Litchfield upsets Northwestern, faces Wamogo for league title

LITCHFIELD – Litchfield’s two boys basketball teams played their way into an all-Litchfield Berkshire League Tournament final in Wednesday night’s semifinal round at Wamogo High School.

Litchfield High School, seeded sixth, pulled off its second upset of the tournament with a 74-57 stunner over No. 2 Northwestern.

No. 1 seed Wamogo narrowly missed another upset with a 43-40 win over No. 4 Gilbert.

Gilbert (11-11) played the Warriors (20-2) tough twice this season, so another thriller was expected.

“That’s what happens when you play for the third time – a grind-it-out game,” said Wamogo Coach Gregg Hunt.

But nobody except the Cowboys (9-13) expected a second straight tournament shocker from Litchfield High School.

Litchfield lost relatively close regular-season games to No. 3 Shepaug, its quarterfinal opponent, 56-45 and 72-60, so maybe the third time was the charm in the Cowboys’ 5147 quarterfinal win Monday.

That theory didn’t apply Wednesday. Northwestern (18-4) beat Litchfield 69-50 and 61-34 this season, adding convincing losses to a pile causing the Cowboys to miss qualifying for next week’s Division V State Tournament.

“It’s the first time ever a state tournament nonqualifier has reached the BL Tournament finals,” said Wamogo’s coach Hunt, whose team beat the Cowboys 63-59 and 56-40 in the regular season. “They’re on a roll; this is their state championship.”

“We should have been better in the regular season,” said Cowboy star A.J. Quesnel.

“We wanted to take advantage of the opportunity we were given,” said Litchfield Coach Dan Goscinski. “We tried to pressure them a little more with a 1-2-2 trapping zone.”

Nobody in the tournament was more motivated

nor, perhaps, more taken for granted Wednesday night than the Cowboys.

The pressure worked from the outset on defense. Litchfield, behind Quesnel’s game-high 25 points and J.T. Gostkowski’s 16, shot the lights out in the first half, steaming into the break with a 40-23 lead.

“I was especially proud of our guys when Northwestern closed it to seven points in the middle of the third quarter (behind Freddie Camp’s teamhigh 17 points and 15 from Devin DiVita). Then we pulled away again,” said Coach Goscinski.

The Cowboy lead was back to 54-40 after three quarters. Litchfield was on its way to Friday’s final.

Wamogo’s presence Friday wasn’t in the bag until the final minute of Wednesday’s nightcap.

Gilbert took the Warriors to overtime in their first regular-season game (63-58) and led at the half in the second (6151), so the Yellowjackets came with high hopes for the third matchup at Wamogo.

The Warriors led most of the way, but never by more than three points down to a 30-30 tie after the third quarter.

Amidst the struggle, just two Yellowjackets – John Devanney (10 points outside) and Adam Biraga (team-high 13 points inside) – were headed for double figures.

Carter Nordland (game-high 16 points) was the only Warrior to hit double digits for Wamogo.

Nevertheless, supporting players on both sides were huge on both sides.

“We didn’t shoot well and we made some bad decisions, but we found a way to win,” said Coach Hunt.

“We had two minutes when we were out of sync,” said Gilbert Coach Mark Douglass.

A wicked Wamogo press rattled the Yellowjackets early in the final quarter. Warriors Preston Cordeau, Nordland and Justin Ferrer used it to reel off a 9-0 Wamogo run, 3930 with four minutes left. Game over? No. “We lost their best three-point shooter twice in a row,” said Hunt.

Yellowjacket Nolan Adams was open in the corner for back-to-back threes, 39-36. Warrior Nordland drove to the hoop, 41-36. Gilbert’s Biraga hit back-to-back baseline shots, 41-40, with 1:42 left.

With a one-point advantage, Wamogo ate some of the clock with non-shooting fouls, missing shots at the other end.

Still down one with seconds ticking off, Gilbert stopped the clock with back-to-back fouls, eight seconds left. Nordland stepped to the line on a one-and-one.

He sank both shots, then stopped the clock one more time at the other end. Gilbert had one more shot at a corner three and missed.

The only thing certain in Friday’s final, weather permitting, is: A team from Litchfield will be the BL Tournament champion.

Peter Wallace/For Hearst Connecticut Media Gilbert came within three points of pulling off the second upset of the night in a loss to Wamogo at the Berkshire League boys basketball tournament semifinals Wednesday night at Wamogo High School.