A four-overtime game led to an NBA-style score Saturday in Groton as Valley Regional-Deep River outlasted Fitch 112-107. The Hartford Courant reported the game was tied at 65 after a wild finish in regulation. Valley tied the score with a 10-0 run, then an apparent game-winning three by Fitch’s Mario Graham (29 points) was ruled to have come after the buzzer. Chris Jean-Pierre had 39 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists for Valley (8-2). Fitch is 4-7.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
No. 1 Capital Prep-Hartford (11-0) survived another out-of-state challenge, holding on to defeat Murry Bergtraum (N.Y.), 71-70. The Courant reported the 15-time defending New York City champions outscored Prep 30-13 in the fourth quarter; Prep’s Kiah Gillespie (27 points) scored the deciding point on a free throw with 10 seconds left. After No. 3 RHAM’s upset loss to Rocky Hill Friday (WFSB video here), Prep is among five remaining state unbeaten teams: No. 2 Mercy, No. 4 South Windsor, No. 6 Wilton and unranked Holy Cross-Waterbury are the others. The CPTV Sports team will be in Bristol Friday January 31 when Holy Cross (12-0), the top-rated team in Class M, visits St. Paul (12-1), the No. 1 Class S team.
BOYS HOCKEY
It was all Notre Dame-West Haven as the No. 1 Green Knights dominated Hamden, 6-0. GameTimeCT.com’s Dan Nowak reported the Knights (10-1-1) rolled with a 34-28 advantage in shots. . .Branford (8-1-1) warmed up for its meeting against rival North Branford with a 5-3 win over Cheshire. CPTV Sports will be at the Northford Ice Pavilion Wednesday for a tripleheader that will be capped off by Branford-North Branford. The other two games are Trinity Catholic-North Haven and Hand-TriTown. North Haven, Branford and Trinity Catholic are rated 2-3-4 in CIAC Division II, with East Catholic-Manchester No. 1.
INDOOR TRACK
High school indoor track conference meets are under way: The Bloomfield boys and Simsbury girls won the CCC titles; Griswold’s boys and girls won the ECC meets. In the FCIAC’s divisional meets, Darien’s boys and girls swept the East, the Danbury boys and Staples girls won the West and the Norwalk boys and Ridgefield girls the Central.
Rocky Hill pulled off the upset of the night, defeating previously unbeaten RHAM-Hebron, 58-48. RHAM was third in the GameTimeCT.com state media/coaches poll, . . .Nonnewaug improved to 11-1 with a 41-35 win over Northwestern Regional in a Berkshire League game. The CPTV Sports broadcast premiere is Monday at 7 p.m. Nonnewaug is battling with Lewis Mills (10-1) for the BL title . . .No. 5 Wilton improved to 11-0 with a 49-40 win over Greenwich; No. 9 Danbury ralied to defeat Farifield Warde, 49-43. Wilton is the top-rated team in Class L; however, two teams behind them in the ratings are ahead of them in poll - No. 1 Capital Prep-Hartford and RHAM . . Ellington’s Karlee Alves’ surpassed the 1,000 point mark in the Knights’ 54-39 win over Somers.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Farmington handed Simsbury its first loss of the year, beating its neighborhood rival 62-49 at home. Simsbury is 11-1, Farmington 7-3.
BOYS HOCKEY
Fermi-Enfield knocked off Simsbury 2-1, two days after the Trojans won by the same score over East Catholic. The CPTV Sports broadcast premiere of that game is Saturday night at 7 p.m.
Kennedy High closed the game with a 28-6 run to beat Waterbury rival Wilby 79-68 January 23 in CPTV Sports’ second LIVE boys basketball game of 2014. The game will be replayed several times in upcoming days (check broadcast schedule).
Kennedy, coming off a tough loss to NVL leader Crosby-Waterbury the night before, was led by Don Jarrett, who had 36 points. Kennedy is 9-2, Wilby, also coming off a Wednesday loss to a city rival (Sacred Heart), dropped to 8-3. Read the game story by the Waterbury Republican’s Ron Putetti here.
In a game seen LIVE on CPTV Sports, Kennedy High finished the game with a 28-6 run to rally past Waterbury rival Wilby, 79-68. Kennedy is 9-2, Wilby 8-3. . . . For the second night in a row, Wilbur Cross beat a ranked opponent, this time New Haven rival Hillhouse. The Governors’ 67-61 overtime over the No. 5 Academics was notable for two things — Cross held Hillhouse without a basket in the final 7:52 and won despite missing 20 free throws (both stats courtesy GameTimeCT.com’s Joe Morelli). Cross defeated No. 9 Xavier Wednesday; both Cross and Hillhouse are both 8-3. . No. 3 Bridgeport Central rolled past city rival Bassick, 90-67.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Junior Kiah Gillespie went over the 1,000-point mark for her career as the No. 1 Capital Prep-Hartford girls defeated Ellis Tech-Danielson 68-16. Prep (10-0) plays its fifth out-of-state opponent Saturday when the Trailblazers visit Murry Burgtraum (N.Y.)
OF NOTE
Tebucky Jones was reinstated as New Britain High’s football coach, ending an episode which began with his resignation two weeks ago . . . Wednesday night, New Milford extended its SWC unbeaten match streak to 82 with an exciting 36-29 win over Newtown. Read the match story by the Danbury News-Times’ Jason Sonski here. New Milford, ranked third in the state, is 7-0, No. 6 Newtown is 6-1.
