Ledyard rallies past Xavier

MIDDLETOWN >> Ledyard came from nine points down in the fourth quarter to beat Xavier, 6660, to win the 13th Annual Arthur Kohs Holiday Tournament at Xavier High Wednesday evening.

Tourney MVP Steven Fletcher led all scorers with 32 points.

“We couldn’t handle him,” Xavier coach Mike Kohs said. “I actually thought we played pretty well. But we never could add onto our lead. Then they hit us with a run and Fletcher made an unbelievable shot to give them the lead.”

That shot was a fall-away, 18foot three-pointer that put the Colonels up 56-55. They never looked back.

“We had some good looks during the fourth quarter, but we just couldn’t make the shots,” said Kohs. “They just didn’t fall. We went dry when we couldn’t afford to go dry.”

The Falcons (1-2) started out like they were going to blow Ledyard out of the gym, racing to an

FROM PAGE 1 11-4 lead with two and half minutes left in the opening quarter and taking an 18-9 lead after one.

Ledyard cut the lead to 25-24 with three minutes to go in the half, but Xavier closed with a 7-0 run to lead 32-24 at the half.

A trey by Mitch Nappi (16 points) gave Xavier a 42-31 lead midway through the third quarter, but Ledyard hung in and trailed 45-39 after three. Ledyard closed to 53-51 on a Fletcher three-pointer, but a hoop by Kyle Jenkins gave the Falcons a 55-51 lead with 3:25 left.

But Ledyard went on a 6-0 run down the stretch to lead 60-55 with a minute to play and easily held on.

Benigni led Xavier with 19 points. Benigni and Nappi were named to the All-Tournament team. Ethan Telford was in double figures with 10 points.

Xavier Whitmore chipped in with 10 points for Ledyard.

Wethersfield beat Glastonbury 64-53 in the consolation game.