to see what a dominating defense can do.

The Hatters are trying to return to the identity that delivered a rare FCIAC title last season, and it’s been a work in progress in 2018-19. But Monday they turned up the heat for three quarters against one of its top rivals in what was likely a playoff preview.

Danbury got balanced scoring from its starting lineup, a stifling defensive effort built a comfortable lead and senior point guard Javon Hernandez made several key steals late to preserve a 62-55 win over Ridgefield.

Danbury beats Ridgefield 62-55 #ctbb pic.twitter.com/jahXHadGty

— Ryan Lacey (@RyanLacey11) January 8, 2019

“We’re starting to become a good defensive team,” said Danbury coach Casey Bock after his team’s fourth straight win. “Other guys are stepping up and our leaders are starting to lead. … It’s been a learning process; last year we had all the pieces together and this year we’re putting the pieces together as the year goes on.”

The Hatters (5-2) led 40-25 late in the third quarter before the game sped up and Ridgefield staged a rally. The Tigers pulled to within a single possession twice — the first coming on a 3-pointer from Cameron Andry with 1:45 left to make it 53-51.

The Hatters didn’t turn the ball over down the stretch, though, and sank enough free throws to cancel out any more Ridgefield buckets.

Frantic finish, Hatters lead 55-51 with 1:16 left #ctbb pic.twitter.com/XmX9GhKTNp

— Ryan Lacey (@RyanLacey11) January 8, 2019

“Sometimes it gets crazy and it can get a little confusing,” said Hatters senior Denali Burton of the tense finish. “You just have to listen to your coach and your teammates to stay together.”

James St. Pierre had 21 points for Ridgefield, which was missing a key player in Luke McGarrity. St. Pierre made a free throw to pull to within 55-52 with 1:16 left. The Tigers have lost three straight, though all to strong Division I teams in Bassick, Trumbull and Danbury.

“We just didn’t play well enough to win tonight. (Danbury) played better than us tonight,” said Tigers coach Andrew McClellan. “We’re missing a starter and you can’t play a B game and beat Danbury in their place.”

Danbury’s lead is down to 46-39, Tigers with all the momentum 5:53 left #ctbb pic.twitter.com/D97YRTz8pn

— Ryan Lacey (@RyanLacey11) January 8, 2019

Hernandez scored 18 points while Burton added 16 for the Hatters. Keyon Moore (10) and Jah Joyner (11) were also in double figures.

“Our confidence is a lot higher after this win because this was a top team to beat (in the FCIAC),” Burton said. “If we cut out the mistakes we could have beat them by more.”

NOT SO FREE

Both teams struggled from the foul line as the Tigers went 14-for-23 and the Hatters went 19-for-38.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Burton says hello to end the third, Danbury leads 43-31. Tigers missed a lot of makeable shots there and should probably be closer #ctbb pic.twitter.com/rSJIYkSDiV

— Ryan Lacey (@RyanLacey11) January 8, 2019

Denali Burton, Danbury: His length led to a pair of blocks on Ridgefield 3-point attempts that appeared wide open when the shot was lifting in the air.

QUOTABLE

“It’s a new team so we’ve had to figure a couple of things out,” Burton said. “But defense is one thing that can remain consistent and win us games.”

“The story of our losses right now are missed free throws and missed offensive opportunities,” McClellan said.

Hernandez hits a 3, Hatters lead up to 35-24 in the third #ctbb pic.twitter.com/l22MXzvtoV

— Ryan Lacey (@RyanLacey11) January 8, 2019

DANBURY 62, RIDGEFIELD 55

RIDGEFIELD (4-3): James St. Pierre 7 7-9 21 Chris Knachel 4 1-4 9 Cameron Andry 3 1-2 9 Derek Szpawkoski 1 4-6 6 Matt DeLuca 2 1-2 5 Ryan Garson 1 0-0 2 John Britto 1 0-0 3. Totals: 18 14-23 55.

DANBURY (5-2): Denali Burton 5 5-12 16 Javon Hernandez 6 6-10 18 Jah Joyner 5 1-2 11 Keyon Moore 2 6-10 10 Taylor Heady 0 0-2 0 Jaden Cook 1 1-2 3 Raimir Riveria 1 0-0 2. 20 19-38 62.

RIDGEFIELD11 11 9 24 — 55
DANBURY11 17 15 19 — 62

3-pointers: R—Andry 2, Britto; D—Hernandez 2, Burton.

MILFORD — Diontae Eady scored a game-high 30 points and the Law boys basketball team improved to 6-0 with a 70-52 win over East Haven in a SCC game Monday night.

Jon Vitale added 11 points and Garrett Tutlis chipped in 10 points for the Lawmen, while Nate Furino and Alias Ford reached double figures in scoring with 13 and 10 points, respectively, in the loss for the Yellow Jackets (3-3).

EAST HAVEN (3-3)

Hunter Santana 3 0-0 9 Alias Ford 3 4-4 10 Nate Furino 3 6-8 13 Ian Reynolds 1 0-0 3 Jason Gieparda 0 0-0 0 Asaiah Ford 0 2-2 2 Shane Franklin 1 2-2 5 Joe Brown 0 0-0 0 Nick Furino 4 1-4 9 Trey Garea 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 15-20 52.

LAW (6-0)

Zane Birks 0 0-0 0 Jimmy Coleman 0 0-0 0 Tyler McKenna-Hansen 2 0-2 4 Garrett Tutlis 4 0-0 10 Ru Akhtar 0 0-0 0 Antonio Brown 2 2-3 6 Diontae Eady 10 9-10 30 Justice Smith 0 0-0 0 Jon Vitale 5 0-0 11 Brian Felag 0 0-0 0 Noah Tutlis 4 0-0 9. Totals: 27 11-15 70.

EAST HAVEN17 8 16 11—52

LAW25 21 10 14—70

3-pointers: EH—Santana 3, Reynolds, Franklin; L—G. Tutlis 2, Vitale, Eady, N. Tutlis.

AMITY 60, NORTH HAVEN 46

NORTH HAVEN

Jaden Watson 8 0-0 20 Joshua Monk 1 0-0 2 Michael Collins 2 3-6 7 Justin Shea 2 4-4 8 Bryce Charney 0 2-2 2 David Christoforo 1 5-5 7. Totals: 14 14-17 46.

AMITY

Tanner Thomas 4 2-4 10 Sebastian Formica 0 1-2 1 James Van Hise 3 2-2 8 Mike Young 5 5-5 16 Joe Benedetti 7 0-1 15 Marc Chodos 1 0-0 2 Cole Wissink 1 3-6 5 Joe Digello 1 0-0 3. Totals: 22 13-20 60.

NORTH HAVEN9 10 10 15—46

AMITY19 11 14 16—60

3-pointers: NH—Watson 4; A—Young, Benedetti, Digello.

STRATFORD 66, POMPERAUG 54

POMPERAUG (0-6)

Dion Zhuta 6 2-5 18 Cam Collette 3 0-0 6 Michael Stirk 2 0-0 5 Dan Minchella 1 0-0 2 Jack Messina 2 1-3 6 Chase Breyer 5 1-2 13 James Ortale 2 0-0 4. Totals: 21 4-10 54.

STRATFORD (3-3)

Jack Ryan 6 1-1 13 Mike August 4 0-0 8 Joe August 6 2-2 17 John Bike 5 0-0 12 Preston Williams 1 1-1 3 Zack Fedak 4 1-4 9 Kyle Robinson 0 0-0 0 Tyler Ciccia 0 0-0 0 Jaime Logan 0 0-0 0 Mike DAola 0 0-0 0 Jayquan Kirkland 1 0-0 2 Cevon Mitchell 0 0-0 0 Brady Knorr 0 2-2 2. Totals: 27 7-12 66.

