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SCC Quarterfinals: Defending champ Wilbur Cross gets past Shelton; Hamden survives West Haven

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Joe Morelli / Hearst Connecticut Media

BRANFORD – The defending champions were on the brink of being sent home from the Southern Connecticut Conference tournament Saturday.

But sixth-seeded Wilbur Cross made some clutch free throws and one huge steal in the final second to defeat No. 3 seed Shelton 56-53 in the quarterfinals at Branford High.

Darius Esdaile (15 points) made three trips to the free-throw line with less than a minute left, making only one each time, but on the last trip, gave Cross (15-7) the lead for good, 54-53, with 11.3 seconds left.

SCC BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET

“I’ve been struggling with free throws the whole season,” Esdaile said. “I have to breathe and focus on my free throws and keep my elbow in.”

Then Cross was able to double-team Shelton’s Peri Basimakopoulos (team-high 25 points, including a tying 3-pointer with 16 seconds left) and force a turnover. This time Jovan Taylor from Cross was fouled with 3.9 seconds left.

“That last play where I got the steal, Coach Kev made that call on the sideline to double-team (Basimakopoulos) on the sideline. So I just went and made the play.”

Said Shelton coach Brian Gardiner: “We were trying to get it to Belade and open it up. They denied him the ball. Peri got it. When they doubled him, Belade was open. When he started to spin, I couldn’t get a timeout out of my mouth (to call before the turnover occurred).”

Taylor redeemed himself for blowing a breakaway dunk minutes earlier by making both free throws to give the Governors a 3-point lead.

“I’m proud of him. A week ago, he might have gone in the tank and we wouldn’t have gotten any more out of hum,” Walton said. “I’m really happy he redeemed himself.”

Shelton (17-5) tried to run the old Valparaiso play from the 1998 NCAA tournament – the one that made Bryce Drew a star with the last-second shot. But Vincent DeFeo had the ball bounce off his fingertips out of bounds.

“The problem was there were 3 seconds left, so it’s really hard to pick and choose who you go to,” Gardiner said. “He (DeFeo) was in Peri’s spot on that play. We executed it brilliantly, but I think (DeFeo) looked at the basket and it went through his hands.”

So, Cross will get a third chance to try and knock off its Elm City rival Monday night in the semifinals. No. 2 Hillhouse, which eliminated No. 7 Xavier, awaits for the 7:45 p.m. showdown at the Floyd Little Athletic Center.

“This is why you come to Cross. This is what we want,” Walton said. “If we are going to win this championship, we are going to go through the two best teams in the conference. This is what we are waiting for.”

As for Shelton, which had won 17 of its last 18 coming into the game, this wasn’t about just making a good showing.

Gardiner said: “I told (the players), ‘This was not one of those games where it was, Hey we played them tough. That was not our mentality. We weren’t coming in here just to hang around with Wilbur Cross. We were coming in here to beat them. It wasn’t a moral victory. But I couldn’t be more proud how hard we played and how much we hustled. We played mostly with just five guys and we were flying around the court. It takes a pretty good conditioned team to do that for 32 minutes.”

Shelton took its first lead at 41-40 early in the fourth quarter on Belade’s basket. Basimakopoulos had six points early in that period as Shelton built on its lead.

Cross retook the lead but Basimakopoulos’ heroics were not done. He banked in a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left, the final touches on a night where Cross couldn’t slow him down.

“Peri is awesome. You look at Peri and think, ‘He can’t be that good. He’s not that tall, he’s not that strong, he’s not quick, but he has the heart of a champion. He plays as hard as he possibly can and does everything he possibly can to get us the win. That’s all he wants,” Gardiner said.

Said Walton: “He’s as good as advertised. We owe him that level of respect (to double-team him on the steak late).”

WILBUR CROSS 56, SHELTON 53

WILBUR CROSS (11-7)
Darius Esdaile 1 1 4-8 9, Jayvon Taylor 5 0 2-2 12, Jaleem Sayles 2 0 0-0 4, Daquan Goodwin 0 1 0-0 3, Dereyk Grant 7 2 5-8 25, Jacari Douglas 0 1 0-0 3
SHELTON (17-5)
Brian Belade 3 0 9-10 15, Peri Basimakopoulos 4 4 5-6 25, Melvin Kolenovic 2 0 2-2 6, Mike Callinan 2 0 0-0 4, Gavin Rohlman 1 0 1-2 3, Vin Defeo 0 0 0-1 0
WILBUR CROSS    11 12 17 16 — 56
SHELTON         6 16 14 17 — 53

♦♦♦

Laput, Notre Dame-WH advance past Fairfield Prep

 

Zach Laput scored 17 points and Brett Hutchison added 15 for top seed Notre Dame-West Haven beat No. 8 Fairfield Prep 64-53 in the SCC tournament quarterfinals at Branford High on Saturday.

The Green Knights (20-1) never trailed and defeated Fairfield Prep for the third time this season. Notre Dame advances to Monday’s semifinals for the fourth straight season.

The game was tied at 12 midway through the second quarter, then the Green Knights went on a 9-2 run to close out the half and lead 21-14. Hutchison had seven of those points.

It was Hutchison who hit the 3-point shot to put the Green Knights up double digits for the first time. Laput got the offensive rebound and kicked out to Hutchison, who put Notre Dame up 36-25.

“It definitely wasn’t my best game but my teammates definitely picked me up,” Laput said. “That’s what it’s about when you want to win a championship. Everybody has to come together.”

