Waterford boys win first ECC basketball title in 36 years

Waterford - What could have been bad news for the Waterford High School boys' basketball team Tuesday night, down 12 in the first half, Windham making 3-pointers look as easy as layups, turned into a long-awaited school-wide celebration.

The Waterford student section, which calls itself Lancer Nation, streamed onto the court following the game to celebrate the Lancers' 70-60 victory over Windham, giving them sole possession of the Eastern Connecticut Conference Medium Division title.

It's the first league title for Waterford since 1976.

And it was helped along by the performance of senior point guard Geary McLeod, who finished with 38 points and 11 rebounds, leading the Lancers first to a tie with Windham and then past the Whippets at a full sprint.

"There's a sign in the locker room. 'Be a part of history. Thirty-six years,'" said Waterford senior Cory Murallo, whose defense helped stop the Windham 3-point barrage in the second half. "It feels great. It's a team accomplishment. We're very proud of that. ... It's a process."

It was a process against Windham, certainly.

The Lancers (17-1, 9-1) trailed 24-12 in the second quarter, 35-28 at halftime and didn't seem to be chipping away all that much, although they did bring more energy in the second quarter than the first, punctuated by a Nolan Long dunk.

"We definitely were not playing our best half," Waterford coach Greg Gwudz said.

Then, McLeod played perhaps his best half. Period.

McLeod, who inexplicably to Gwudz is not being called on by college recruiters nearly enough, scored 22 points in the second half as the Lancers caught Windham just 2 minutes, 49 seconds into the third quarter.

Waterford took the lead for good when McLeod was fouled shooting a 3 and hit all three free throws.

That made it 46-43 in favor of the Lancers and McLeod didn't stop there, bringing the ball down the floor the next time down, stopping at the top of the 3-point circle and hitting an uncontested 3-pointer to make it 49-43, forcing a Windham timeout and sending Lancer Nation into a frenzy.

Waterford led 51-45 by the end of the third quarter and McLeod scored the Lancers' last eight points in the final 2:38, never easing up and allowing Waterford to survive a four-point play by Windham's Kendall Marquez to pull the Whippets within six.

"That was a turnaround right there," said Windham coach Bill Strand of McLeod's six-point spree in the third quarter. "They're on their home floor. They're getting everyone jacked up."

Waterford beat Windham 67-28 on Jan. 24 at Windham, giving the Whippets incentive to play better this time around. It was Windham, in fact, which beat Stonington 75-62 last week in the Medium Division, a game which allowed Waterford the opportunity to clinch the division outright.

"We needed to get to the basket and get fouled," Strand said. "You can only live and die by the jump shot so much. ... We came down with the attitude we needed to play better and we did that. We didn't win, but I think they had to earn it."

Long, Waterford's 6-foot-9 center, who missed the last game with a sore ankle, had 12 points, eight rebounds and six steals.

Mike Martin added 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers as part of the third-quarter comeback.

Marquez and Julian Sanchez had 20 points each for Windham (14-4), which finished with nine 3-pointers.

"At halftime we talked about we just needed energy," said McLeod, who often times in the second half got a defensive rebound and continued going right to the other end for a layup.

"We just kept out composure and we got there. We just had to keep on pushing it."

v.fulkerson@theday.com