The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Wamogo takes BL title as Hunt wins 500th
LITCHFIELD — It doesn’t get any better than this for Litchfield high school basketball.
Wamogo (21-2) won the Berkshire League Boys Basketball Tournament final 64-51 against cross-town rival Litchfield High School in the first all-Litchfield tournament championship game since 2002 and, in the process earned longtime coach Gregg Hunt his 500th career victory.
Litchfield High School (9-14) arrived as a great high school team turnaround story. The Cowboys, a talented young team with just two seniors, suffered a disappointing season, failing to qualify for the State Tournament by one win.
“They could have hung it up then,” said coach Dan Goscinski, even though Litchfield was the league tournament’s No. 6 seed. “Instead, they made a decision to play as hard as they could.”
The Cowboys beat No. 3 Shepaug 51-47 in the quarterfinals, then roared past No. 2 Northwestern 74-57 in the semis.
On the other side, as if a town rivalry game for the tournament crown wasn’t enough incentive for the BL regular-season champion Warriors, they were playing for Hunt’s milestone.
Meanwhile, fans from Litchfield and Wamogo’s Warren, Morris and Goshen contributed mightily. In the face of dire weather forecasts for Friday evening, Litchfield Athletic Director Kyle Weaver and Wamogo AD Mary Stolle moved the game up to a 4 p.m. start.
By 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon work day, Wamogo High School’s gym was packed with a raucous crowd.
Almost as a bonus, it was a great game.
“Our rivalry games are awesome. They always get us going,” said Wamogo swing man Carter Nordstrom, leading all scorers with 28 points, including five three-pointers.
“It’s historic,” said Wamogo senior forward Wyatt Femia, who scored 11 points and was a huge presence on the offensive
and defensive boards. “I moved here from New York as a sophomore, but it didn’t take long to realize the rivalry runs deep.”
With a longer tenure, big Warrior guard Justin Ferrer had the game of his life with 18 points.
The Cowboys made sure the game was memorable.
“We firmly believed we deserved to be in this kind of game,” Goscinski said. “We decided we were going to make them feel us for 32 minutes. I think they did that.”
In a game of stiff defenses with great passes to cutters to the hoop, huge 3-pointers were the ultimate daggers.
In the first quarter, Nordstrom began his reign with an open look from the corner for Wamogo’s first separation, 5-2. Travis Lipinsky and A.J. Quesnel (team-high 15 points) answered with back-to-back Litchfield treys for the Cowboys to pull ahead. Drew Lutz had the Warriors’ answer from another corner, tying the score at 10-10.
In a game of huge 3s, J.T. Gostkowski won the quarter for Litchfield, 13-12, on a pair of foul shots (the Cowboys
were 6-for-7 from the line).
Both sides felt it in a see-saw second-quarter war.
“Wyatt killed us on the offensive glass,” Goscinski said.
Femia had two putbacks, including one on his own miss, then fed Nordland for a layup that put the Warriors in charge 23-20.
Still, it was another corner three by Nordland that made Wamogo’s lead stick, despite a buzzer-beating layup by big Litchfield freshman forward Jack Gollow (11 points, including two threes) for a 28-24 Wamogo margin at the half.
A pattern was forming. In the second half, Femia clogged the paint against Litchfield’s attack. Timely threes kept Wamogo in charge on the scoreboard.
The Cowboys closed to 30-28 early in the third quarter. Nordstrom found his corner open for a 33-28 lead.
Litchfield was just five points down, 35-30, with three minutes left in the period. Nordstrom sank another three; Ferrer had two, one of them with two seconds left on a steal by Femia.
The 47-33 Wamogo lead was enough to withstand a fourth-quarter stumble against withering fullcourt pressure from the Cowboys.
The Warrors led 55-45 midway through the period. Litchfield’s Lapinsky stole the ball for a five-foot bank by Quesnel, then stole it again for a solo race downcourt, 55-49.
If the Warriors were going to feel Litchfield’s presence, now, with 2:16 still to go, was the time.
Instead, it was Nordstrom’s time. Two foul shots and his fifth trey of the night put the Warriors out of reach at 60-49, with 1:22 remaining.
“How great is this? We won a championship against our crosstown rival,” said Hunt with tears in his eyes.
In an historic game like this, it was almost presupposed it should come for Hunt’s 500th win.
Wamogo, seeded second in the Division IV State Tournament, gets a first-round bye next Tuesday.
Litchfield, graduating just one senior starter, posted a virtual application for a high slot and more in next year’s Division V.