LOOKING BACK | BY GEORGE ALBANO

10 years ago

Sherman Lau of the Norwalk High-Brien McMahon co-op boys swim team made his final FCIAC Championship meet a memorable one as the senior standout won the 100-yard freestyle. Lau also finished third in the 100 breaststroke and sophomore Anthony Dell’Isola took fourth in the 500 freestyle while setting a school record.

The Norwalk High boys basketball team, seeded No. 20 in the Class LL state tournament, lost its firstround game to No. 13 Westhill 60-50 in Stamford. Sophomore Roy Kane led NHS with 17 points while Jabari Dear scored 15 and Saeed Soulemane had 11 rebounds and five blocked shots as the Bears finished 13-9.

25 years ago

The Norwalk High boys basketball team captured its third FCIAC championship in the last four years and the program’s record 10th overall as the third-seeded Bears beat No. 4 St. Joe’s 67-52 in the finals at the Pitt Center on the campus of Sacred Heart University. It was also the eighth league title for head coach Ray Barry, another conference record. But this year’s NHS team had a tougher road to the championship, beating two teams it lost to during the regular season. After defeating No. 6 Trinity Catholic by five points in the quarterfinals, the Bears faced second-seeded Harding, which had beaten Norwalk 74-66. But the rematch saw the Norwalkers play one of their best defensive games of the season to beat the defending FCIAC champs 54-42. Brandon Miles and Tyjuan Hubbard led NHS with 13 points apiece.

Norwalk advanced to its 16th FCIAC title game, the 11th under Barry, and faced a St. Joseph’s team that also beat them earlier this season 65-62. Both teams came into the rematch with 18-4 records. The Bears ended the first half with a 10-2 run to take a 38-22 lead and went up 20 points early in the third quarter. The Cadets rallied to cut the lead to 44-40 early in the fourth before Norwalk closed the game with a 23-12 run. Bobby Trimboli and Miles finished with 21 points apiece and were named co-MVPs. Winston Grey added eight points, 10 rebounds and four blocks while guard Joe Canty had eight assists and eight rebounds.

Meanwhile, an outstanding season by the Norwalk High girls basketball team came to an end in the Class LL state quarterfinals with a 50-36 loss to FCIAC champion Fairfield. The ninth-seeded Lady Bears only trailed 34-28 with 3:04 left, but the top-seeded Mustangs outscored NHS 16-8 the rest of the way. Cathy Dash scored 11 points and Heather Hanson had 10 to lead NHS, which finished 17-5 with three of the five losses coming to Fairfield, including in the FCIAC semifinals.

Norwalk’s Rita Williams was named the Big East Conference Tournament MVP after leading the UConn women’s basketball team to its fifth straight league title and seventh overall with a 6758 win over Rutgers. The former Brien McMahon all-state player scored 50 points in the Huskies’ three tournament wins, including a career-high 27 in an 84-82 quarterfinal victory against West Virginia. The senior point guard then recorded seven points, seven assists and six steals in a 73-53 semifinal win over Notre Dame, and 16 points in the final. UConn, No. 3 in the country, will take a 29-2 record into the NCAA tournament.

50 years ago

All three local high schools qualified for the state tournament and two of them were involved in playdown games. Brien McMahon, the newly crowned FCIAC champion, was the No. 2 seed in Class LL with a 19-1 regular-season record and drew a bye into the first round. Norwalk High, the FCIAC runner-up, was the No. 11 seed in LL and defeated No. 20 Wethersfield 71-65 in its playdown contest as Tony Trimboli scored 22 points and Ellis Spaulding had 19 and 16 rebounds. Trimboli’s 3point play gave the Bears a 62-52 lead with 4:24 to go, but Wethersfield cut it to 65-64 before two more baskets by Trimboli and another by Joel Walker sealed the victory for NHS, now 15-8.

Meanwhile, Central Catholic, which won its last regular-season game to qualify, was seeded No. 22 in Class S and lost its playdown game 73-64 to No. 16 Sacred Heart of Waterbury. The Cavaliers cut an eight-point deficit to 5756 on a three-point play by senior captain Bill Blankemier with 4:42 left, but Sacred Heart outscored the Norwalkers 16-8 the rest of the way. Blankemier finished with 17 points in his final game while sophomore John Eagen added 16 points, junior Hector Huertas had 15 and senior Mike Connolly came off the bench to score 11 as CCHS finished 10-11 under first-year head coach Ray Barry.

The Brien McMahon hockey team was not selected for the state tourney, but the Senators did win their final two games to secure a winning season. They beat Stamford Catholic 6-1 at Crystal Rink as All-FCIAC goalie Tom Connolly recorded a school-record 48 saves. McMahon then closed its season by beating Ridgefield 7-1 as senior captain Joe Lynch and freshman Tom Eyman each scored three goals while Connolly made 21 more saves for the Senators, who finished 7-5-2.