Lancers hoping to seize the day in ECC Medium

Waterford - Greg Gwudz has never questioned his team's character, but days like Saturday certainly reinforce just how mentally tough his Waterford High School boys' basketball team has become.

The Lancers, playing without injured 6-foot-9 center Nolan Long, trailed rival East Lyme by 11 points at halftime and by eight heading into the fourth quarter.

No problem. Point guard Geary McLeod went on a personal 7-0 run to get Waterford right back into the game and the Lancers converted 8 of 9 free throws in the fourth quarter to rally past the Vikings, 55-54.

"We were kind of in an offensive funk," Gwudz said after Waterford improved to 16-1. "In the fourth quarter we really turned it around ... Geary had that 7-0 run all by himself and we really fed off it."

Waterford broke a 49-49 tie on two Cory Murallo free throws, forced a turnover at midcourt seconds later, and sophomore Danny Martin drove all the way to the hoop and converted a tough layup in traffic with 13 seconds remaining to give the Whalers a 53-49 lead.

"Even when we're down eight or 10 in the last four or five minutes of a game, we kind of seize our opportunity and feed off of it," Gwudz said. "We've learned how to win tight games and that's going to help us come tournament time."

McLeod finished with 21 points, four rebounds and three assists while David Willox, filling in for Long, had six points and 13 rebounds. Liam Williams scored 17 points and Jeff Schumacher 16 for East Lyme (9-9), which came into the game with wins in six of its previous seven games - the only loss coming against No. 4 New London.

Waterford will play one of the most important games in program history on Tuesday night when the Lancers host Windham at 7 p.m. Waterford, which has gone 36 years without an ECC title (1976), can clinch the outright Medium Division championship with a victory of the Whippets.

"We've already clinched a tie," Gwudz said. "But we don't want to share it."