POMPERAUG9 11 16 18—54

STRATFORD13 13 25 15—66

3-pointers: P—Zhuta 4, Breyer 2, Stirk, Messina; S—J. August 3, Bike 2.

Highlights: P—Breyer had eight rebounds.

ND-WEST HAVEN 63, SHELTON 49

ND-WEST HAVEN

Jaiden Kimbro 4 1-3 10 Justin Covington 1 0-0 2 Zach Laput 5 3-3 14 Connor Raines 2 1-2 6 Trevon Setzer-Smith 6 1-2 15 Bangaly Cherif 1 0-0 2 Eddie Zanor 1 0-0 2 Beni Carroll 6 0-0 12. Totals: 23 6-10 63.

SHELTON

Brian Berritto 6 1-4 13 Brian Belade 3 0-0 6 Peri Basimakopoulos 5 1-1 13 Martin Dominguez 1 4-4 6 Kevin Belden 1 0-0 3 Melvin Kolenovic 3 2-3 8. Totals: 19 8-12 49.

ND-WEST HAVEN15 16 11 21—63

SHELTON11 10 14 14—49

3-pointers: S—Basimakopoulos 2, Belden; NDWH—Setzer-Smith 2, Kimbro, Laput, Raines.

ST. JOSEPH 56, WARDE 52

ST. JOSEPH (5-1, 4-0 FCIAC)

Dan Tobin 5 1-2 12 Paul Fabbri 3 3-4 11 Tyler Dubose 0 0-0 0 Jason James 1 0-0 3 Steve Paolini 11 1-2 23 Brendan Kade 3 0-2 6 Glenn Manigault 1 0-0 3 Kyren Jones 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 4-10 56.

WARDE (4-2, 3-1)

Christian Homa 1 0-0 3 Jeff Seganos 3 0-0 8 Matt Becker 1 4-8 7 Brendan McMahon 6 0-0 15 Matt Houghton 4 1-2 12 Eli Feay 2 1-2 6 Jack McKenna 0 1-2 1. Totals: 17 7-14 52.

ST. JOSEPH8 17 14 17—56

WARDE10 21 6 15—52

3-pointers: SJ—Fabbri 2, Tobin, James, Manigault; W—Houghton 3, McMahon 3, Seganos 2, Homa, Becker, Feay.

Highlights: SJ—Paolini had seven rebounds, six steals and three assists. Tobin had seven rebounds and three steals. Fabbri had five rebounds and four assists. W—Becker had 18 rebounds. Feay had 12 rebounds.

LUDLOWE 47, GREENWICH 42

LUDLOWE

James Bourque 5 2-2 13 Patrick Kilbride 2 0-0 5 Ian Bentley 0 0-0 0 Christian Peterson 1 4-4 6 Jeff Meyers 3 3-4 9 Jadyn Tabois 3 1-2 8 Rowan Keesser 0 0-0 0 Jake Northrop 0 0-0 0 Patrick Leverty 2 0-0 6 Chris Carlucci 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 10-12 47.

GREENWICH

Chris Genaro 4 2-3 11 Gavin Muir 0 0-2 0 Greg Altamore 4 5-5 14 Billy Nail 2 0-0 6 Oliver Milledge 5 2-7 12. Totals: 15 9-17 42.

LUDLOWE9 10 13 15—47

GREENWICH16 8 7 12—42

3-pointers: L—Leverty 2, Bourque, Kilbride, Tabois; G—Nail 2, Genaro, Altamore.

TRUMBULL 66, MCMAHON 63

MCMAHON

Peter Neglia 1 0-0 2 Justin Lebron 5 2-3 15 Saikwon Williams 10 4-8 24 Tsai Zoe 0 0-0 0 Jack Fitzpatrick 1 0-0 2 Justin Longo 2 0-0 6 Jajuan Wiggins 4 1-3 10 Mike Fuller 2 0-0 4. Totals: 25 7-14 63.

TRUMBULL

Mileeq Green 2 0-0 4 Lance Walsh 0 0-0 0 Chris Brown 8 2-2 19 Isaiah Johnson 0 0-0 0 JP Fromageot 1 0-0 2 Jack Therriault 1 0-0 3 TImmond Williams 4 6-9 16 Evan Gutkowski 5 2-3 12 Quentar Taylor 3 4-4 10. Totals: 24 14-18 66.

MCMAHON13 17 16 17—63

TRUMBULL16 12 16 22—66

3-pointers: M—Lebron 3, Longo 2, Wiggins; T—Williams 2, Therriault, Brown.

Fouled out: M—Fuller.

Technical fouls: T—Taylor.

Highlights: T—Gutkowski had 11 rebounds and three blocks. Brown had seven rebounds. Green had eight rebounds.

BASSICK 89, HARDING 57

HARDING

Isaiah Hanley 0 1-4 1 Marcell Robinson 4 2-2 10 Xavier McBride 2 2-2 6 Amajee Williams 2 1-2 5 Shawn Allen 0 2-6 2 Ja’Harie Mack 3 0-2 6 Markis Christie 9 0-2 19 Qasim McKnight 4 0-1 8. Totals: 24 8-21 57.

BASSICK

Kevin Crawford 8 6-17 23 Giovanni Santiago 1 0-0 2 Jermaine Grant 2 1-3 5 Deandre Morgan 1 0-0 2 Julio De Los Santos 1 0-0 3 Javier Hernandez 2 2-2 7 Emery Linton 3 1-4 7 Jason Marrero 3 0-0 8 Rasheen Payne 1 1-2 4 Jordan Gallimore 5 1-2 12 Ricky Irby 2 0-0 6 Sincere Sullivan 2 3-6 8. Totals: 32 15-36 89.

HARDING10 18 9 20—57

BASSICK23 24 19 20—89

3-pointers: H—Christie; B—Marrero 2, Irby 2, Crawford, De Los Santos, Hernandez, Payne, Gallimore, Sullivan.

Technical fouls: B—Santiago 2, Crawford.

Highlights: B—Gallimore had 15 rebounds. Linton had 10 assists.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

TRUMBULL 60, MCMAHON 30

TRUMBULL (9-0, 6-0 FCIAC)

Emma Gentry 2 0-2 4 Meghan Lesko 1 0-0 2 Bella McCain 0 0-0 0 Emi Roberto 4 4-4 13 Maeve Hampford 0 0-0 0 Kelly O’Leary 1 0-0 3 Krystina Schueler 4 0-1 8 Jenna DeSabella 3 1-2 8 Sarah Stolze 1 0-0 2 Cassi Barbato 2 2-2 7 Gianna Ghitsa 0 1-1 1 Allie Palmieri 5 2-2 13. Totals: 23 10-14 61.

MCMAHON (3-5)

Michelle Perea 2 2-4 6 Meagan Bombace 1 1-2 3 Bryanna Perez 1 0-0 2 Isabella DeJesus 3 0-1 7 Ashley Aquirre 0 0-0 0 Lila Young 1 0-2 2 Stephanie Skidmore 0 0-0 0 Michelle Menard 0 0-0 0 Aija Andrews 5 0-0 10. Totals: 13 3-9 30.

TRUMBULL17 16 15 13—61

MCMAHON4 8 11 7—30

3-pointers: T—Roberto, O’Leary, DeSabella, Barbato, Palmieri; M—DeJesus.

LUDLOWE 55, GREENWICH 22

GREENWICH

Jordan Moses 0 1-2 1 Michelle Morganti 0 7-10 7 Kristin Riggs 1 0-2 2 Violet Mikalopas 0 0-0 0 Kelly Martyanov 1 0-0 2 Taylor Stamos 2 0-2 4 Marielle Povinelli 0 0-0 0 Ciara Munnelly 0 2-3 2 Bea Owens 1 1-2 3 Kate Loughran 0 1-2 1. Totals: 5 12-23 22.

