Wilbur Cross advances, will face Hillhouse
— The defending champions were on the brink of being sent home from the Southern Connecticut Conference tournament Saturday.
But sixth- seeded Wilbur Cross made some clutch free throws and one huge steal in the final second to defeat No. 3 seed Shelton 56- 53 in the quarterfinals at Branford High.
Darius Esdaile ( 15 points) made three trips to the freethrow line with less than a minute left, making only one each time, but on the last trip, gave Cross ( 15- 7) the lead for good, 54- 53, with 11.3 seconds left.
“I’ve been struggling with free throws the whole season,” Esdaile said. “I have to breathe and focus on my free throws and keep my elbow in.”
Then Cross was able to double- team Shelton’s Peri Basimakopoulos ( team- high 25 points, including a tying 3- pointer with 16 seconds left) and force a turnover. This time Jovan Taylor from Cross was fouled with 3.9 seconds left
“That last play where I got the steal, Coach Kev ( Kevin Walton) made that call on the sideline to double- team ( Basimakopoulos) on the sideline. So I just went and made the play.”
Said Shelton coach Brian Gardiner: “We were trying to get it to Belade and open it up. They denied him the ball. Peri got it. When they doubled him, ( Brian) Belade was open. When he started to spin, I couldn’t get a timeout out of my mouth ( to call before the turnover occurred).”
No. 1 Notre Dame- West Haven 64, No. 8 Fairfield Prep 53:
Zach Laput scored 17 points and Brett Hutchison added 15 for top seed Notre Dame- West Haven.
The Green Knights ( 20- 1) never trailed and defeated Fairfield Prep for the third time this season. Notre Dame advances to Monday’s semifinals for the fourth straight season.
The game was tied at 12 midway through the second quarter, then the Green Knights went on a 9- 2 run to close out the half and lead 21- 14. Hutchison had seven of those points.
Max McGillicuddy and Logan Carey had 17 and 16, respectively, to lead Fairfield Prep.
No. 5 Hamden 60, No. 4 West Haven 57:
Jayvon Chapman came off the bench to score 18 points, including two clutch free throws down the stretch, to lead the fifthseeded Hamden to the SCC semifinals for the third straight year.
West Haven ( 15- 7) came all the way back from a 15- point deficit in the first half to tie the game twice in the fourth quarter. But the Westies were never able to grab the lead.
No. 2 Hillhouse 46, No. 7 Xavier 41:
Evan Scott Alexander was the only player in double figures with 12 points for Hillhouse, which grinded out the victory to reach Monday night’s semifinals at the Floyd Little Athletic Center.
Scott Alexander made a tying 3- point shot off Ta’Zhon Daniels’ kick- out pass just before the third quarter buzzer sounded. That tied the game at 32.
“( Daniels) went around under the basket swung it over to me and I hard to hit it,” Scott Alexander said.