New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
No. 9 Hillhouse downs Law
NEW HAVEN — When Hillhouse has both its perimeter game and inside game performing well, it’s pretty hard to compete with the athletic Academics.
Law found that out pretty quickly Friday night.
Hillhouse (5-2) raced out to a double-digit lead early in the second quarter and rolled to a 69-46 Southern Connecticut Conference boys’ basketball victory.
“We wanted to get out there, work as hard as we could defensively and rebound and whatever happens, happens,” Hillhouse coach Renard Sutton said. “I’m feeling fine. We just have to stay rebounding and shooting the ball and we’ll be okay.”
The Academics, ranked ninth in the latest GametimeCT.com state poll, scored the first six points of the contest with Thomas Glover (game high 19 points) scoring four of them. Law, which came into the contest with a 6-1 record, cut the lead in half and stayed within three, 13-10, on a bucket by Cam Upchurch with 2:28 to play in the opening quarter.
Hillhouse then went on a 20-1 run over the next eight minutes with Yabdriel Gonzalez finishing off the run with a long three-pointer from the right side.
“They have some guys banging some 25 or 30 footers,” Law coach Jamie Anderson said. “I told my guys you can play great defense, but you can’t guard against that.”
A trey by Glover with five seconds remaining in the half gave the Academics a 38-14 lead at intermission.
“They are tremendously athletic and their guards are longer than what you see on film, so it’s tough to handle,” Anderson said. “It was also tough for our guys to get out on them defensively because they have some speed. And it’s hard for us to get by them because of their length.”
Hillhouse continued to build a larger lead, extending as far as 32 points, 6028, with 15 seconds to go in the third quarter on a layup off an offensive rebound by Gonzalez.
The Academics liberally substituted players in the fourth quarter and Law cut the lead down as far as 26 points, 62-36, with 6:26 to play on back-to-back buckets by John Neider and a basket by Nolan McKennaHansen.
The Academics’ second team kept the lead in the mid-20s for the rest of the night.
“We played well,” Sutton said. “We’ve seen them before and I think they’re a better team than that.”
Law wasn’t helped by a poor shooting night from the free throw line. The Lawmen were successful on just 3 of 19 shots from the charity stripe.
“It can’t be tired legs because it’s been a couple days since our last game,” Anderson said. “We’ll get back in the gym and work on it.”
Law fell to 6-2 with the loss.
“We have to play a little better than perfect to beat them,” Anderson said. “They are athletic top to bottom. Not many teams can run with them.”