The Kennedy and Wilby boys will renew their Waterbury rivalry LIVE on CPTV Sports Thursday at 7:00 pm at Wilby a day after both teams endured tough losses to other city rivals. Unbeaten Crosby, second in this week’s GameTimeCT.com state media top 10 poll, routed Kennedy 82-43 as Crosby’s Tyshon Rogers scored 30 points to become the school’s all-time scoring leader. Sacred Heart topped No. 8 Wilby 78-61. Crosby is 10-0, the Hearts are 9-2, Wilby and Kennedy 8-2. More on Crosby’s win from the Waterbury Repbulican’s Joe Palladino’s here . .In New Haven, unranked Wilbur Cross defeated No. 8 Xavier, 55-52. Both teams are 7-3.
FOOTBALL
Next year’s CIAC football playoffs will have the same amount of teams (32), but with only semifinals and finals. This seems to mean there will be a doubling of classes and champions from four to eight, but the CIAC said it will finalize the structure next month. . . .Pete Rossomando was officially named the new head football coach at Central Connecticut, the same position Rossomando held at New Haven the past five years.
BOYS HOCKEY
Simsbury defeated East Catholic 2-1 in Cromwell in a CCC North game that will be seen on CPTV Sports Saturday at 7:00 pm. It was the second consecutive game Trojans freshman goalie Mike Adorno held the opponent to one goal. Simsbury (6-3) and East (8-2) are battling Glastonbury for the division title.
Simsbury freshman goalie Mike Adorno held the opponent to one goal for the second game in row as the Trojans defeated East Catholic-Manchester 2-1 in a CCC North boys hockey game January 22 in Cromwell. CPTV Sports will show the game several times in upcoming days (check broadcast schedule) Simsbury is 6-3, East, the top-rated team in CIAC Division II, is 8-2.
As expected a quiet day with state high school sports shut down due to the snowstorm. The GameTimeCT.com state media/coaches hockey poll came out with the top 5 intact - starting with No. 1 Notre Dame-West Haven and No. 2 Fairfield Prep. Two teams in the also receiving votes category — East Catholic (8-1) and Simsbury (5-3) — will meet as schedued Wednesday in Cromwell with a broadcast premiere on Saturday on CPTV Sports. East Catholic is the top-rated team in CIAC Division II.
Maura Fitzpatrick scored 24 points on 6-for-9 field goal shooting as Mercy remained unbeaten with a 65-47 victory over Career Magnet-New Haven in an SCC girls basketball game January 17 in Middletown. CPTV Sports showed the game LIVE and will replay it several times in upcoming days (check broadcast schedule). Game story by GameTimeCT.com’s Henry Chisholm here.
Defending state Class LL champion Mercy (12-0) is No. 2 and Career No. 10 in the latest GameTimeCT.com state coaches/media poll. Both teams are again contenders for the Class LL title. It was the second loss of the week for Career (8-2), which fell 46-26 to No. 5 Lauralton Hall-Milford Jan. 13. It was Mercy’s second CPTV Sports appearance of the season; the Tigers defeated Lauralton Hall 48-38 December 28 in a rematch of the dramatic 2013 Class LL championship game won by Mercy.
The top three teams — Fairfield Prep, Crosby-Waterbury and Bridgeport Central — remained the same in the new GameTimeCT.com state media boys basketball poll. Career moved up two spots to fourth after defeating No. 5 Hillhouse and giving Prep a battle Sunday before falling, 63-58. No. 8 Wilby, which hosts unranked Waterbury rival Kennedy LIVE on CPTV Sports Thursday (7:00pm), kept a top 10 spot despite its 99-69 loss to Crosby last week . . ..In girls basketball, St. Paul-Bristol routed Ansonia 50-22 for its ninth win in a row. St. Paul (11-1) is now the top rated team in Class S.
BOYS HOCKEY
Connecticut’s top two high school teams tested themselves against tough out-of-state competition on Monday. No. 1 Notre Dame-West Haven defeated Rhode Island No. 1 Bishop Hendricken 6-4 on the road; Fairfield Prep played Don Bosco (N.J.) to a 2-2 draw in Bridgeport.
SNOW DAY?
As the state braces for Tuesday’s predicted winter storm, state high school athletic directors braced for the likelihood of multiple postponements.
In a rare Sunday afternoon game, Fairfield Prep solidified its hold on the state’s No. 1 ranking, rallying past No. 6 Career 63-58 in New Haven. Prep (11-0) went on a 17-6 run at the start of the fourth quarter. Read more about the game by the Connecticut Post’s Doug Bonjour here. CPTV Sports will cover Prep’s return to the Floyd Little Athletic Center LIVE in two weeks when the Jesuits face No. 4 Hillhouse January 31 at 6:00 pm.. . . Wilbur Cross High officially named its gym after longtime coach Bob Saulsbury. The New Haven Register’s Joe Morelli reported the event was highlighted by a congratulatory letter from President Barack Obama in addition to appearances by many of Saulsbury’s former players and opponents.
Defensive tackle Terrance Knighton of Windsor played a key role for Denver in its 26-16 win over New England in the AFC Championship Game. Hartford Courant columnist Jeff Jacobs, a regular on CPTV Sports’ Beyond The Beat reporters’ talk show (Tuesdays 7:00 pm), wrote about Knighton and his role in the win over the team he rooted for as a youngster. . . ICYMI: FootballScoop.com reported University of New Haven football coach Pete Rossomando will take the same job at Central Connecticut, succeeding Jeff McInerney. . . .The New Haven Register’s Jim Fuller reported offensive tackle Steve Hashemi of Class M champion St. Joseph-Trumbull committed to UConn. He becomes the third state player to commit to the Huskies, joining Ansonia running back Arkeel Newsome and St. Paul-Bristol quarterback Logan Marchi.
