Sports: Ostrowski scores 41 as East Lyme stuns NFA in ECC boys’ tourney
East Lyme avenges pair of losses to NFA in regular season and stuns Wildcats behind Ostrowski’s 41
Norwich — It's tough to single out just one example of how great East Lyme sophomore Dev Ostrowski played in Thursday's Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I boys' basketball quarterfinal.
How about this: Ostrowski almost outscored Division I co-champion Norwich Free Academy in the second half, 33-28.
Ostrowski put on a virtuoso performance. He scored 16 of his gamehigh 41 points in the fourth quarter, including the go- ahead basket (of course), as sixth-seeded East Lyme rallied to stun the No. 3 Wildcats, 6663.
“Forget that he's only a sophomore — he's a premier player and he made plays down the stretch,” East Lyme head coach Jeff Bernardi said. “He put this team on his back. To ask a sophomore to do that is incredible.”
The Vikings advance to Saturday's semifinals at 4:30 p.m. to play another D-I co-champion — No. 2 Ledyard. The game is at Waterford. The Colonels maimed Stonington 89-46 in its quarterfinal. Ledyard and East Lyme split their regular-season games.
Luke Leonard had 13 points for the Vikings (12-9). Ostrowski added 10 rebounds, five steals and three assists. He scored all but four of his team's points in the fourth quarter.
“Everyone did their part,” Ostrowski said. “That's the big thing. It wasn't a one-man show. It was everybody. You've got big guys taking charges and getting rebounds, the guards handling the ball. That's why we won.”
Bernardi said, “You look at the other guys who stepped up. Jacob Peters took two charges, five points, and numerous rebounds. And then T.J. Horner, who's a freshman, played about 16, 20 minutes tonight. He
played the last four minutes of the game.
“We're a young team, and I'm asking our young guys to do a lot. And they grew up tonight. That was a complete team victory. Yes, Dev had 41, but that was a team victory.”
NFA beat the Vikings in both regular-season games, 66-56 (Jan. 10) and 78-40 (Feb. 4). And it will be kicking itself for letting Thursday's game get away. The Wildcats started to pull away in the third quarter and led 4535 with over three minutes left.
East Lyme outplayed and outworked the Wildcats from that point on.
“Dev made plays; he made big shots,” NFA head coach Chris Guisti said. “The defense wasn't very good tonight.
“We drew a team that was probably better than the sixth seed. We had already beaten them twice. … I told them it's not going to be the same East Lyme team we saw three weeks ago, but they're teenagers. And it's human nature to think that the best predictor of future events is past occurrences.”
Jalen Graham had 13 points for the Wildcats (16-5) and Brendan Maher and Seth Thomas both scored 11.
NFA dominated the third quarter and led 45-37 with one minute, 22 seconds and the ball.
The game quickly changed as NFA was called for a charge and a technical. Ostrowski made both free throws, and then scored the Vikings' final seven points to cut the deficit to two points, 48-46, after three.
Maher's 3-pointer and Luis Rivera's steal and layup gave the Wildcats a 59-55 lead with 4:39 remaining. Ostrowski tied it with two free throws and a transition layup.
Maher made a runner to put NFA back ahead, 61-59, with 2:04 remaining.
Ostrowski answered with a dagger — a 3-pointer with 1:17 left — that gave East Lyme the lead for good. He followed with a steal on the other end and coast-to-coast layup to give the Vikings a 64-61 lead.
Peters drew a charge to foil NFA's next possession.
“This is new for East Lyme, being in this situation,” Bernardi said. “We're a young team, but even as a program, the expectations for the last five years haven't necessarily been to advance to the (ECC) semifinals.
“Those days are done. The focus from the beginning of the year was to make a run at this tournament. I think now that they're believing. … I think now they understand the commitment it takes to win these games.” n.griffen@theday.com