WHEN THEY’RE GOOD ...
... they’re very good, and Colonels put on shooting show vs. EL
Ledyard — Tuesday night was a good night for the Ledyard High School boys' basketball team, which dropped eight first- half 3-pointers on East Lyme in an 83-51 rout.
“That brought me back to the old Ledyard basketball we used to play,” Colonels head coach Dave Cornish said with a smile.
Cornish hasn't known what to expect from his team night-to-night. He's not the only one. The Eastern Connecticut Conference has become the Wild West this season with unpredictable results coming from varying outposts.
“I don't like it,” Cornish said. “I like to know that we're going in there and we're going to take care of business. These guys here, I don't know which team is going to show up. I want to win every game by a lot. I don't like close games, but you know what, that could help us down the road.” A quick rundown of ECC parity: • East Lyme beat Waterford for the first time in six years (63-54, Jan. 8).
• Norwich Free Academy beat New London (58-37, Jan. 8), but then lost its next game to Griswold (35-34, Jan. 12). New London beat Griswold on Tuesday night, 69-61.
• Bacon Academy (8-1) is the only team that hasn't lost a league game, but it was taken to the limit by Large Division rivals Fitch (62-60, Jan. 5) and East Lyme (55-50 in overtime, Jan. 12).
“It's been interesting, but it makes every game that much more important,” second-year Vikings head coach Jeff Bernardi said. “You can't afford to take a night off because that could
come to bite you in the butt at the end of the year. You take a night off against any given team and you're going to get beat. … That's going to make our league more battle-tested when it comes to the state tournament.”
Cornish said, “New London lost a lot of seniors (to graduation). I think they lost eight seniors. We lost eight seniors. Woodstock lost its best player (Adam Converse). Fitch lost some guys. Bacon was the only one returning a lot of their guys.”
Ledyard wasted no time taking East Lyme down as it scored 14 straight points to go ahead, 14-2, with over three minutes left in the first quarter.
Isaiah Campbell, Scott Whipple and Anthony Viteritto made successive 3-pointers to push the Colonels' lead to 46-17 with over two minutes left in the first half.
Whipple had a steal and a layup to open the second half to Ledyard its largest lead (52-17).
Junior Isiah McNair had four 3-pointers for 18 points for Ledyard (7-2, 2-1 ECC Large).
Whipple, a senior, had three 3-pointers and 14 points. Juniors Austin Brandt and Campbell each scored 10.
“We have six sophomores,” Cornish said. “We have a freshman who plays. We have three juniors that play. Next year, probably, will be the year that we're looking forward to, but you know us, we have high expectations every year.
“I like this group though. If they could ever put it together, if they could ever figure it out, down the road, we'll be a tough out (in states)."
Christian Brown had 21 points for the Vikings (4-4, 0-3).
“If we knew we were going to be (4- 4) at this point, I think we would've taken it,” Bernardi said. “We're looking to make the state tournament for the first time in four years. That goal is still achievable, and we're not even halfway through the season yet. The goal is to ultimately get to where Ledyard has been for five, six years, but that's not going to happen in a year. Our guys understand that and they're willing to put the time in.” n.griffen@theday.com Twitter: @MetalNED