LUDLOWE

Sophie Lemley 0 0-0 0 Juliet Bucher 4 0-2 10 Anna Paulmann 3 0-0 6 Emma Torello 4 3-4 14 Bridget Paulmann 5 2-3 14 Paige O’Connell 2 0-0 4 Laura Herron 0 0-0 0 Trish Carey 0 0-0 0 Ira Boci 1 1-3 4 Campbell Eckert 1 0-0 2 Bridget Reynolds 0 0-0 0 Lauren Iannazzo 0 1-2 1. Totals: 20 7-12 55.

GREENWICH22

LUDLOWE55

3-pointers: L—Torello 3, Bucher 2, B. Paulmann 2, Boci.

MERCY 54, LAW 36

LAW

Cali Jolley 4 2-4 10 Samara Thacker 2 4-8 8 Fallon Andriolas 5 1-3 14 Maddie Lula 0 2-2 2 Olivia Kowalski 1 0-0 2. Totals: 12 9-17 36.

MERCY

Kameryn King 8 1-4 18 Lilly Hedge 2 3-6 7 Nicole Bauman 3 0-0 6 Sophia Finkeldey 1 1-2 3 Vienna Knox 5 2-3 12 Rachael Cipolla 2 0-0 4 Sandra Fronc 2 0-0 4. Totals: 23 7-15 54.

LAW4 4 16 12—36

MERCY16 13 13 12—54

3-pointers: L—Andriolas 3; M—King.

ST. JOSEPH 51, WARDE 41

WARDE (4-5)

Caroline Aufiero 4 2-4 11 Kristina Krasniqi 5 0-0 10 Aleysha Henry 4 1-2 11 Kirsten Rodriguez 3 1-2 7 Carolyn Mills 1 0-0 2. Totals: 17 4-8 41.

ST. JOSEPH (5-5)

Veronica Lubas 2 2-2 6 Kathryn Zito 0 0-3 0 Kate Rudini 1 2-2 5 Kaitlin Capobianco 2 4-5 9 Rahmia Johnston 4 0-2 9 Maddie Johnson 2 0-0 4 Dennaye Hinds 2 1-1 5 Emma Elrod 5 1-2 13. Totals: 18 10-17 51.

WARDE41

ST. JOSEPH51

3-pointers: W—Henry 2, Aufiero; W—Elrod 2, Rudini, Capobianco, Johnston.

Highlights: W—Aufiero had 11 rebounds and four assists. Krasniqi had four steals.

GUILFORD 40, SHELTON 37

SHELTON

Kiera O’Conner 3 0-0 6 Clarissa Pierre 6 1-3 13 Leya Vohra 1 3-3 5 Mackenzie Joyce 0 2-2 2 Maggie Howard 2 2-5 8 Alex Capalbo 1 1-2 3. Totals: 13 9 15 37.

GUILFORD

Janie Danaher 1 4-6 6 Elle Petra 8 1-4 17 Sammantha Leiby 2 1-2 5 Moira Kellaher 1 2-3 4 Mia Diaz 0 3-5 3 Faith O’Donnell 1 2-2 5. Totals: 13 13-22 40.

SHELTON5 10 13 9—37

GUILFORD6 9 13 12—40

3-pointers: S—Howard 2; G—O’Donnell.

FORAN 62, HARDING 28

HARDING (1-6)

Jurnee Ranger 2 0-0 4 Jordan Bass 1 2-4 4 Tejana Wright 0 0-2 0 King 5 0-4 12 Kiana Johnson 3 0-0 6 Alexa Almanzar 1 0-0 2. Totals: 12 2-9 28.

FORAN (7-0)

Lauren Heenan 2 2-3 8 Abby Sanwald 0 0-0 0 Mia Tunucci 6 4-8 18 Jasmine Lord 6 9-12 22 Courtney Musante 2 2-2 6 Emma Lucas 0 0-0 0 Bridget Collins 0 3-6 3 Mia Loewenberg 1 0-0 2 Makenzie Wisniewski 1 0-0 3 Kailey Loewenberg 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 20-31 62.

HARDING8 3 12 5—28

FORAN20 15 11 16—62

3-pointers: H—King 2; F—Heenan 2, Tunucci 2, Lord, Wisniewski.

Fouled out: H—Johnson.

Highlights: F—Lord had six steals. Tunucci had five blocks and five steals.

NORTH HAVEN 46, LAURALTON HALL 42

LAURALTON HALL

Julia Sendzik 4 5-7 13 Julia Rush 1 0-0 3 Athena Chirigos 3 0-0 6 Lauren Dowling 0 0-1 0 Lauren Adams 3 0-1 7 Guilia Emanuel 2 2-4 6 Shannon Redgte 3 0-0 6 Pinho 1 0-0 2. Totals: 16 7-13 42.

NORTH HAVEN

Leah Zeisner 2 1-6 5 Carly Fresher 4 3-6 11 Julia Bogen 5 4-11 14 Laura Petrafesa 4 0-1 10 Sarah Puzone 2 1-6 5 Olivia Stefanik 1 4-4 6 Emily Konopka 0 0-1 0. Totals: 16 12-32 46.

LAURALTON HALL12 9 8 13—42

NORTH HAVEN10 12 7 17—46

3-pointers: LH—Rush, Adams; NH—Petrafesa 2.

GIRLS HOCKEY

AMITY/NORTH HAVEN/CHESHIRE 7, MASUK/BARLOW/NEWTOWN/LAURALTON HALL 4

Sunday’s result

AMITY/NORTH HAVEN/CHESHIRE5 1 1—7

MASUK/BARLOW/NEWTOWN/LAURALTON HALL0 3 1—4

Goals: A—Nadia DiNatale 3, Haley Cable, Andrea DelVecchio, Mia Dow, Tess Csejka; M—Mackenzie Cambra 2, Catie Gregory, Erin Webdale. Assists: A—Sara Cable, Csejka, DelVecchio, Meaghan Hogan, Hannah Sosensky; M—Gregory 2, Christina Moniz, Webdale, Mari Bischoff.

TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE

Boys basketball

Seymour at Ansonia, 6

Bullard-Havens at Wolcott Tech, 6

Derby at Watertown

Greens Farms Academy at Masters, 5

Platt Tech at Whitney Tech, 6

Girls basketball

Ansonia at Seymour

Capital Prep at Bassick, 4:30

Bunnell at Bethel

Barlow at Brookfield

Wolcott Tech at Bullard-Havens, 6:30

Watertown at Derby

Greens Farms Academy at St. Luke’s, 4:30

Kolbe Cathedral at Weston

Masuk at New Fairfield

Pomperaug at Newtown

ND-Fairfield at Stratford

O’Brien Tech at Wilcox Tech, 6

Woodland at Oxford, 6

Whitney Tech at Platt Tech, 4:30

Gymnastics

Ludlowe at Foran, 6:30

Barlow, Newtown, Oxford at New Milford, 5

New Canaan, Staples at Westhill, 6:15

Boys hockey

Northeastern vs. Milford at Milford Ice Pavilion, 5:20

Girls hockey

Ridgefield/Danbury vs. Wilton/Norwalk/McMahon at So No Ice House, 8:40

Ludlowe/Warde vs. New Canaan at Darien Ice Rink, 5:50

ND-Fairfield/Law/Foran/Weston/Pomperaug vs. West Haven/Sacred Heart Academy at Bennett Rink, 5:30

Girls indoor track

Amity, Foran, Law, Lauralton Hall, Shelton at SCC Developmental at Floyd Little Athletic Center, 5

Boys swimming

Amity vs. North Haven at Gawrych Town Pool, 4

Barlow/Bethel at Newtown

Bunnell/Stratford at New Fairfield, 6

Fairfield Prep at Sheehan, 5

Weston at Masuk, 4

Sacred Heart at Oxford

Wrestling

Amity at Shelton

ND-West Haven at Cheshire, 6

Guilford at Fairfield Prep, 5:30

After a long break, because of the holidays, the Give and Go girls basketball podcast is back, and there is a lot to talk about.

