Middletown earns spot in CCC semis

HARTFORD >> Middletown High’s boys basketball team hadn’t been in this spot much this season.

The Blue Dragons trailed Bloomfield by five with less than two minutes to play in their Central Connecticut Conference quarterfinal round game at the Babe Allen Fieldhouse at Bulkeley High Saturday. All this in a game Middletown led by 14 in the first half.

But the Dragons, led by DeAaron Lawrence (23 points) and Charles Sprowl, got off the deck and outscored Bloomfield 9-1 down the stretch to win, 5653, and advanced to the semifinal round Tuesday at Bulkeley.

Middletown will play East Catholic at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Trailing 52-47, Lawrence drained a three-pointer with less

than two minutes left to bring the Dragons to within two at 52-50. Bloomfield missed a shot and Sprowl scored on a traditional three-point play — his only points of the game — with 1:43 to go to give MHS a 5352 lead.

With 39 seconds left, Bloomfield’s Chris Rose (13 points) made one of two free throws to tie the game at 53 with 39 seconds remaining.

Lawrence then put Middletown ahead with a 14-foot jumper from the right side with 17 seconds left to give Middletown a 55-53 lead. Bloomfield missed a threepointer that would have given it the lead and Dayquan Singletary (9 points) grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made the first of two free throws with 1.5 seconds to go.

On the miss, Bloomfield (16-6) called time out with one second remaining. The clock showed .9 seconds, but the officials, after a long delay, changed that to one second. No matter.

Bloomfield tried a fullcourt pass and Kalil Thomas came down with the pass to seal the deal.

“It was good for us to win a game like this,” said Middletown coach Rick Privott. “We haven’t been in many tight games [the other was a 65-64 loss to Weaver in the season opener]. It showed the kids they can come back and win a close game.”

For much of the game it didn’t look like it would be close.

Middletown (19-3) led 12-8 after one and 31-17 with 90 seconds left in the first half. Bloomfield scored the half’s final three points to cut the lead to 31-20 at the break and that was a hint of what was to come.

The Warhawks, who beat Northwest Catholic 57-53 in the first round, scored the first seven points of the second half and that 10-0 run made it a four-point game at 33-29.

The Dragons bounced back and led 42-33 on a traditional three-point play by Lawrence with a minute showing in the third and led 43-35 going to the final quarter.

This was a game of runs and while the Dragons led by eight at 47-39 on a hoop by Ahmod Privott (12 points) midway through the fourth, they were playing without Tyshaun James, who had four fouls, and suddenly without Lawrence, who suffered a painful — but minor — arm injury sustained while hitting the backboard blocking a Bloomfield shot.

From the 6:25 mark to the 2:05 mark — James fouled out with 2:46 showing — Bloomfield outscored Middletown 15-2 to take the aforementioned 52-47 lead. That’s when Middletown got off the deck.

“Bloomfield ran and we didn’t do a good job of getting in front of them and stopping them,” said Privott. “But I think that on the whole, our defense was pretty good and we rebounded well. I’m just glad DeAaron is OK. He was a beast today and that shot at the end was obviously huge.

“When he came out, all I was thinking was state tournament. We couldn’t afford to lose him.”

Privott subbed Thomas for James down the stretch and he was pleased with the result.

“Thomas comes to practice every day and works hard,” said Privott. “He got big rebounds today and got four points. I was pleased with how he played. I also thought Singletary was tremendous. He got every loose ball.”

Middletown hurt itself with a dreadful performance at the free throw line, making just 7-of-15, less than 50 percent, including a missed first shot of a 1-and-1 by Privott with 1:17 left. But Lawrence and Sprowl made that miss a footnote.

Bloomfield was 13-for-22 from the stripe.

“I was open,” said Lawrence on his game-winning shot. “I practice that all the time, I was open, so I took it. It was important for us to win this one.”

Dexter Lawson led Bloomfield with 17 points.

Middletown will play East Catholic, a 90-71 winner over Windsor Saturday, in a CCC semifinal games Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. It will be a rematch of the Class L state title game of last season which was won by East, 62-51. The two will not meet in the tournament this year as East will play in Class LL and Middletown is Class L.