Becker’s double-double sparks Warde past rival Ludlowe

FAIRFIELD — The University of Virginia is really good at it on most nights, but for the most part, trying to control tempo is rather difficult for most basketball teams, especially at the high school boys level. Sooner or later, the other guys are going to flip it.

That happened sooner rather than later Wednesday night for the Fairfield Ludlowe boys basketball team. The Falcons were in a comfortable slowdown mode for one quarter before Fairfield Warde, which prefers to get out and run, flipped it on them and the Mustangs, led by Matt Becker and Matt Houghton, went on to a 44-32 FCIAC victory.

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“They hold a lot of teams to low point totals,” Warde coach Ryan Swaller said after his team not only won the town championship over its cross-town rival but also eliminated Ludlowe from FCIAC playoff contention. “We got two points in the first quarter! Two points! I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ ”

Ludlowe (8-10, 6-8 FCIAC) did what it wanted to do early and led 6-2 after one quarter.

“We did a good job in the first quarter,” Ludlowe coach John Dailey said. “But then they dictated tempo — they’re so good in transition — and we didn’t make any shots.”

Warde (11-7, 8-6) outscored the Falcons 15-4 in the second quarter to take a 17-10 lead, and Ludlowe’s slowdown plans were on the ropes.

“We knew coming in that they were going to slow it down,” said Becker who had 12 points and 14 rebounds. “It took us a quarter but we realized that we had to push the pace.”

Warde didn’t exactly explode offensively after they were able to get their transition game going: The Mustangs made just 10 of 39 shots from the field. But after building the seven-point halftime lead, the Falcons never got any closer.

“Once we fell behind, I was concerned about how we were going to score points,” Dailey said.

Ludlowe, led by Patrick Kilbride’s 13 points, missed 26 of its first 32 shots before finishing 6 for 11. With Becker leading the way, Warde made it even tougher for the Falcons to come back by out rebounding them 37-25. Brendan McMahon added five rebounds for the Mustangs, who led 26-17 after three quarters.

“Becker is averaging a double-double and he just finds a way to help; he’s our leader,” Swaller said. “He is consistent in all facets of the game.”

“This is a huge win for us,” Becker added. “Anytime you beat Ludlowe it’s huge and we needed this for the playoffs.”

Warde entered Wednesday holding the eighth and final FCIAC playoff berth, one game ahead of Ludlowe, McMahon and Trinity Catholic with two games remaining.

Ludlowe can only hope now to improve its state tournament seeding.

“This won’t define our year,” Dailey said.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

While Warde’s Matt Houghton and Ludlowe’s Patrick Kilbride led all scorers with 13 points, it was Warde’s Matt Becker who was the best player on the floor with 12 points and 14 rebounds.

QUOTABLE

“We’re feeling really good right now; we just beat Trumbull before this and now Ludlowe so we’re going into the post-season strong,” — Warde’s Matt Becker.

WARDE 44, LUDLOWE 32

WARDE 2 15 11 18—44
LUDLOWE 6 4 7 15—32

FAIRFIELD WARDE (44)

Jeff Seganos 0 0-0 0; Joey Gulbin 2 1-2 5; Matt Becker 2 7-11 12; Brendan McMahon 0 7-8 7; Matt Houghton 4 3-5 13; Jack McKenna 1 1-4 3; Christian Homa 0 0-0 0; Ben Steele 1 0-0 2 Nick Crescione 0 0-0 0; Eli Feay 0 1-2 1; Dennis Parker 0 0-0 0; Justyn Davis 0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 10-39 21-32 44

FAIRFIELD LUDLOWE (32)

Patrick Kilbride 4 2-2 13; Jeff Meyers 2 2-4 6; James Bourque 1 1-4 3; Christian Peterson 1 0-0 2; Jadyn Tabois 2 0-0 4; Ian Bentley 0 0-0 0; Jake Northrop 0 0-0 0; Sam Sweeney 2 0-0 4; Chris Carlucci 0 0-0 0; Connor Lawlor 0 0-0 0; Patrick Leverty 0 0-1 0; Rowan Keeser 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12-43 5-11 32

3-pointers: FW Houghton 2, Becker— . FL — Kilbride 3. Records: FW 11-7, 8-6; FL 8-10, 6-8