Bulldogs bite gold
Bunnell tops Lewis Mills to win 2nd state title
UNCASVILLE — Bunnell is more comfortable playing basketball at a breakneck pace, so the Bulldogs bristled when they found themselves in a tug of war with No. 2 seed Lewis Mills late in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s CIAC Division III boys championship game.
Fifth-seeded Bunnell lost all of a nine-point, third-quarter lead, and the Spartans jumped ahead by one with 3:48 remaining when senior point guard Eli Pelletier drained a 3-point shot.
The Bulldogs did not cave. Instead, they took at the moment with urgency. It was an opportunity to play their best defense of the season.
Lewis Mills would not score from that point forward. Bunnell made stop after stop and found ways to generate enough points down the stretch to overtake the Spartans 4540 for the second state title in school history.
The lead changed hands four times in the fourth quarter, the last on a putback by Bunnell junior Nathaniel Banton with 3:10 remaining. The Bulldogs (21-6) scored the game’s final six points.
“We made it difficult on ourselves, but they got it done,” said Bunnell coach Dannie Powell, a Stratford High alum.
Senior Jordan Ricketts, the game’s Most Outstanding Player, led Bunnell with 15 points on 7 of 12 shooting and also grabbed a teambest six rebounds. Jordan Pierce scored nine points and Karell Brown contributed seven.
Senior Connor Evans was the only Mills starter in double figures with 10 points. Freshman Thomas Dinunzio came off the bench and led the team with 11 points in 15 minutes. Lewis Mills (19-6) had a chance to regain the lead right after Banton’s bucket, but Charlie Joiner came up short from the lane with the shot clock about to expire. Bunnell rebounded the miss and kicked its transition game into overdrive, with Alex Munoz converting a layup for a 43-40 lead.
“We just wanted to keep pushing through it,” said Munoz, who finished with six points. “We knew Lewis Mills would come out after the half and just keep gunning, gunning, gunning for us. We stuck to