With most teams playing more than seven games already the landscape of girls basketball this season is starting to become more clear.

New London is the new No. 1 team in the state and the Whalers have earned it.

Scott and Pete jump back in to discuss the past couple of weeks, some of the best and surprising teams from this season so far.

Ask Scott and Pete any questions in the mailbag. Click here. 

Remember, if the embed to listen doesn’t show, you can always listen by clicking here.

As always, head over to GameTimeCT podcasts on iTunes and subscribe, rate and leave a review about our podcasts.

We are also now on Spotify, so you can listen to us there now. 

Rundown 

• 0:00 – 9:35 – We love out-of-conference games
• 9:35 – Best teams in the state so far
• 22:27 – Fine performers of the week and games to go out and see

FAIRFIELD — You can’t keep a good player in check.

That good player, St. Joseph’s Stephen Paolini, scored 19 second-half points to help the Cadets forge a 56-52 road win over FCIAC rival Fairfield Warde on Monday night.

“I told him to stick with it,” St. Joseph coach Kevin Wielk said of Paolini, who missed his first 10 shots from the floor and was limited to two points in the first half. “Stephen broke his thumb (three days earlier) in our win over Central.”

Paolini scored eight points in the third quarter when the 5-1 Cadets turned a 31-25 deficit into a 39-37 advantage.

Dan Tobin (12 points) netted six points in the frame, including a 3-pointer after the senior tri-captain went to the floor to save a turnover and then knocked in a pass from Glenn Manigault. Tobin ended the game with three assists and seven rebounds.

Paolini added nine points and an assist in the final period. He finished with six steals, three assists and seven rebounds.

With the game tied for the fourth time at 52-all, Paolini made a step-back jumper from just inside the foul line with 55 seconds on the clock. A tri-captain, Paolini them stole an entry pass to the block and scored in transition with 22 seconds left.

Warde, now 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the FCIAC, had three shots at the basket miss on its next position. St. Joe’s third tri-captain, Brendan Kade went to the floor for a steal with 5.4 ticks remaining.

“We had to keep grinding it out,” Wielk said. “We were two of four unbeaten FCIAC teams. They are a great team. We needed to scramble, help on defense, and find a way to win some rebounds.”

Warde used its work on the backboards to create nine second-chance points in the first quarter.

Matt Houghton (11 points) and Jeff Seganos Jr. hit three-pointers on extended possessions, as the Mustangs took a 10-8 lead.

Six Mustangs scored points in the second quarter, led by Houghton (seven points) and Matt Becker (five points).

The Cadets’ Paul Fabbri scored eight points of his 11 points in the stanza. He added an assist on Paolini’s first bucket with 1:12 remaining in the half. Fabbri had four assists and five rebounds overall.

Kade had five points and an assist in the frame.

“I thought we could have had a bigger lead,” Warde coach Ryan Swaller said. “We missed some shots inside and had some threes rim out. You can’t shoot fifty percent from the foul line against a good team like St. Joes. We could have found four points there.”

Warde was 1-for-8 from the floor to start the second half. Eli Feay scored on a put back.

Paolini hit three shots around a spinning layup by Tobin.

“We write on the board 50-50 balls are key, we want to make them 75-25,” Wielk said. “Danny Tobin is our glue guy when it comes to that. Especially in the second half, he has a knack for making a play that doesn’t show on the stat line.”

Paolini followed his miss and banked it in to open the fourth quarter.

Tobin scored on a left-handed drive and then muscled home a rebound for a 45-40 advantage.

Warde junior Brendan McMahon (15 points) pulled up for a 3-pointer, but Paolini answered with a slash to the hoop for a bucket.

After Tobin won a scramble for a loose ball, Fabbri assisted on Paolini’s foul line jumper midway through the stanza.

Seganos Jr.’s trey made it a one possession game at 49-46, but the Mustangs missed 3-of-4 from the line on their next two trips.

Kade buried a baseline jumper, before McMahon’s long-range jumper and Segano Jr.’s weakside layup off a great look from McMahon tied things at 52.

“I felt our defense did a great job against an All-League player (Paolini),” Swaller said. “He took control. Maybe, I should have went to a zone…That’s on me. There was a lot of upside. When you lose a game like this you have to grow from it.”

“Matt Becker had 18 rebounds and Eli Zeay had 12. But, we didn’t hurt them as bad as we could have (points on offensive rebounds).”

ST. JOSEPH 56, WARDE 52

St. Joseph

Dan Tobin 5 1-2 12, Paul Fabbri 3 3-5 11, Tyler DuBose 0 0-0 0, Jason James 1 0-0 3, Steve Paolini 10 1-4 21, Brendan Kade 3 0-1 6, Glenn Manigault 1 0-0 3, Kyren Jones 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 5-12 56

Fairfield Warde

Christian Homa 1 0-0 3, Jeff Seganos Jr. 3 0-0 8, Matt Becker 1 4-10 7, Brendan McMahon 6 0-1 15, Matt Houghton 4 1-2 12, Eli Feay 2 1-2 6, Jack McKenna 0 1-2 1. Totals:  17 7-17 52

St. Joseph 8 17 14  17 – 56
Warde      10 21   6 15 – 52

3-Pointers:  SJ-Fabbri 2, Tobin, James, Manigault; FW-McMahon 3, Houghton 3, Seganos 2, Homa, Becker, Feay

WELCOME back to a new episode of COURTSIDE with Joe Morelli, your weekly spot for Connecticut boys basketball talk with our longtime beat reporter Joe Morelli.

It’s only been a few days since our last episode with the Sports Doctor, Keith O’Brien of Game Day, but with the new year finally in full swing, we’re back to our usual Tuesday spot.

Joining Joe on this week’s podcast is Weaver’s coach Reggie Hatchett, who’s taken the Beavers to three state championship games in his five-year tenure as head coach, winning it all in 2015.

On the pod, Hatchett talks about his team and the unique and often difficult situation his program finds itself in. The Beavers haven’t had an actual school or league to call home for several years.

The Latest Boys Basketball Top 10 Poll

Hartford is renovating the old Weaver High School with a target opening of Fall, 2019. Hatchett said attendance has fallen from about 1,800, when Hatchett graduated in 1997, to under 300 at its temporary location at the Journalism and Media Academy in Hartford.

Hatchett says his roster is comprised of kids who attend a variety of Hartford magnet schools. Without a home court, they’ve been forced to play their entire season on the road. (Their six ‘home’ games have been played at Classical Magnet).

In the meantime, Weaver was jettisoned from the Central Connecticut Conference due to a lack of athletic programs and has had to play as an independent for the last two seasons.

In many ways, the Weaver basketball teams are the only thing keeping the school alive.

“That’s the message that we give to the basketball team, that they have a huge responsibility,” Hatchett said. “The community support has dwindled down, drastically, for the school in itself. So the basketball team is the glimmer of hope in bridging this gap.

“When this school opens back up — and I’m optimistic we’ll be able to return to where we were — it’ll be very much because the basketball team was able to hold things together for this three-or-four-year period where things were really dark.

“I do believe if the basketball team wasn’t doing as well, it would be highly likely that the school would have gone away. That’s a strong possibility.”

Listen to the full interview in the audio player, above. Remember, if the embed doesn’t show, you can always listen by clicking here.

As always, you can subscribe to GameTimeCT podcasts on iTunes.

We are also now on Spotify, so you can listen to us there now.

Rundown

• 0:00-8:56 – Quick Top 10 Poll rundown
• 7:15-24:58 – Weaver coach Reggie Hatchett
• 35:31-End – Wrapping up.

Correction: After the podcast, Hatchett said he was mistaken in saying his team beat Windsor three times during its 2016 Class LL runner-up season. That was actually during his 2015 state championship season. Windsor beat Weaver twice in 2016.

