There were three winners of first round boys basketball state tournament games from the area.
In Class L, No. 14 Crosby held on for a 70-68 win over No. 19 Hartford at The Place. St. Paul and WCA both won Class S games. The No. 8 Falcons took down No. 25 Terryville 57-39 at home while the No. 23 Spartans soundly defeated No. 10 Windsor Locks 76-55 on the road.
Bristol Central had the lone area loss on Tuesday. The No. 24 Rams lost their Class L game to No. 9 Windsor by a score of 82-70.
Here’s more on each game:
Crosby: The Bulldogs needed every one of Jeremiah Kendall’s 42 points to escape the Owls of the CCC.
Crosby (15-8 overall) will play No. 3 Bassick of the Constitution State Conference Thursday at 7 p.m. in Bridgeport. The Lions roughed up No. 30 Berlin of the CCC by a score of 84-52.
Kendall hit on 14-of-26 field goal attempts, including a trio of 3-pointers. He was also a solid 11-of-14 at the foul line. Kendall pulled down 19 rebounds, dished out four assists and bagged three steals.
Kerwin Prince scored 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting. He also made three foul shots and pulled down 10 rebounds.
Crosby led by as many as 14 points in the first half and was still ahead by 10, 59-49, in the fourth quarter. Hartford Public battled back to 66-65. Kendall made a basket to get the score to 68-65, then Miguel Rivera knocked down two foul shots. The Owls made a 3-pointer for the final margin of 70-68.
St. Paul: The Falcons got off to a fast start, then held back the Kangaroos from the Berkshire League for a sluggish first round win.
St. Paul (16-6 overall) will host No. 9 Coginchaug of the Shoreline Conference Thursday at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils outlasted No. 24 East Windsor (North Central Connecticut Conference) 50-46 in double overtime.
Mike Palmieri led St. Paul with 18 points. Eli Kennedy tallied nine points, Austin Jones scored seven points, and Tyler Arbuckle and Matt Garry each scored six points. Darek Wiecki had five points for the Falcons in a balanced attack.
WCA: Four Spartans reached double figures as they pulled away in the second half.
WCA (11-10) will play No. 7 Classical of the CSC Thursday at 7 p.m. in Hartford. The Gladiators put up a 100-64 win over No. 26 Putnam of the CSC.
Jadan Battle led WCA with 19 points, but he had plenty of company in double figures. Matt Torres scored 15 points while Marquan Watson and Kyren Petteway added 14 apiece. The Spartans outscored the Raiders 51-33 in the second half.
Bristol Central: The Rams couldn’t overcome a slow start on the road against the Warriors and were sent home with the loss.
Jaekwon Spencer had 21 points to lead Central. Aaron Collins scored 13 points while Mike Lemke and Alex Bernier added 11 each. Isaiah Miller chipped in eight points. The Rams fell behind 21-8 after one quarter and could never recover.
Central finished the season with a record of 10-11. Tuesday marked the final game for seniors Collins, Lemke and Luis Diaz.
