The Kennedy and Holy Cross boys basketball teams both won their second round state tournament home games Wednesday night, and each will get to host a quarterfinal.
Here’s what happened in each game:
CLASS LL SECOND ROUND
No. 8 Kennedy 52, No. 9 Simsbury 50: In a game that was tight until the end, the Eagles prevailed over the Trojans from the CCC.
Kennedy (19-5) will host No. 17 Danbury from the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference on Friday at 7 p.m. The Hatters were a 70-64 upset winner over top-seeded Notre Dame-West Haven of the Southern Connecticut Conference.
Chomari Joseph led Kennedy with 18 points while William Spears tallied 13. Tyairus Sands and Lashawn Smith contributed with nine and seven points respectively.
Simsbury led by a point after the first quarter, then by five at halftime. Kennedy battled back to a 36-36 tie after an ugly offensive third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Eagles scored the first five points for a 41-36 lead with 5:45 to go. The Trojans narrowed the margin to 45-43 with 2:34 on the clock, then 47-46 with 1:47 to play.
Kennedy was ahead 49-46 with 36.7 seconds to go, but Simsbury closed to 49-48 with 23.5 left. The Trojans had chances to take the lead but didn’t convert, and Smith hit two foul shots to put the Eagles up 51-48 with 5.7 seconds to play. Simsbury knocked down two foul shots, Kennedy made one more, and a last-ditch chuck from the Trojans missed.
Joseph and Sands came up with some huge plays when Kennedy needed them, according to the story from The Zone’s Joe Palladino.
CLASS M SECOND ROUND
No. 4 Holy Cross 88, No. 13 Rocky Hill 46: The Crusaders ran all over the Terriers from the Central Connecticut Conference in Tim McDonald Gymnasium.
Holy Cross (20-5) will host No. 5 Prince Tech of the Constitution State Conference on Friday at 7 p.m. The Falcons blasted fellow CSC member Wilcox Tech, the No. 12 seed, by a score of 98-69.
Four Holy Cross players reached double figures, led by 17 points from Marcellus Gomes. Kerson Etienne scored 16 points, Nyzair Rountree had a high-flying 15 points and DeAndre Wallace added 11 points.
The Crusaders blew the game open with a 31-14 second quarter, which gave the home team a 44-22 halftime advantage.
