Cromwell wins its 3rd straight Shoreline Conference title

MADISON – The Cromwell boys basketball team won its third consecutive Shoreline Conference tournament championship Friday night.

It’s the first time that’s ever happened in the conference.

Cromwell also has a 21-game win streak. The Panthers haven’t lost since Dec. 16.

They also drive their coach John Pinone crazy sometimes.

“Yes, we do,” said senior guard/forward Victor Payne, after he scored 35 points in a 64-58 win over Morgan – one of the two teams that beat Cromwell this season – Friday night at the Shoreline Conference final at Polson Middle School. “He tells us that all the time.

“This is definitely a different group from last year. Less experience. We have our moments. Dumb turnovers. Not boxing out.”

Last year, Cromwell won the Division IV championship.

The Panthers lost six seniors from that team. They are inexperienced but they also have Payne, the school’s second leading scorer, who brings the team back from the brink on a nightly basis.

Friday, Morgan’s John Nye scored 11 of his 23 points in the second quarter and Cromwell trailed Morgan at halftime, 29-26 – “Every (championship game) we’ve won here, we’ve been down at halftime,” Pinone said. He didn’t have a lot to say at halftime but the players listened and boxed out a little better and played better defense and boom, there was Payne hitting a 3-pointer, a fadeaway, a steal and a layup and punctuating the end of the quarter with a dunk. And Cromwell had a 53-41 lead, just like that.

But then came the fourth quarter. Morgan got momentum. Mistakes were made. Cromwell’s lead was whittled down. Pinone hollered and gesticulated on the sidelines. Morgan (20-3) cut the lead to 58-55 with a minute left on a steal and a layup by Patrick O’Neil.

“As a coach, I’m looking for more consistency, that’s the part we stink at,” Pinone said. “We can go 2-3 games and play great then go 2-3 games where we’re not even interested. We struggled against (Haddam-Killingworth in the semifinal game) Tuesday night.

“It was not a pretty last two days here watching film. Gut check time. I called every one of them out and said if we don’t bring it, we’ll get beat. Morgan’s a great team.”

Gut check time. With 48.7 seconds left, Cromwell inbounded the ball and senior Anikin Leary (who had nine points, all on 3s) nailed a dagger from the corner to give the Panthers a 61-55 lead.

“There were guys who made shots I don’t think they thought they were going to make,” Pinone said. “That was part of our calling out session.”

With 20.2 seconds left, O’Neil hit two free throws to cut the lead to 61-58. But Payne hit three of four free throws down the stretch to hold on to the win.

“We tried hard to give it away,” Pinone said. “We really did try hard to give it away.”

But he was happy, he admitted. He was happy for the kids, happy for the program. Payne – he can’t say enough about him – he’s a great player. Makes everyone better. Really, really good defender.

“He has to work hard on both ends of the court,” Pinone said.

“We don’t want to lose,” Payne said. “Losing isn’t something we want to happen. It hasn’t been pretty, but we got it done.”

Pinone is tough on his kids. They get it. It’s the way it is at Cromwell, which has won eight Shoreline titles, three state championships since 2009 and 10 overall.