Raiders’ long-range shooting key to win

TORRINGTON — Torrington’s boys basketball team (4-2; 4-1 NVL) pulled away from a scrappy young Ansonia team (2-4; 1-4 NVL) to an 82-56 final with the help of dazzling outside shooting Tuesday night at Torrington High School.

The Red Raiders put down a combined 11 3pointers from five players after discovering, in a ragged first quarter, that a height advantage wouldn’t allow them to get through the Chargers’ quick inside defense.

Matching Ansonia’s youth and quickness against Torrington’s overconfidence inside resulted in 16 combined turnovers for an 8-4 first-quarter Red Raiders advantage.

The turnover circus in the first quarter turned into a foul fest in the second, but Torrington point guard Dontae Thomas (15 points) and six 3-pointers — two from Thomas; one from Joel Villaneuva (teamhigh 18 points); two from Jordan Henneberry (12 points); and one more from Hunter Murphy (17 points) — made an effective adaptation to Ansonia’s reality.

“We played hard in the first half,” said Ansonia coach Shane Kingsley, whose No. 32-ranked Chargers upset No. 1 Lewis Mills in last year’s Class M first round.

But that team graduated and this year’s starters are four juniors up from the junior varsity team and a freshman.

Sheldon Schuler, however, is no ordinary freshman. A 6-foot-2, 195-pound wide-body, Schuler had 11 points at the half, including his own three-pointer, and finished with 23 for the game.

“We did what we wanted to defensively in the first half to hold them to a 10point lead (34-24),” Kingsley said. “We just couldn’t score enough.”

“We knew they would play hard,” Torrington coach Eric Gamari said.

“Our rhythm was better in the second half. Hunter (Murphy) was our catalyst.”

Murphy had 10 points in the third quarter, including two 3-pointers, but a big part of his effectiveness was how quickly he sets for his shots.

The Chargers defense couldn’t keep up and it opened the game into a

fourth-quarter romp in which the Red Raiders were back to their fastbreaking dominant selves.

“They’re a good team,” Kingsley said. “They push the ball and they stick with you on defense. We’re at a point where we don’t take any moral victories.”

TORRINGTON 82, ANSONIA 56