Staples’ Zajac getting chance to play for title in final game
Chris Zajac visited the Mohegan Sun Arena for the first time during the Basketball Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament this past November.
Zajac attended the doubleheader with teammates Cody Sale and Ty Levine. They spent a little time talking about what it would be like to play a game at the Mohegan Sun Arena rather than just watch.
“We joked we could be playing here in a couple of months. The fact that it is a reality is pretty crazy,” Zajac said.
Zajac and the rest of the Staples Wreckers boys’ basketball team will be playing for a Class L state championship Sunday evening.
The seventh-seeded Wreckers will face top seed St. Bernard at 6:15 p.m. Zajac and the rest of the seniors will get to play their last game on the last day of the boys basketball season at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The Run to the Sun has been accomplished. Now, there is just the final step.
It is Staples’ first trip to a state championship game since 1937, when the Wreckers defeated Farmington 26-23.
“It’s pretty surreal my last basketball game is going to be at an arena like that,” Zajac said. “It’s pretty special. I don’t really know the magnitude of it yet, but for this program to do something like that for the first time in a very long time is pretty surreal.”
It didn’t look like that would remotely be the case through three quarters in the semifinal round.
The Wreckers trailed fellow FCIAC team Fairfield Warde by 16 heading into the final quarter. The deficit grew to 18, but Staples was able to chip away at the deficit, finally getting into a flat-footed tie with the Mustangs at 48 after a 3-pointer by Caleb Smith with 37 seconds remaining in regulation. Zajac helped force overtime by blocking a shot from Jack Plesser as time expired, one of seven blocks for the 6-foot-8 senior center.
Then there was a steal and layup from Adam Udell with 13 seconds in
overtime that provided the final 57-55 victory for the Wreckers.
Zajac has been the Wreckers’ best player. He is averaging 17 points and 11 rebounds. He had 17 points and 15 rebounds against Warde.
“He is all about the team. It’s never about anyone besides the team,” Staples first-year coach Dave Goldshore said. “When your most valuable and best player is a team-guy first, you’s got someone pretty special.”
Zajac scored 23 points in the FCIAC tournament semifinals against Ridgefield, ending the Tigers’ bid at a five-peat. Staples reached the FCIAC tournament final for the first time in 60 years.
So yes, it has been quite a special run in the late stages for his final season for the Wreckers.
Zajac is going on to play college baseball at Indiana. A southpaw pitcher, Zajac called Indiana his “target school” and had sent video to them of himself in action. The Hoosiers liked Zajac enough to “offer me a roster spot,” and a chance to compete at the Division I level.
“I love Bloomington, I love the campus. To have the opportunity to go there is crazy,” Zajac said.
Goldshore said he has received calls this season from “some low Division 1” basketball programs, along with some prep schools, just making sure Zajac was going to go forward with baseball instead of basketball.
He still has one more season left with Staples and he has one more game left to his Wreckers’ basketball career.
It is going to be a tall order against the ECC Division I champions. St. Bernard is trying to win its first state championship since 1982.
“Obviously they are big, athletic and long. We have to mix up the looks against them,” Zajac said. “It is going to be crucial for us to play our game, hit shots and play defense. … That’s what it’s been like all year for us. When we hit shots, we win. When we don’t hit shots, we lose. Being smart with the ball and hitting shots is what it’s going to come down to.”
Said Goldshore: “Chris will ultimately get his rebounds. If the guards can figure out a way to help him get rebounds, then we will see where the chips fall.”