Saturday didn’t go the way No. 3 Kennedy wanted, and the same goes for No. 8 Wolcott. Both teams were knocked out of the NVL Tournament in quarterfinal round games at Wilby High School. A quick look at what happened:
Kennedy, lost 65-61 to No. 6 Wilby
Both teams won during the regular season on their own home floors, and that trend continued Saturday, even though Wilby is a neutral site for the tournament. Jai’Vaun McKnight had a game-high 31 points for Kennedy, but it wasn’t enough. Darryl Flowers spent much of the day in foul trouble, tallied just five points, and fouled out. Victor Sampson fouled out after tallying just six points. The second-leading scorer for the Eagles was Chomari Joseph with eight points.
Kennedy led 15-4 in the first quarter, but saw that lead trimmed to seven by the end of the opening eight minutes. The Eagles led 29-24 late in the half, but the Wildcats scored eight of the final 10 points to led 32-31 at the break. Kennedy still trailed 46-44 after three quarters, then finally caught Wilby at 51-all on a McKnight tip-in a little over three minutes in. The Eagles were still in the game, down 64-61 with 3.7 seconds left, but Dimitri Yates put it out of reach with a foul shot.
AS OF NOW: Kennedy is the No. 9 seed in Class LL (15-5 regular season record) and would host No. 24 Cheshire (10-10) in the first round.
Wolcott, lost 84-40 to No. 1 Sacred Heart
It was a long shot, but the Eagles wanted to take their best shot at the Hearts. Wolcott trailed 17-6 after one quarter, but saw the deficit grow to 16 by the half. Sacred Heart ran away with the second half and sent Wolcott packing.
Shamari Thomas led the Eagles with 14 points. Chris Maisto and Pat Drewry each scored six points while Matt Finke tallied five points.
AS OF NOW: Wolcott is the No. 18 seed in Class M (12-8) and would go to Danbury to play No. 15 Abbott Tech (13-7) in the first round.
The official seeds are released on Wednesday at noon by the CIAC.
