It may not have been Larry Bird to Dennis Johnson against the Pistons, but the second-seeded WCA boys’ basketball team were happy to take the steal and layup miracle they pulled off against Killingly in their Division III quarterfinal last week at Kennedy High School.
The Spartans used their own miracle to escape with a 64-63 win. Their reward is a semifinal against a talented Platt High squad tonight at 7 o’clock at Naugatuck High’s Ed Mariano Gymnasium. The Panthers are the No. 6 seed.
Ok, back to how WCA kept its season alive. The Spartans were down, 63-60, with 27.5 seconds to play. Sonny Pierce got open for a corner three, but his shot hit the side of the backboard. Drew Williams was there to snatch it and lay it in to cut the WCA deficit to 63-62 with 11.6 seconds left.
After a timeout, Killingly had trouble getting the ball in. A pass was finally made, but to the corner, a bad place to be against pressure defense. Jason Canady and Zaire Lott double-teamed the Killingly ball-handler, and Lott stole the ball. He drove baseline, then threaded a beautiful pass to Sonny Pierce, who laid it in with six seconds left.
WCA 64, Killingly 63, the Jack Taglia Gymnasium scoreboard read.
On the ensuing inbound, Aden Cross picked off a bad pass near midcourt. Cross was falling backwards and tried to get it to Williams, but a backcourt violation was called with four-tenths of a second left. The officials put a second back on the clock to push it up to 1.4 seconds, and Killingly inbounded near midcourt by the scorers’ table. This inbound went crosscourt and out of bounds with no one having touched it.
WCA had the ball, and Cross got open deep in the backcourt. Canady threw a pass to him, the clock ran out, and the Spartans celebrated their improbable victory.
WCA had an extra day to prepare for Platt because of the Nor’easter that struck the area early this week. The Spartans will have their hands full with the Panthers, and that’s mainly due to the height of their opponent. Five Platt players are listed at 6-foot-4 or taller. WCA’s tallest player is the 6-foot-3 Zaire Lott. The Spartans haven’t seen a roster that big since their early-season road game against Danbury from the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference. WCA lost that game, 68-65. Rebounding as a team will be a major key for the Spartans.
Platt is coming off a 58-47 win over third-seeded Jonathan Law-Milford in the quarterfinal round. Six-foot-five junior Mahkai Anderson led the Panthers in scoring with 24 points. Six-foot-four senior Anthony Nimani put up a huge double-double of 23 points and 16 rebounds. Platt will be making its first state semifinal appearance ever tonight.
Besides rebounding, WCA will need to do a better job handling the ball and avoiding turnovers. The Spartans are already at a big height disadvantage, so giving up the ball for extra possessions too many times would be disastrous.
WCA has some things going for it. The Spartans were the top team in the NVL and also claimed the tournament championship. WCA is fearless and won’t be scared of Platt. The Spartans are also unselfish and can beat you in many ways. Their guard-heavy lineup also does a tremendous job rebounding the basketball.
One thing both teams have in common is each one is playing for a berth in its first state final. Who that winds up being will be decided some time around 8:30 tonight.
