Sports: Ledyard boys hand East Lyme its first basketball defeat, 71-55
Hutchins (28 points, 25 rebounds) helps Colonels hand Vikes first loss of the season
East Lyme — Over and over, Ledyard senior post Trevor Hutchins gobbled up a defensive rebound during Thursday night's game against East Lyme.
Over and over, the 6-foot-5 Hutchins grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back for the Colonels.
And there was nothing the Vikings could do about it.
Hutchins had 28 points and 25 rebounds (yes) to pace Ledyard to a commanding 71-56 win over previously unbeaten East Lyme in an Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I game.
“Unbelievable,” Colonels coach Dave Cornish said. “I've always said he was the most dominant big man in this league, and he should be considered for (area) Player of the Year (honors). He was averaging 15 (points) and 14 (rebounds before Thursday), and we haven't even been able to get him the ball yet.”
Vikings coach Jeff Bernardi said, “We've actually played teams with maybe more size than Ledyard and did better on rebounding and our inside play. Tonight, Trevor played exceptionally well and kicked our butt.”
The ECC Division I race also got much more fun, too. Consider what has happened the previous seven days:
• New London beat Ledyard last Friday, 73-55.
• East Lyme won at New London on Tuesday, 72-56.
And now the Colonels have won at East Lyme.
All three teams are 1-1 in the division.
Norwich Free Academy (5-0, 1-0) is the only unbeaten team remaining in Divisioni I.
“We didn't like losing twice in our
first five games,” Hutchins said. “We had a chance to come back and show the ECC what we're about and did that (tonight). We came to work tonight. That's what we did.”
Hutchins did more work than anyone as he claimed the paint as if he was its sovereign ruler. He had 12 field goals, five of which were putbacks. He had 15 rebounds at halftime and finished with 10 offensive rebounds.
“It's constant work,” Hutchins said. “Don't stop; just don't stop working down there. They can't guard you after a while. They get tired.”
Cornish said, “Our old (assistant coach) Troy (McKelvin) told me at halftime that it's our old offense when we had Darnay (Gray). Shoot the ball up, and Trevor would get the offensive rebound and the putback. That's our offense. We used to do that with Darnay. Darnay was so aggressive on the offensive end. He wanted the ball so badly.”
It was the second time this week that Hutchins had more than 20 rebounds in a game. He had 23 in Tuesday's 67-37 rout of Harding. He had 15 points, five blocks and five assists, too.
Devin Rickerson had 11 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and four steals for the Colonels and Ken Turner had 12 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals.
"They bullied us last year with their bigs, and they did more of the same tonight," Bernardi said. "And until we make those changes and get a little tougher and box out, I would expect that same result."
Dev Ostrowski (29 points) was the only player in double figures for East Lyme (5-1).
Hutchins had a go-ahead layup with one minute, 28 seconds left in the third quarter. Turner followed with a transition layup to push Ledyard ahead, 39-36.
Hutchins turned an offensive rebound into a three-point play with 1.4 seconds left to extend Ledyard's edge to 42-38.
The Colonels used a 7-0 run with under 5 minutes left to take their first double-digit lead. Hutchins started with a layup, followed by Rickerson's 3-pointer and E.J. Ahlborn's transition layup, to give Ledyard a 55-44 lead. n.griffen@theday.com