The St. Paul boys basketball team couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start against Naugatuck during Tuesday night’s showdown of undefeated NVL teams in Bristol.
The Falcons fell behind the Greyhounds, 8-0, and didn’t get their first point until Mekhi Petteway’s free throw with 4:47 left in the first quarter. St. Paul trailed by as much as 11 in the opening quarter, and by 12 with less than three and a half minutes to play in the game. Naugatuck led the entire game, but wasn’t able to exhale until a desperation 3-pointer came up short at the buzzer.
Final score: Greyhounds 66, Falcons 63.
St. Paul may have lost, but it gave Naugatuck a battle until the final buzzer. Jamie Leggett had another big night with 23 points and nine rebounds. Ben Bochicchio made four of eight Falcon 3-pointers on his way to 14 points. Bochicchio also had four assists. Erik Suzio had a big game around the basket and struck for 12 points and six rebounds.
The Falcons were down, 63-51, with 3:23 to play in the game. Leggett made one of two free throws with 2:48 to play, then Bochicchio nailed a 3-pointer. Leggett pulled up in the lane for two more points, and the deficit was trimmed to 63-57. With the game in its final minute, Leggett made an insane reverse layup to make the score 63-59. Naugatuck’s Ese Onakpoma missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Avery Hinnant’s putback gave the visitors a 65-59 lead.
Palmieri made one of two free throws with 15 seconds left to make the score 65-60. Hinnant missed the front end of a one-and-one, then John Gaffney picked an opportune time to score his only points of the game, a 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds to play to cut the deficit to just two points, 65-63. St. Paul fouled Jayshawn Lindsay with 4.5 seconds to go. Lindsay made the first foul shot, then missed the second shot. The ball ended up in the hands of Leggett, who weaved his way toward midcourt before firing up a long 3-pointer. The shot missed, and the Greyhounds survived.
St. Paul fell to 3-1, but fought until the final buzzer in a game that it could have won. The Falcons look to learn some valuable lessons from this game, and they’re back on the court Friday at Torrington.
GALLERY: Here are my photos from Tuesday’s game.
Photo caption: St. Paul’s zone defense keeps its eyes on Naugatuck star Ese Onakpoma (2) during Tuesday night’s NVL showdown in Bristol. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69)