MIDDLETOWN — Is Middletown High’s wrestling team preparing once again to assert itself at the state level?

There are signs of this after the Blue Dragons followed their victory over crosstown rival Xavier in December by putting two-time defending state champion Bristol Eastern on the ropes in their first meet of the new year.

Middletown (8-2) won eight of its first nine dual meets before last week’s 37-34 loss to CCC South rival Bristol Eastern. The unbeaten Lancers are ranked second in the CT Wrestling Online Top 10 poll.

Before that, the ninth-ranked Dragons’ only other loss was to then-No. 5 Simsbury. Xavier was ranked eighth in the poll.

Longtime coach Mark Fong is taking a reserved approach to the team’s early showing. Maybe this is because underclassmen again form the bulk of his lineup, supporting just three seniors — Eli Cyr at 113 pounds, Ryan Conklin at 152 and Nygell Smikle, a New Haven Register All-State football lineman, at 285.

“It’s a much different roster than we had last year,” Fong said. “Everyone last year who wrestled as a freshman at the varsity took their lumps.”

Now, some of those wrestlers are dishing them. Fong sees noticeable progress up and down the lineup — on both the scoreboard and during practice time.

“They drill well, they practice well. It is enjoyable to come into practice today and work on the things we’re working on,” Fong said. “Come the state tournament, we have to get physically stronger and our technique has to be better. We have to be better offensively on our feet.”

The Blue Dragons, who visit Platt Wednesday for another CCC South dual meet, had four strong performances at the Warde Invitational in Fairfield on Saturday. Cyr won his title at 103, junior Kalil Shabazz finished third at 126 pounds, junior Amari Lemon was fourth at 145 and junior Jake Toth fourth at 195.

The Bristol Eastern match is likely to become a reference point for future performance.

The match played out in front of a raucous crowd inside the Keigwin School gymnasium, where Smikle, a Register All-State football player who is wrestling for the first time, and Cyr, who was fifth in Class L as a junior, won by decision for the team’s first points.

At 126, Shabazz built an 8-1 lead on his opponent, Carson Sassu, through two periods before pinning him at the 5:13 mark.

Freshman Ian Mounts, who was wrestling at 138 pounds, suffered an injury 1:09 into his match and was forced to default. Middletown regained the lead against Eastern when Lemon scored two points in the final 23 seconds at 145 and won by a 5-2 decision.

The Dragons’ star of the meet was Terrell Johnson. The sophomore trailed Eastern’s Joe Morelli 7-3 through four minutes of action. He tied the match in the opening minute of the third period, fell behind again, scored a takedown to tie it at 9 inside of 30 seconds, and ended up pinning his opponent with 3.8 ticks on the clock.

“He just wore him down,” Fong said.

Johnson’s victory tied the meet at 28. In what Fong called the deciding encounter, sophomore Jake Bowen lost at 182 when Dylan Garcia got a last-second takedown to win by a 7-4 decision.

“That’s a six-point swing. If he wins the match, we win the match,” Fong said. “But Jake did a great job. That kid (Garcia) is a good athlete. Jake battled, he just fell short at the end with his technique and his defense.”

Fans probably would disagree, but in Fong’s mind the last two matches were anti-climactic.

Though Toth won by pin to give the Dragons a three-point lead, sophomore Erik Dubon, who was a heavy underdog in the 220-pound division, was pinned by Trin Gonzalez at 1:59. Gonzalez was the Class L champ at 195 pounds last year.

“Our effort was there,” Fong said. “It’s just that Bristol Eastern is good. There’s a reason why they’re a two-time defending state champion, a reason why they’re ranked No. 2 in the state and haven’t lost in two or three years. But we were close. We had it.”

After the match, a lot of what the Blue Dragons heard from Fong was about looking inward.

“Even though it came down to Erik, I would not put the loss on him at all,” Fong said. “Where we are superior, we didn’t (win by pin), so we didn’t do our job where we were the heavy favorite.

“We talked about, ‘Where could you have found three points in your individual match? What could you have done to find those 3 points?’ ” Fong said. “And then we talked about, ‘Hey, Eastern is No. 2 in the state and we’re right there. We’re right there. You’ve got to take that as a positive.’ ”

Middletown is ranked 10th in this week’s state coaches poll.

“We’ve got seven weeks until the state tournament, so we just have to build off this and get some momentum,” Fong said.

With the potential to run into each other four times in a given season — one league game, one non-league game, one FCIAC playoff game, one state playoff game — Darien’s and Ridgefield’s boys hockey coaches, Mac Budd and Shaun Gallagher, talked about ways to add some neat quirks to the schedule.

“(We) thought it would be fun for the boys from both teams to try a back-to-back,” Gallagher said in an email.

They will: The Tigers and Blue Wave meet Friday at the Winter Garden in Ridgefield, then again the next day at the Darien Ice House.

They’re the top two teams in this week’s GameTimeCT poll. In fact, Ridgefield is a unanimous top choice for the second week in a row.

Friday, incidentally, is the league game. Hat tip to colleague Dave Stewart for that.

SITTING OUT: Trinity Catholic has only 12 skaters to begin with and has a flu bug going through them. The combination felt unsafe to the Crusaders administration, and Monday’s game with Wilton was postponed. They’ll meet Jan. 21 at 2 p.m., at the Winter Garden instead of Stamford’s Terry Conners Rink.

MOVING ON: Beating Ridgefield has been a tall task for everyone so far, and Hamden coach Todd Hall wasn’t going to point fingers after a 6-1 loss; the Green Dragons lost as a unit, he said.

“The message has always been, win or lose, you’ve got an hour to enjoy it or be mad about it, and then we need to start preparing for our next opponent, who’s coming in here to beat us,” Hall said.

That opponent, Wednesday night at Astorino Arena, is traditional Rhode Island power Mount St. Charles, a program set for a major change. The school is adding four age-group-based teams to go with its high school league team, along the lines of the Selects Academy program at South Kent.

Xavier goes up to visit Mount St. Charles on Friday.

NEW BANNER: Staples retired Sam New’s No. 19 on Saturday before its 4-0 win over New Milford. New, who graduated last year and is playing club hockey at the University of Tampa, holds the Wreckers’ program record with 106 goals.

“The points and goals were really about a team effort,” New said during the ceremony. “I was just fortunate to have a part of this family and hope I was a positive role model for future Wreckers.”

HOME AND HOME(ISH): Another rematch comes up upstate on Thursday. Conard earned its first win of the season on Jan. 2 against South Windsor, topping the Bobcats 3-2 in West Hartford. The teams meet again in South Windsor on Thursday at 4; the Chieftains haven’t played since, while South Windsor comes off a win over Glastonbury.

mfornabaio@ctpost.com; twitter.com/fornabaioctp; blog.ctnews.com/fornabaio

The Greenwich High School boys basketball team’s three-game winning streak was snapped with a 47-43 loss to Fairfield Ludlowe in an FCIAC matchup held at Brunswick School on Tuesday night.

Greenwich’s record stands at 4-2 following the defeat. Senior guard Greg Altamore made three free throws with 30 seconds remaining, giving the Cardinals a one-point lead. The Falcons quickly took a one-point edge when junior James Bourque converted a layup with just over 20 seconds left to play. Ludlowe sealed the win by making several foul shots down the stretch.

Altamore scored a team-high 14 points, while senior center Oliver Milledge added 12 points for the Cardinals, who had a seven-point lead after the first quarter.

“We got off to a good start, we had a 16-9 lead in the first quarter and we were playing, well showing a lot of energy,” GHS coach Chris Lovermi said. “The middle two quarters, we only scored 15 points and the pace of the game slowed down. Our offense bogged down and we allowed them to get back in the game and control the tempo.

