Ridgefield falls to No. 1 East Catholic

WEST HARTFORD — It was a long, and unexpected, layoff for the Northwest Catholic boys basketball team. The Lions blew a double-digit lead in the second half and lost at the buzzer to Conard on its home floor in the opening round of the CCC tournament. It was almost two weeks before Northwest Catholic played another postseason game. There was plenty of work being done behind closed doors, but also some time for some self-reflection.

“That was a hard two weeks, not because of the practices, but what they had to take and internalize,” Northwest Catholic coach John Mirabello said, adding that he told his players their character was being tested.

“Let’s see what you are made of,” he told them.

Northwest Catholic not only rebounded off that loss, it has played its way to the Mohegan Sun Arena for the second straight season. Second-seeded Northwest Catholic defeated No. 3 Notre DameWest Haven 73-61 in the CIAC Division I state semifinals at the University of Hartford’s Chase Family Arena Wednesday night.

“We were just focused on bouncing back (from the Conard loss). Coach Mirabello prepared us well for the game,” said London Jemison, who finished with 24 points. “It means a lot to get back there. We have unfinished business for sure.”

Said Mirabello: “I’m excited they get to play again. One more day.”

Northwest Catholic (21-3) will face No. 1 East Catholic, which defeated No. 4 Ridgefield 74-45, in the Division I championship game on Saturday or Sunday at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

Preston Fowler led East Catholic, the defending Division I state champion, with 22 points.

“They didn’t have an answer for us tonight,” Fowler said about Ridgefield. “It’s the second one (state championship game) in two years of high school.”

Last year, Northwest Catholic lost in the Division II final to another CCC team, Bristol Central. East Catholic won at Northwest Catholic on

Feb. 14.

Northwest Catholic scored the first nine points of Wednesday’s game. Notre Dame was able to close the gap on several occasions, but was never able to tie the game.

“It wasn’t our night, that’s what it comes down to,” Notre Dame coach Jason Shea said. “Play those guys 10 times, it’s probably five and five. Tonight, it went down for them and it didn’t go down for us.”

The Green Knights (23-3) got within 21-20 early in the second quarter. They were within 27-24 when Northwest Catholic called for timeout with 3:18 left in the first half.

From there, Northwest Catholic scored the last 10 points of the half. Jemison had the last seven and the Lions led 37-24 at halftime.

“I thought that was the key part of the game,” Shea said. “I thought that was the difference for sure. It put us in a hole coming out in the second half, put a lot of pressure on us. We weren’t able to get a sustained run in the second half.”

The Green Knights were only able to cut a little bit into the deficit, trailing 52-42 through three quar

ters. The size of Jemsion, Badare Diakite (16 points) and Jack Nieradko (11 rebounds) wore down the Green Knights.

“The length just affected their shots,” Jemison said. “They usually have a good shooting team. We got in their face and that helped us.”

Said Shea: “You not only got to scramble and push the tempo, you have to rebound on the back end and when you scramble, you get out of rebounding position. It puts a lot of pressure on you overall.”

Notre Dame never got closer than eight points in the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame reached the Division I final last season, losing to East Catholic. In fact, the only in-state teams Notre Dame has lost to the last two seasons were to East Catholic and Northwest Catholic, twice apiece.

Mekhi Conner finished with 23 points in the final game of his impressive career for the Green Knights.

“They just played really well today. Shots weren’t falling for us a little bit, sometimes we got a little down on ourselves,” Conner said. “You go onto the next chapter. …. We wanted to be back at Mohegan and competing for a championship. Sometimes, it doesn’t happen. We have to learn from it and move on.”

East Catholic rolls

East Catholic (26-1) put its semifinal vs. Ridgefield away with 16-2 run to start the third quarter. Luke Reilly, Jr. buried a pair of 3pointers to start the second half, then Fowler had a two-handed slam that put East Catholic up 38-17 and forced a Ridgefield timeout.

“That was very important. We are a second-half team,” Fowler said.

Then the Eagles put together an 8-0 run, capped again by a Fowler dunk and the Tigers spent another timeout with 2:49 left in the third quarter. The lead was 27 points, 4619.

“Hey, credit to these guys, they played awesome,” East Catholic coach Luke Reilly said. “They shared it, they played together and that’s what it takes to win at this time of year.”

East Catholic led 55-24 after three quarters. The Reilly brothers, Samson and Luke Jr., scored 13 and 12 points, respectively. James Jones also scored 13 points for East Catholic.

Nick Sganga was the only player for Ridgefield (21-4) in double figures with 10 points.

Players of the Game

Preston Fowler, East Catholic: Scored eight straight points in the first quarter, had two monster dunks in the third, both leading to timeouts by Ridgefield, and finished with a game-high 22 points. London Jemison, Northwest Catholic: Scored 24 points to help the Lions defeat Notre Dame-West Haven.

Quotable

“It wasn’t as crisp as we would have liked in the second half but you know what, someone said ‘Survive and Advance.’ That’s all it’s about at this time of year. It doesn’t matter how you get it done, you just try to get it done.” —Northwest Catholic coach John Mirabello