LOOKING BACK | BY GEORGE ALBANO
10 YEARS AGO
With a 9-1 home record, the Brien McMahon boys basketball team welcomed the chance to play a second straight state tournament game in its gym and the seventh-seeded Senators responded with a 57-51 win over No. 10 Wilbur Cross in a Class LL second-round matchup. McMahon built an 18-point third-quarter lead before the visitors rallied to cut it to 54-49 with 1:11 left. But the Senators held the Governors without a field goal the rest of the way to secure their 18th win. Tyler Shular and TJ McCrae led BMHS with 12 and 10 points, respectively. The game was also a homecoming of sorts for Wilbur Cross head coach Anthony Hill, a Norwalk native who played at Norwalk High.
The Senators’ successful season ended two nights later in the quarterfinals where they lost to No. 2 St. Joseph 89-73 in Trumbull. The Cadets, now 21-2, handed McMahon its only home loss 66-60 last month and jumped out to 13-2 lead in the rematch. The Senators, who trailed by 14 at halftime, cut it to 67-60 with 6:05 left, but the Cadets responded with a 7-0 run to make it 74-60 and advance to the state semis. Lamar Tate had 19 points and six rebounds in his final game, while Shular, another senior, scored 16 points as the Senators finished 18-6, the most victories by a McMahon’s boys basketball team in nearly a quarter of a century.
25 YEARS AGO
A dream season by the Norwalk High School boys basketball team reached its pinnacle as the Bears completed a perfect 28-0 season and won the Class LL state championship with a 62-59 victory over Xavier at Central Connecticut State University. Because of last week’s snowstorm, the state’s No. 1-ranked team needed to win three games in six days to achieve their season-long goal.
The top-seeded Bears beat No. 8 West Haven 85-59 in Monday night’s quarterfinals to improve to 26-0. Keith Sellers scored 18 points and TJ Trimboli netted 16 as Norwalk shot 68 percent. West
Haven came in 21-4 ... The Bears faced defending state champion Holy Cross in Wednesday’s semis and an 8-0 run in the fourth quarter gave NHS a 69-60 lead with 2:55 to go. They still led 77-71 when Holy Cross scored seven straight points in 24 seconds, capped off by a steal and threepoint play by Edmund Saunders that gave the Crusaders a 78-77 lead with 14 seconds left. But Trimboli took the inbounds pass and the 5-9 guard dribbled the length of the court, weaved and sliced through three defenders in the lane before switching the ball from his right hand to his left as he hit a soft layup over the 6-8 Saunders to make it 79-78 with six seconds left. Holy Cross quickly heaved the ball down court, but Paco Fabian, the Bears’ defensive specialist, sprinted back, jumped and knocked the ball away from Saunders near the top of the key. Saunders retrieved the ball by the sideline, but his 35-foot shot fell short as Norwalk held on for the one-point victory.
That set the stage for the state championship game against Xavier on Saturday and the Bears pulled out another thrilling victory as Trimboli sank two free throws with five seconds remaining to break a 59-59 tie. Fabian again came up with a key defensive play, stealing the inbounds play and making one of two free throws to make it 62-59. Xavier’s desperation shot from midcourt fell way short as NHS won its third state championship in boys basketball, its second under head coach Ray Barry. The Bears also became only the second team in state history to finish 28-0, joining the 1982-83 Harding team. Trimboli, who finished with 16 points, was named MVP of the finals, while Zack Wrentz finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds.
50 YEARS AGO
Central Catholic, the last team standing among the three local high school basketball teams, advanced to the Class M state quarterfinals after the 14th-seeded Cavaliers posted an impressive 71-55 win over No. 6 Wolcott Tech of Torrington, which boasted a 16-4 record. Sophomore Bill
Blankemeir had 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight steals to spark the Cavaliers’ 15th win of the season. Don Gustafson added 15 points and nine assists, Bob Kramer rang up 11 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, and Jamie Flynn scored 10 points.
The curtain finally came down on a very successful 1970-71 high school basketball season in Norwalk when a furious fourth-quarter rally fell short and Central Catholic lost to No. 10 St. Thomas Aquinas of New Britain 68-62 in the Class M quarterfinals. The Cavs trailed by 16 entering the final quarter, but a 25-14 run cut the lead to 61-56 with 2:41 remaining. Then when the Saints tried to freeze the ball, a steal and layup by Central’s Mike Connolly made it 64-60 with 50 seconds remaining before back-to-back baskets by the Saints (14-6) sealed the win. The Cavaliers, who finished 15-8, were led by their senior co-captains playing their final game as Gustafson had 22 points and seven rebounds while Kramer recorded 18 points and nine rebounds.