The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Torrington clinches NVL Iron division title with win over Naugy
TORRINGTON — Torrington’s boys basketball team clinched the NVL’s Iron Division Championship with a hard-fought 67-55 win over Naugatuck Tuesday night at Torrington High School.
In a game full of twists and turns, Torrington, 11-7 overall, 11-5 NVL and 7-0 in the Iron Division, celebrated Senior Night with an all-senior starting lineup against a rebuilding
Greyhound team (9-9; 8-8 NVL) with plenty of athletic height.
Led by usual starting guard seniors Thaddaeus Kimberley (team-high 18 points) and Jordan Harvey (13), the group held its own for the first few minutes everywhere but under the basket.
Naugatuck put-backs and layups were one thing, but, when Greyhound freshman Elizer Pexa (game-high 26 points) nailed a threepointer outside for an 11-6
Naugatuck edge, Torrington coach Eric Gamari declared the all-senior celebration was over.
Naugatuck bigs still outsized Torrington’s underclass height, but now the battle was even all over the court.
“We don’t pass the eye test (for height), but we work hard doing the fundamentals,” said Gamari.
While Torrington’s big men stopped the flow of easy Greyhound points underneath, their guards used great passes to get to a 14-14 tie at the end of the first period.
Torrington’s hot shooting threatened to take over the game at the start of the second. Successive three’s by Will Parkhouse, Allen Smith and D.J. Williams (10 points) led the Raiders on a 12-2 run to a 26-16 bulge midway through the quarter.
It couldn’t last. Dylan Gray, Jaden Francis (17 points) and Pexa flipped the script to a 14-1 run of their own for a 29-27 Nau
gatuck lead at the half.
Both teams let it all out in the third while fouls began taking a toll. Torrington found its outside range again in a pair of three’s by Harvey, another by Williams and four of Kimberley’s six thirdquarter points on free throws.
Naugatuck’s Pexa had his biggest spree of the night — 13 points, including four from the line. Francis added six points. The Greyhounds took a 49-46 lead into the final period.
That one was earmarked for chaos. Harvey hit Pete Duman cutting for a layup at the start of the quarter.
Nobody scored again until Francis and Kimberley traded a pair of free throws three minutes later, 51-50, Naugatuck.
In a game of frantically contested misses, sophomore Logan Tucciarone’s three from the corner snapped huge in the net for Torrington’s first lead since the middle of the second quarter, 53-50 with 3:34 left in the game.
Now it was face-guarding all over the court — every point, every foul a milestone.
Kimberley raced the length of the court for a
layup with 1:22 left, 55-50, Torrington.
Four seconds later, Francis was hit with a foul. Naugatuck coach Mike Wilson went ballistic, earning a technical from the refs.
“My job was to calm everybody down,” said Torrington point guard Harvey. “We didn’t have many games like this at the beginning of the season, but they started getting closer at the middle.”
Kimberley hit one of the technical free-throws, then shot a pass to Tucciarone for a layup on the technical possession.
Leading 58-51 with less than a minute left, Harvey took over at the foul line, hitting seven of his eight chances to close it out.
“At the end, it’s all love and basketball,” he grinned.
“It was an NVL classic,” said Coach Gamari.
TORRINGTON 67, NAUGATUCK 55
NAUGATUCK ............ 1415206—55 TORRINGTON ......... 14131921—67 NAUGATUCK (55)
Dillon Gray 2-1-5; Jalen Francis 7-2-17; Elizer Pexa 8-7-26; Kraden Moore 0-1-1; Vedley Valmyr 3-0-6; Totals: 20-11/18-55.
TORRINGTON (67)
D.J. Williams 4-0-10; Jordan Harvey 2-713; Allen Smith 3-0-7; Thaddaeus Kimberley 5-8-18; Andre Story 1-0-2; Pete Duman 2-0-4; Isaac Fenn 0-1-1; Logan Tucciarone 2-0-5; Will Parkhouse 2-2-7; Totals: 21-18/25-67.
3-point goals: N — Francis; Pexa 3. T — Williams 2; Harvey 2; Allen; Tucciarone; Parkhouse.
Records: Naugatuck 9-9; 8-8 NVL; Torrington 11-7; 11-5 NVL.