Notre Dame built the lead to 15 (50-35) with 5:31 left, but Prep wasn’t done. The Jesuits (12-10) cut it to six on a couple of occasions, but couldn’t get any closer. The Green Knights hit nine free throws in the final 92 seconds to seal the win. Notre Dame shot 14 of 17 from the line in the fourth.

Max McGillicuddy and Logan Carey had 17 and 16, respectively, to lead Fairfield Prep.

NOTRE DAME-WEST HAVEN 64, FAIRFIELD PREP 53

FAIRFIELD PREP
Aidan Harding 5 0 2-4 12, Max Manjos 0 2 0-0 6, Max McGuillicuddy 5 1 4-5 17, Logan Carey 2 2 6-7 16, Conner Moore 1 0 0-0 2
NOTRE DAME-WEST HAVEN
Kairon Hooks 1 0 0-1 2, Ben Carroll 1 1 4-4 9, Zach Laput 2 2 7-10 17, Amadou Kamara 2 0 6-9 10, Marquise McDuffie 1 1 0-0 5, Brett Hutchinson 4 2 1-2 15, Timaury Gay 1 0 0-0 2, Tre Rawlins 1 0 2-3 4
FAIRFIELD PREP      8 6 15 24 — 53
NOTRE DAME-WH   11 10 18 25 — 64

♦♦♦

Chapman spurs Hamden past West Haven

Jayvon Chapman came off the bench to score 18 points, including two clutch free throws down the stretch, to lead the fifth-seeded Hamden to the SCC semifinals for the third straight year.

Hamden will face top seed Notre Dame-West Haven in Monday’s semifinals. Hamden (16-6) is the only team to beat Notre Dame this season.

“That was a while ago. It’s going to take an incrdible effort (to win),” Hamden coach Jarrad Beck said. “Notre Dame is a good team. Hopefully, they are not on their A game and we are on our A game.”

West Haven (15-7) came all the way back from a 15-point deficit in the first half to tie the game twice in the fourth quarter. But the Westies were never able to grab the lead.

 

“If we get that lead the game changes. We had a plan in place if we were able to secure the lead,” West Haven coach Ty Sullivan said. “We were playing for that two-point lead that we never could get.”

Malcolm Duncanson (17 points) tied it at 57 for the Westies. Hamden called for timeout with 36.2 seconds left. Chapman was fouled 15 seconds later, then made both free throws to put Hamden (16-6) up 59-57.

Mustapha Baio missed a contested shot at the basket. Brandon Amos missed his first free throw attempt, made the second to put the Green Dragons up 60-57 with 4.6 seconds left. Shea Sheffield, who led the Westies with 22 points, missed a desperation heave at the buzzer to try and send the game into overtime.

The Green Dragons started strong, going on a 19-2 run to close out the opening quarter to take a 21-7 lead. They grabbed 14 rebounds in the opening quarter.

Camaree Williams added 15 points for the Green Dragons.

HAMDEN 60, WEST HAVEN 57

HAMDEN
Heston Tucker 4 0 0-2 8, Jayvon Chapman 1 3 7-8 18, Michael Greene 1 0 4-4 6, Ali Aklin 1 0 1-2 3, Brandon Amos 2 0 3-6 7, Isaiah Riley 0 1 0-0 3, Camaree Williams 5 0 5-8 15
WEST HAVEN
Shea Sheffield 1 5 5-6 22, Marlin Walker 0 0 1-2 1, Manny Belcher 1 1 5-6 10, Moustapha Baio 3 0 1-4 7, Malcolm Duncanson 3 0 11-17 17
HAMDEN      21 13 14 12 — 60
WEST HAVEN 7 16 21 13 — 57

♦♦♦

Scott-Alexander wills Hillhouse past Xavier

Evan Scott Alexander was the only player in double figures with 12 points for Hillhouse, which grinded out the victory to reach Monday night’s semifinals at the Floyd Little Athletic Center.

Scott Alexander made a tying 3-point shot off Ta’Zhon Daniels’ kick-out pass just before the third quarter buzzer sounded. That tied the game at 32.

“(Daniels) went around under the basket swung it over to me and I hard to hit it,” Scott Alexander said.

Said Hllhouse coach Renard Sutton: “That gave us momentum.”

Daniels made two free throws to give Hillhouse (19-2) the lead for good early in the fourth quarter. Stephen Kohs (14 points) made a pair of 3-point shots to keep the Falcons (14-8) in it, but Hillhouse managed to defeat Xavier for the third time this season.

“You play them two times, they are going to make the adjustments. That’s a good coaching staff,” Sutton said about Xavier. “It’s hard to win a game like that three times.”

K.J. Grisham led Xavier with 15 points.

HILLHOUSE 46, XAVIER 41

XAVIER
Marcus Williams 2 0 2-3 6, Parker Hunter 1 0 0-0 2, Andrew Brown 1 0 2-6 4, KJ Grisham 3 3 0-0 15, Stephen Kohs 2 3 1-3 14
HILLHOUSE
Cincere Lash 1 1 0-0 5, Ta’zhon Daniels 2 1 2-5 9, Matthew Gibbs 0 1 0-0 3, Turone Kelley 4 0 0-2 8, Raymond Bowens 0 3 0-0 9, Evan Scott Alexander 3 2 0-0 12, Alonzo Solomon 0 0 0-1 0
XAVIER             16 8 8 9 — 41
HILLHOUSE  15 5 12 14 — 46