By MICHAEL LETENDRE
STAFF WRITER
EAST WINDSOR – With nothing to lose, the St. Paul boys basketball team – the 31st ranked squad in all of the CIAC Class S fray – went for broke against No. 15 East Windsor in second round action on Wednesday, March 9 and with less than five minutes to play, it was just a two-possession contest.
But the Panthers were able to inch ahead, bit by bit, as the time clicked off the clock and even though East Windsor picked up an impressive 64-50 victory, ending St. Paul’s season, the Falcons competed to the end and that’s a credit to the senior core and three senior captains.
It was just a six-point game with 4:35 left to play in the fourth quarter before East Windsor (15-7) gradually pulled away from St. Paul (11-11) as a late run did-in the visitors.
“They handled the ball very well, we knew that,” said St. Paul coach Steve Phelps of East Windsor. “We tried to keep it a one or two possession game which we did for the most-part. They made their free throws, they spread the floor a little bit, we had to gamble a little bit and they executed.”
The Panthers used an inside-out scoring attack as Tristan Givens (18 points), Johan Gil-Guerro (11), Tyrell Hudson (10), and freshman Marcus Goss (10) all made contributions to take the game from the Falcons.
But it was a race to the finish as St. Paul, trailing just 47-41 with just over four minutes remaining, saw East Windsor go on an 11-1 run to turn a six-point edge into a 58-42 cushion with 1:24 left to go.
It was a deficit too big to back from.
“We had some breakdowns, some defensive lapses, we didn’t get good rotations off the double teams when we tried to go,” said Phelps. “But I don’t think our kids were panicked either. We just didn’t get the opportune stop and then we had a couple of empty possessions so [the deficit] stayed at six.”
“We scrambled a little bit, committed a foul, now it goes to eight but now, we’ve got to play a little bit unfamiliar. We had to chase and chase…those are some pretty good sized guards.”
Mike Palmieri ended his sophomore season with an outstanding 21 point effort – hitting eight-of-15 field goals – while senior Mike Ranagan concluded his career with 14 points, three rebounds and three assists.
Fellow seniors Jackson Hines (six points, two rebounds), Ben Mazzone (five points, eight rebounds), and “Big” Chadd Richardson (one rebound) all made contributions; while Austin Jones (two points, nine rebounds), Eli Kennedy, Bo Arndt, Donovan Symes, and Brian Considine all played significant minutes during the contest.
The game was a three-point shooter’s dream as the teams combined to attempt 12 threes out of the first 14 attempts to start the contest but when East Windsor wasn’t hitting, Hudson was banging away in the post – even in St. Paul’s strong zone defense – and did just enough to create havoc in the paint.
“We struggled most of the year because we don’t have a true post,” said Phelps. “We struggled a little bit against others that had a post, both in containing the five from the other team and trying to neutralize that five on defense. It caused us problems against Wilby, it caused us problems against Kennedy…so we knew that [coming in]. We didn’t come in designed to just play from the perimeter but Mike Palmieri got off to such a good start, it was kind of tough to tell him don’t go anymore.”
“We were going to kind of ride that a little bit.”
Five lead changes highlighted a busy first eight minutes of action; but Gil-Guerro made three of the squads first four threes. When his final trifecta splashed through, the Panthers nabbed a 12-10 edge with 3:31 left to go in the first – a lead the home squad never gave back the rest of the way.
“We knew who the shooters were,” said Phelps of East Windsor. “Our match-ups were not great man-to-man. So, in the one day to prepare, we looked to tweak our zone a little bit. Unfortunately, [Gil-Guerro] got off a little bit early, got confident, made a couple shots not as contested as we had wanted them to be but we were okay with them playing from the perimeter.”
The lead was extended to six midway through the second period but the Falcons fought back and when Mazzone found Hines for a big three-point bomb, the deficit was chopped to 18-15 with 5:17 left to go in the half.
And St. Paul got even closer off a Mazzone foul shot and a Palmieri jumper, which dropped the score to 19-18 with 3:56 remaining in the second period.
But St. Paul didn’t score again in the frame and five Panthers’ points later, it was a 24-18 game in East Windsor’s favor at the half.
However, the visitors were still hanging in there even off a hot start by the Panthers out of the halftime break.
East Windsor went on a 7-2 run to open the third and on two Given free throws with 6:32 left in the stanza, it was a 31-20 game.
But two free throws from Palmieri and a Ranagan three with 2:53 to go in the frame, it was back down to four, 34-30.
The deficit was eventually chopped to three late, even after Phelps was charged with a technical foul for being on the court – just hanging off the sidelines – when East Windsor was coming down the court at the 1:28 mark of the third.
Even after all the tomfoolery, Goss canned a three with five seconds left in the tilt and going into the final stanza, it was just a six point deficit at 41-35.
A leaner by Mazzone with 7:11 remaining made it a four point game at 41-37 but nearly two minutes later, it was pushed out to an eight point game.
The squads switched hoops from there but when Palmeri canned his final field goal of the game with 4:35 remaining, the showdown was a 47-41 contest and the Falcons were hanging in.
But that East Windsor run came and went – seeing the home team collect 10 of the next 11 points – as threes didn’t fall for the visitors late and with 1:24 left to play, the Panthers were in complete control at 58-42.
“We just couldn’t get that stop and we just couldn’t get that conversion, which would have changed what we would have done had we gotten it to a one-possession game,” said Phelps. “But it was not our design to live strictly from the perimeter.”
Hines and Ranagan then hit the final threes of their scholastic careers, getting St. Paul within 13, but in the end, East Windsor rolled up a 64-50 win to move on the the quarterfinal round of the Class S tournament.
The game was the final contest for St. Paul seniors Jake Palmieri, “Big” Chadd Richardson, and tri-captains Ben Mazzone, Mike Ranagan, and Jackson Hines.
The senior crew helped its team to an impressive 11-11 record, navigating through a tough Naugatuck Valley League schedule and into the second round of the Class S state tournament.
“We tried to disguise where we could,” said Phelps. “[If we] hit a couple shots, maybe it’s a little bit different. No regrets…no regrets.”
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Nothing to lose, but Falcons fall
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