Junior guard Chris Genaro had 11 points and senior forward Billy Nail contributed six points, on two 3-pointers for the Cards. Bourque paced Ludlowe with 13 points. Brunswick allowed Greenwich to use its gymnasium, since access to Greenwich’s gym has been limited for several weeks. A flood in the school’s Performing Arts Center affected the gym, so the Cardinals have played road games all season. They are hoping to get back to playing on their home court soon.

“It would be nice to play at the friendly confines of Greenwich High School, the kids are looking forward to that,” Lovermi said. “The team is looking forward to playing in front of their peers and friends.”

Greenwich has a scheduled road game against St. Joseph Thursday at 7 p.m.

GREENWICH HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS HOCKEY

Greenwich struck first, but Simsbury responded with five straight goals and registered a 5-1 win in a high school girls hockey game held at Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink on Monday evening.

Lexi Danielson gave Greenwich a 1-0 lead, tallying at the 7:03 mark of the first period. Emma Wingrove and Katie Piotrzkowski assisted on the goal.

Grace Melanson’s goal with 2:11left in the first period tied the score a 1-1. Simsbury took the lead for good when Sofia Marcktell scored with 8:13 remaining in the second period.

Mackenzie Chapman sealed the second-period scoring for Simsbury, making it 3-1 with 5:54 to go. Grace Melanson and Anna Melanson each added third-period goals for the victors. Chapman had two assists in the win, while Melanson, Molly Walsh and Marcktell each had an assist.

Piotrzkowski registered a goal in the final period for the Cardinals. Greenwich is back in action again Wednesday when it hosts Stamford/Westhill/Staples/Trinity Catholic at Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink at 8:15 p.m.

dfierro@greenwichtime.com

Fine performances

Matt Arena, Farmington Valley: Scored twice in a 5-2 win over Simsbury.

Jack Dacey, Guilford: Scored eight points in a 10-6 win over St. Joseph.

Gabe Feher, South Windsor: A goal and an assist in a 4-3 win over Glastonbury.

Will Ferraro, Masuk: Scored the winning goal as the Panthers got their first win, 3-1 over Milford.

Jake Festa, Sheehan: Scored three goals in a 7-1 win over Milford.

Michael Gethings, Hamden: Scored four goals in an 8-3 win over then-No. 2 Greenwich.

Ryan Huta, Eastern CT Eagles: A goal and three assists in a 5-2 win over Tri-Town.

Jack Manware, Branford: Scored twice in the first period to spark a 5-1 win over Cheshire.

Rowan Masse, East Catholic: A hat trick in a 3-1 win over North Branford.

Michael McCann, Newtown: Scored the tying goal in a 3-3 draw with Wilton.

Bennett McDermott, Darien: Hat trick in a 6-4 win at Notre Dame-West Haven.

Matt Odom, Woodstock Academy: Scored four times in a 6-3 win over Housatonic.

Andrew Powell, JBWA: Five points, including a hat trick, in an 8-1 win over Trinity Catholic.

Nick Salcedo, Northwest Catholic: Scored in overtime to beat New Canaan.

Tommy Schiesser, BBD: Scored three goals in a 6-6 tie with Hand.

Connor Smith, Notre Dame-West Haven: Made 32 saves in a 3-2 overtime win over Fairfield Prep.

Zach Strober, Staples: Scored four goals, one at even strength, one on a power play, one short-handed, one into an empty net.

Cody White, Amity: Scored three goals in a 6-3 win over Newtown.

Games to watch

Mount St. Charles (R.I.) at Hamden, Wednesday, 7 p.m.: Rhode Island’s storied program visits Connecticut’s storied program.

Sheehan at JBWA (Danbury Ice Arena), Wednesday, 8:40 p.m.: JBWA’s high-flying offense meets a Sheehan defense giving up barely a goal a game.

Xavier at Mount St. Charles (R.I.) (Adelard Arena), 7:30 p.m.: Wait, is the Mount trying to do that LaSalle Academy thing and get in on two different state championships?

Lancer Beanpot (The Rinks at Shelton): Friday, Prout (R.I.) vs. Calvert Hall (Md.), 5 p.m.; Notre Dame-Fairfield vs. St. Dominic’s (Maine), 7 p.m.; Saturday, consolation, 2 p.m.; championship, 4 p.m.: The Lancers bring in some far-flung teams for their annual get-together.

Darien vs. Ridgefield: Friday, Winter Garden, 5:20 p.m.; Saturday, Darien Ice House, 5 p.m.: No. 1 vs. No. 2, twice.

Amity at Branford (Northford Ice Pavilion), Saturday, 3:15 p.m.: Unbeaten Amity gets its toughest test yet on Wednesday against Notre Dame-West Haven, but this will be its toughest SCC Division II test yet.

Farmington Valley at Glastonbury (Trinity College), Saturday, 7:30 p.m.: Another couple of well-regarded upstate teams have at it for the first of two meetings.

Notre Dame-West Haven at Northwest Catholic (ISCC), Saturday, 8:10 p.m.: Yes, this is twice this week that the Green Knights could be someone’s Toughest Test Yet.

Trinity Catholic at Hand (Northford Ice Pavilion), Monday, 4 p.m.: The Crusaders will have a full week off to try to shake the flu bug before visiting Hand.

Ridgefield at New Canaan (Darien Ice House), Tuesday, Jan. 15, 6:30 p.m.: Three of Ridgefield’s first five FCIAC games are Darien (Friday), New Canaan (Tuesday) and Greenwich (Jan. 25).

Photo: H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media

Undefeated and unanimous No. 1 Ridgefield, which crushed Hamden, 6-1, on Saturday maintained its grip on the top spot of the GameTimeCT Top 10 hockey poll for the second consecutive week. 

New to the poll this week is No. 9 Division II Watertown/Pomperaug, which similarly wiped out East Haven Co-Op and St. Joseph by a combined score of 13-2. They replace Simsbury which dropped from the poll after coming in at No. 9 last week. NFI, which was tied with Xavier at No. 10, also dropped out.

HOCKEY NOTES: Ridgefield, Darien go back-to-back

Curiously, Greenwich dropped from No. 2 to No. 6 after suffering its first loss of the year, 8-3 to now-No. 4 Hamden while Darien, which lost Greenwich 3-0 just a couple weeks ago, jumped to No. 2. The Blue Wave did defeat Hamden, 3-1, last month.

The rest of the poll remained largely unchanged. NWC remained at No. 3, Notre Dame-West Haven remained at No. 5. Fairfield Prep and New Canaan remained at Nos. 7 and 8, respectively.

