Top seeds East Lyme, Waterford play for ECC Div. I boys’ basketball title
No. 1 East Lyme plays No. 2 Waterford for ECC Division I crown
Waterford — It's been 15 years since the East Lyme won an Eastern Connecticut Conference boys' basketball tournament championship.
Waterford has never raised an ECC tournament championship banner.
The two neighboring rivals battle for the ECC Division I championship tonight and, if it's anything like the rest of the season, it's going to be a heart-racing, buzzer-beating, stormthe-court thriller.
Top-seeded East Lyme plays the No. 2 Lancers at 7:30 p.m. at the Francis X. Sweeney Fieldhouse.
Top-seeded St. Bernard will defend its Division II title in the opener against No. 7 Woodstock Academy at 5:30 p.m.
Both finals will be streamed live on theday.com.
This has been one of the most competitive — and enjoyable — ECC boys' hoop seasons in recent memory. Ledyard (last year's D-I champion), perennial contender New London, Norwich Free Academy, East Lyme and Waterford all took turns beating up on each other, and often not by much.
Among those nailbiters was the Vikings' 64-60 win over Waterford on Jan. 18 at “The X.” Luke Leonard made a floater to give East Lyme the lead for good, 58-56, with 2 minutes, 16 seconds left. The Vikings then made all six of their free throws late to ice the game.
Dev Ostrowski scored 10 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter for East Lyme (19-3) and J.R. Gandenberger made five 3-pointers for 15 points.
Gandenberger made a go-ahead
3-pointer, his only basket of the game, with 53.3 seconds left in Saturday's 49-42 semifinal win over Ledyard.
“We need to execute better,” Waterford senior Mikey Buscetto said. “If we just play hard and crash the boards like we should, it'll all take care of itself.”
Buscetto, who has a scholarship to play at Division II power Southern New Hampshire, scored a game-high 27 with five assists in the East Lyme loss.
Buscetto hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:17 remaining in Saturday's 65-61 win semifinal win over New London. Walker Sutman added eight points and eight rebounds for Waterford (20-2), and J.J. Brennan made three huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finished with 10 points.
“Mikey is a very talented player,” Vikings coach Jeff Bernardi said. “He's a scholarship player. That speaks volumes of how good he is. I think (the Lancers) have really good balance.”
Lancers coach Bill Bassett said about East Lyme, “They have three very, very good offensive players and they need to be watched out for ... Dev is unbelievable, and Luke and J.R. are tremendous complimentary players who just know how to perform on the big stage.”
Saints back to defend D-II crown
St. Bernard was a safe bet to reach the Division II final because it won the title with a young team last season. Coach Mark Jones believes that experience paid dividends this season for his Saints (20-2).
“A lot,” Jones said. “They're not going to be put in a situation that they haven't been in (this season). Playing a really good Plainfield team last year, going down to the wire in the semis, and then in the championship game, going into the half down double-figures, they're a really poised group.”
Hunter Baillargeon scored 23 to lead the Saints to a 70-53 win over Lyman Memorial in Saturday's semifinals. Max Lee added 13 points and De'Andre Williams and Joseph Beltran each had 10 points.
Woodstock has been playing its best basketball of late after starting the season 2-8. It has won six of its last seven, including tournament wins over No. 2 Plainfield (68-57, quarterfinals) and No. 3 Griswold (6561, semifinals).
All five starters scored in double figures for the Centaurs (10-12) in their win over Griswold, led by Chase Anderson (14 points).
“They play together well,” Jones said. “It's going to be a tough task on Wednesday.” n.griffen@theday.com