UPSET SPECIAL
New Canaan tops No. 7 Ridgefield in double OT
NEW CANAAN — Two days, two victories over previously undefeated contenders.
Life is good for the New Canaan boys basketball team.
One night after defeating Staples in Westport, the Rams toppled No. 7 Ridgefield 64-59 in a wild double overtime game at NCHS on Wednesday.
New Canaan trailed 29-20 at halftime but rallied and tied the game on a Blake Wilson threepointer in the final minute of regulation. After a 4-4 first OT, the Rams put the game away from the free throw line, hitting nine of 12 shots to ice the game.
New Canaan’s performance so far this week sends a loud message to the rest of the FCIAC.
“It’s the biggest two wins of the year,” New Canaan senior co-captain Christian Sweeney said. “We came into this week knowing that these two undefeated teams were ranked higher than us and people thought they were going to beat us. We just used that as motivation to come back and overtake them.”
“It was a great high school basketball game,” New Canaan coach Danny Melzer said. “Two great teams and two physical teams. They got out on us at the half, but these guys are resilient. They’re physically tough and mentally tough and they never put their heads down or gave up. We found a way to pull it out.”
Both teams are now 7-1, leaving St. Joseph (8-0) as the only unbeaten team in the league.
The Tigers, who eliminated New Canaan from the last two FCIAC tournaments, hadn’t played in any close games yet this season, with all of their contests being decided by double digits outside of an eightpoint win over rival Wilton last week.
“This year, we’ve had a lot of large margin victories,” Ridgefield
coach Andrew McClellan said. “So these guys haven’t been in those situations and that hurt us tonight. We weren’t ready for certain sets and (the Rams) took advantage of some overaggressiveness on the defensive end and got the stuff they were looking for.”
New Canaan had impressive nights from several players, with Wilson and Leo Magnus scoring 14 points each, and Sweeney netting 12.
Centers Denis Mulcahy, a New Canaan senior, and Dylan Veillette, a Ridgefield freshman, had a big battle underneath, with each leading his team’s scoring. Mulcahy had 16 and Viellette scored 18.
Ridgefield went up 17-10 after one quarter and 29-20 at halftime after Amos Grey picked up a New Canaan turnover and drained a three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Rams rallied in the third, outsourcing the Tigers 20-11 to tie the game at 40-40.
“It was a game of runs,” Sweeney said. “We knew we could come back if we ran our stuff and executed well. The message was just keep grinding and we’ll come out on top.”
The Tigers scored the first six points of the fourth quarter, but again the Rams rallied, going on a 8-2 run to tie the game at 48-48.
Ridgefield regained the lead at 51-48 when Matthew Knachel hit two free throws with 50.8 seconds left, but Wilson nailed a three from the corner to tie the game. A miss by the Tigers at the buzzer sent the game to OT.
“It was unbelievable,” Sweeney said of Wilson’s shot. “When I saw that three go down, I was losing my mind.”
In the second overtime, New Canaan grabbed the advantage and Ridgefield was unable to regain its footing.
“New Canaan played a really good game,” McClellan said. “We were up nine at halftime and that didn’t faze them. They came right back and had a huge third quarter, and then it was just a good high school battle back and forth and I think they made one more play than us.”
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Christian Sweeney, New Canaan: The Rams had plenty of heroes against Ridgefield, and Sweeney’s steady presence was a big part of the comeback. He scored 12 points and went 4-for-4 on free throws in the second overtime.
QUOTABLE
“These are two of the better teams in the FCIAC. We’re both very competitive and they’ve beaten us the last two years in the FCIAC playoffs so I think there was a little bit of added motivation on our part. I hope we get another opportunity to play them again because that means we’re probably playing in a pretty important game in the playoffs.” — New Canaan coach Danny Melzer