	TEAM (1st place votes)			REC	PTS	LAST	DIV
	1. RIDGEFIELD (13)			6-0-0	130	1	I
Results last week: def. Hamden 6-1. Bottom Line: The train rolls on. Two games with Darien this weekend.
	2. DARIEN			4-2-0	104	4	I
Results last week: def. Notre Dame-West Haven 6-4; def. Xavier 4-3. Bottom Line: Got back on track with a couple of good wins.
	3. NORTHWEST CATHOLIC			6-0-0	96	3	I
Results last week: def. New Canaan 3-2 (OT). Bottom Line: Lions have passed their Div. I tests so far. Another comes up this weekend.
	4. HAMDEN			5-4-0	83	6	I
Results last week: def. Greenwich 8-3, lost to Ridgefield 6-1. Bottom Line: After a huge win, ran into the buzzsaw. No time to pout with the Mount coming in.
	5. NOTRE DAME- WH			4-3-0	82	5	I
Results last week: lost to Darien 6-4; def. Fairfield Prep 3-2 (OT). Bottom Line: Shook a sort-of wacky loss to come back and beat the rival Jesuits.
	6. GREENWICH			2-1-1	76	2	I
Results last week: lost to Hamden 8-3. Bottom Line: Cards took a poll hit follwing their big loss to the Green Dragons.
	7. FAIRFIELD PREP			2-5-0	43	7	I
Results last week: lost to Notre Dame-West Haven 3-2 (OT). Bottom Line: Jesuits have 11 days off to work on things.
	8. NEW CANAAN			4-4-0	32	8	I
Results last week: def. NFI 4-3; lost to Northwest Catholic 3-2 (OT); def. St. Joseph 4-0. Bottom Line: FCIAC season gets cranked up with Trumbull and Ridgefield this week.
	9. WATERTOWN-POMPERAUG			5-2-1	21	NR	II
Results last week: def. East Haven Co-op 8-1, def. St. Joseph 5-1. Bottom Line: Three-game winning streak caught some attention.
	10. XAVIER			1-6	16	T10	I
Results last week: lost to Malden Catholic (Mass.) 5-1; lost to Darien 4-3. Bottom Line: Two games in Rhode Island this weekend before the Falcons play their first home game in four weeks.
Dropped out: Simsbury (9); NFI (T10). First-place votes in parentheses and points tabulated on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Others receiving votes: Guilford (6-2) 8; Amity (6-0) 7; Farmington (4-2-1) 4; NFI (3-2-3) 4; West Haven (4-3) 4; Branford (4-1-2) 3; Fairfield (3-2) 1; Simsbury (2-4-1) 1.
The following voted: Media: Media: Sean Begin, Hartford Courant; Luke Devoe, CTHSHockey.org; Michael Fornabaio, Connecticut Post; Tim Jensen, Patch Media Corp.; Greg Lederer, Cheshire Herald; Mike Madera, Elm City Newspapers; Dan Nowak, New Haven Register; Pete Paguaga, Hearst Connecticut Media; Jim Stout, MaxPreps.com; Peter Vander Veer, HAN Network. Coaches: Shaun Gallagher, Ridgefield; Matt Sather, Fairfield Prep; Larry Vieira, Notre Dame-West Haven.

STAMFORD — No girls basketball season is ever a smooth journey from opening day to the final postseason minute.

Despite some obstacles, the Hamden Hall girls basketball team continues to show its character and resiliency.

The Hornets led from start to finish as they earned their sixth victory of the season Tuesday by topping King School, 65-45.

“We wanted to get all 11 players some minutes today and we accomplished that,” Hamden Hall coach Amanda Russo said. “Everybody had been contributing well in practice the last few days and earned their time.”

Hamden Hall (6-5 overall) led 27-15 just 5:41 before intermission and 32-24 at halftime. A 16-5 surge settled the issue at 54-34 with 6:36 left.

HAMDEN HALL OPPORTUNISTIC

The Hornets buzzed successfully with their press. They also used their height advantage to good benefit on the offensive glass.

Hamden Hall’s current lone senior Jenna Berens finished with 11 points while Kelly Thomas added eight points, mainly on putbacks.

“It’s been about finding ways to win,” said Russo, in her first season at Hamden Hall after being an assistant coach at Central Connecticut State University. “We’re talented. We’re hard working. We did good work boxing out on the boards. Offensively, we were unselfish. Our philosophy of driving and dishing is starting to click.”

Shannon Rhone chipped in 10 points including a pair of 3-pointers. Hamden Hall’s most interesting option is 5-foot-11, eighth grader Jayda Johnson. She collected a team-high 19 points.

“We lost two starters early in the season to knee injuries. We’ve had to adjust and overcome adversity,” Russo said. “Kids have had to step up. Four of our five losses have been by less than five points.

“Jayda (Johnson) is so talented. Despite her youth (age 14), she is a calming influence on the court,” Russo continued. “She is averaging 15 points and 10 rebounds per game. And she’s been very unselfish and has involved everybody in the offense.”

PROGRESS CONTINUES FOR KING

The loss left King at 1-5 overall. The Vikings were paced by senior guard Alonna Christy, who became the 7th and latest member of King girls basketball’s 1,000 career point club earlier this season.

Christy finished with a game-high 30 points Tuesday while directing the Vikings’ offense. She made 12 of 13 free throws in the contest.

Mariana McOsker (eight points) and Zoe Tinnesz (four points) contributed for King.

“Yes, we do rely on Alonna. Hamden Hall is a tough opponent,” said King’s first-year coach Greg Fleming. “All the girls did a lot of good work in our practices over the Holiday Break. The girls generally were more aggressive and looking to shoot today. We know it isn’t going to all come together overnight. But we can see the process for progress is working.”

HAMDEN HALL 65, KING 45

HAMDEN HALL (6-5)

Taryn Bellamy 0 0-0 0 Kendra Hill 2 2-3 6 Shannon Rhone 4 0-2 10 Jayda Johnson 9 1-1 19 Jenna Berens 4 3-4 11 Alex Blaise 1 0-1 2 Ellie Moffat 1 0-0 2 Bella Mecca 0 0-0 0 Madisyn D’Errico 1 1-2 3 Destinee Gabriel 1 2-4 4 Kelly Thomas 4 0-0 8. Totals: 27 9-17 65.

KING (1-5)

Alonna Christy 8 12-13 30 Sophie O’Connor 0 0-0 0 Erica Cunningham 0 0-0 0 Rachel Oberst 0 0-0 0 Kate Lockyer 0 0-0 0 Zoe Tinnesz 2 0-0 4 Olivia Boeckman 1 1-2 3 Mimi White 0 0-0 0 Diana Degnan 0 0-0 0 Christine Hanson 0 0-0 0 Mariana McOsker 3 0-1 8. Totals: 14 13-16 45.

HAMDEN HALL 32 33—65
KING 24 21—45

3-Pointers: HH—Rhone 2. K—Christy 2.

NORTHFORD – Being on the varsity team is no easy task for a freshman.

Starting on the top line is even harder.

How about having your brother, who is the captain, the team’s best player and maybe the top player in Division III be on the team with you?

Welcome to Jack Roberts’ freshman season.

“I wanted to prove myself,” Jack Roberts said. “So playing with him gives me that push.”

Big brother, Kyle Roberts, knew what his brother was capable of doing on the ice, so he knew he could push him a little more.

“It’s been a little tough,” Kyle said. “I like to be hard on him, but I don’t want to be too hard on him.”

Lyman Hall’s Kyle Roberts makes its 5-0 with his second of the game with 24 seconds left in second #cthk pic.twitter.com/4HawHQiqHo

— Pete Paguaga (@PetePaguaga) December 27, 2018

When the season started, Lyman Hall/Haddam-Killingworth/Coginchaug coach Richie Minnix decided to not play the two brothers, from Coginchaug, together.

After some practices, scrimmages and then right before the first game of the season, Kyle asked Minnix to put them together.

“I’m like alright, we’ll give it a shot,” Minnix said.

In that game, Jack scored the game-tying goal with five seconds left and added two more assists in a 5-4 overtime win over North Haven.

“Then we realized, yeah they should play together,” Minnix said with a laugh.

The three-point opening night surprised many, including Kyle.

“I didn’t know,” Kyle said. “I knew he was a great player. I think he is better than I was freshman year – I’ll say that, I know that for a fact. But with our schedule – at the beginning – I didn’t think he would be that much of a help, especially playing Branford, Cheshire, big physical teams. He’s been a lot more of a help than I thought.”

The physicality of the game was one thing that Jack said was the biggest difference from last year to this year.

“The speed and the amount of hits that are thrown in games. It’s a lot more physical,” Jack said. “I’m not the one of the fastest players, I have to learn to pass more, be able to pick my head up and use my speed.”

So far this season, Jack has four goals and seven assists for 11 points in just six games.

“He’s stepping right up to the plate,” Minnix said. “It’s almost like he is a sophomore or junior at this point.”

With the help of his brother, Kyle has continued his dominance over opponents, scoring six goals and adding 13 assists for 19 points, helping the Trojans to a 4-2 start.

Chalk it up to a brother connection?

“It was so much fun, he’s such a good playmaker, he knows where to be. He’s such a good passer,” Kyle said. “It’s unbelievable.

“I don’t understand it, but I feel like we always know where each other is. We just have that knowledge of where to put the puck and where to be. He’s just always there, he helps me out so much.”

Both of their play has helped junior forward – and linemate – Matt Pettit immensely.

“I just kind of sit back and watch,” Pettit said. “I’m just trying to fit in the best I can.”

Pettit has done that, scoring nine goals and adding eight assists this season. He also has had two hat-tricks.

Matt Pettit scores two and half minutes in and it’s 1-0 Lyman Hall over Hand in the first #cthk pic.twitter.com/ymvSFcYkYO

— Pete Paguaga (@PetePaguaga) December 26, 2018

Earlier this season Jack helped Kyle reach the 150-point plateau for his career in their 6-4 win over Westhill/Stamford.

“We’re producing a lot goals because we know where each other is,” said Jack, who added that the hockey talk doesn’t stop at the rink. “(We) watch the games (at home) to see what we can do better.”

Also at home are two very excited parents – Nicole and Bill Roberts – who get to see their sons play hockey on the same team for the first time.

There is also grandma, Mary Arnold, who might be the duo’s biggest fan.

“They were super excited,” Kyle said. “They have been looking forward to it. After my sophomore year, they realized that it was getting closer and closer.”

Both mom and grandma sport pins on their jackets that read, both, No. 19 for Kyle and No. 8 for Jack.

“They have been our best supporters, they love seeing us play together,” Kyle said. “They just love it.”

It also helps that the parents only have to drive to one rink now and they don’t have to drive them to practice.

“He doesn’t even pay me for gas,” Kyle said with a laugh.

While most girls basketball players around the state prepared for the upcoming season this past fall by training or playing fall ball, Westbrook senior Savannah Marshall was following another passion.

Marshall traded in her shorts and high-top sneakers, opting for a green-sequins dress and several other ensembles for her leading part as the Lady of the Lake in Westbrook’s production of the musical “Spamalot.”

It was not a fling for Marshall, who has taken part in school musicals every fall since entering Westbrook as a freshman.

Coming from a family obsessed with sports and after playing basketball all winter for Westbrook and most of the spring and summer in AAU, Marshall considers the musicals a much needed respite from hoops.

“It’s my little thing because our family is super athletic, it’s all athletes,” Marshall said “I love it, it’s my little escape from the competitive sports world. As I’ve gotten older it’s more important for me to have my own little thing. I’m into theater and I quit playing soccer to do that in the fall. One year we did Footloose and I’d come home sweating and it was supposed to by my offseason. But doing these musicals is so much fun for me.”

Marshall is not overstating the athleticism in her family.

Her mother, father, grandfather, aunt, uncle and cousin all played sports in college and Marshall plans to do the same, committing to play basketball at Sacred Heart University next year.

Her father is former UConn men’s basketball player Donny Marshall, who played for the Huskies from 1991-95 and for five years in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New Jersey Nets.

Her mother is Kelly (Penwell) Landino, a standout player for Platt High School in Meriden who went on to play for the University of Hartford. She is a member of the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Landino is also Savannah’s coach at Westbrook and has been coaching her daughter since Savannah began an after-school program in Chester, where they lived at the time, when Marshall was in first grade.

Landino continued coaching Marshall through parks and recreation, travel and AAU teams, then eventually at Westbrook.

Marshall moved to Westbrook in sixth grade and a year later, Landino took the Westbrook varsity coaching job, temporarily passing Marshall off to coach Scotty Nails and the Connecticut Basketball Club AAU program in middle school.

She and Donny Marshall are divorced, with Donny now living near Storrs, though he comes to see Savannah play throughout the season.

Marshall gets aspects of her game from both parents.

“It’s like a freight train coming down the court and she will run over everything or anyone in her way. That was her father’s style, he would just run through everybody and that’s her,” Landino said. “I think she thinks she is 6-feet tall. (she’s 5-foot-8) She just gets going through the middle and isn’t stopping. I wouldn’t change her style of play because that’s what makes her so fierce. She definitely gets that from him.”

And from mom.

“My motto was always ‘shoot first.’ I am very offensive and I feel like I have taught her to be an offensive player,” Landino said. “Defense is not my specialty and the last two years her AAU coach, Scotty Nails, has done an awesome job with her defensively. I am very offensive-minded but that is not always the best way to be. I have taught her multiple ways to score, but defensively, I have to give that credit to Scotty.”

Nails told Marshall if she wanted to take her game to the next level and play in D-I, she had to get serious about defense.

“The first thing we had to do with Savannah was prove that she could guard people,” Nails said. “All you have to do is tell her something once and she gets it. She is a tough kid, very competitive and won’t back down from anybody. The one thing we can’t teach people is how to lead and Savannah has it in her and is the leader of our team. She has it in her.”

Nails said that while Marshall obviously comes from an exceptional basketball gene pool, she has forged her own path in every way.

“She is not trying to be someone’s daughter. She doesn’t want to be known as Donny’s daughter or Kelly’s daughter, she wants to be Savannah Marshall,” Nails said. “She has done that. Now they talk about Donny being Savannah’s dad and Kelly being Savannah’s mom because she’s been able to accomplish her own goals and make a name for herself.”

Being coached by a parent might make compartmentalizing difficult for some, but Marshall and Landino are able to separate basketball and family.

“It’s funny, because people always talk about how teenage daughters and their moms argue, or don’t get along, but we haven’t had that,” Marshall said. “I wouldn’t want another coach. I learned everything I know from her. We have such a great relationship.”

Now that Marshall has a driver’s license, she leaves after games with friends, eliminating some of Landino’s favorite time she used to spend with her daughter: the drive home from games.

Landino said the drive home used to be the perfect way to discuss the game before leaving it at their door, but now the basketball creeps into the house occasionally.

“There is some overlap. Before she got her license we would talk basketball the whole way home and then as soon as we got home, I’d turn into mom. I have a younger daughter, too and life kind of happens when you walk through the door,” Landino said.

“Now that she’s driving, she leaves after the game with her friends and we will usually catch up late that night or the next day and we will talk basketball. It does happen a little more at home than it ever did before. I liked it better in the car and kind of getting it all out. I always said if it didn’t work coaching her in high school, I’d stop. She makes it easy because she is such a good kid.”

Marshall is not only a good kid, but a star basketball player in the Shoreline Conference, where she has scored over 1,300 points with 500 rebounds an counting in her career.

She has been named first-team All-Shoreline three times and New Haven Register All-Area and CHSCA All-State twice.

This season, despite facing gimmick defenses designed to slow her, she is still playing at an all-state level.

Teams have not only thrown box-and-ones at her, but also played a triangle-and-two with two players blanketing Marshall, at times.

Last week against Old Saybrook Marshall had a career-high 40 points along with 16 rebounds and 12 steals for a triple-double in a 58-43 win.

Marshall has collected all the personal accolades, but has team goals in her sights. Westbrook did not make the Class S tournament last season after going out in the second round her sophomore season. Qualifying for the Shoreline and Class S state tournaments are very important to Marshall.

“It is very important for us to make states. Last year we had a lot of injuries and this year we have three seniors and we all want this and we are all focused on getting to the state tournament,” Marshall said. “No matter how far we get, we just want to make it in. We have played with each other since sixth grade and we are friends off the court. I moved around a lot when I was younger, so, I don’t have childhood friends like everyone in this town who lived here their whole lives. I’d love to end our senior year playing in the state tournament.”

If her previous accomplishments are any indication, Marshall can certainly lead Westbrook to the postseason.

Next year she will not only be playing basketball at Sacred Heart, but hopes to pursue theater as a minor as well.

Because that is her own little thing.