Waterford — Chris Guisti looked at the scoreboard Tuesday night and saw what everyone else did: NFA 48, New London 38, with 4 minutes, 41 seconds remaining. He might have actually allowed himself a moment to exhale.

"Shame on me," he would say later.

But he said it with a smile. That's because his Wildcats, despite not scoring in the final 4:41, hung on for a 48-46 win over New London to earn a share of the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I boys' basketball title with Ledyard, and the third seed in the upcoming ECC Division I tournament.

No. 3 NFA will play host to No. 6 East Lyme, while No. 5 Bacon Academy will play at New London. No. 8 Fitch plays at top-seeded Waterford while No. 7 Stonington visits No. 2 Ledyard. All four quarterfinal games are Thursday night.

NFA (16-4) also earned the seven seed in the Class LL state tournament, meaning the Wildcats can play two home games.

"You're always going to get New London's best if they have a full squad or if they have some injuries," Guisti said. "I know they were missing a key guy tonight (guard Jalen Benson, out with an injury). No lead is safe in this rivalry. That's why it's the best rivalry on this side of the state.

"There weren't elite athletes making plays like we've seen sometimes in the past but it was sure competitive."

Seth Thomas led the Wildcats with 18 points and Jalen Graham had 10, including two dunks. Tyler Sebastian added nine, all while trying to deal with New London center D. Major Roman all night.

Edwardo Gonzalez led New London with 19 points and Gio Lopez had 14. Gonzalez hit a late three to pull the Whalers within two. New London (13-6) had several chances to tie in the frantic closing moments.

The game was played before more than 1,000 fans at the Francis X. Sweeney Fieldhouse at Waterford. New London's gym was unavailable, but will be for Thursday's quarterfinals.

Guisti joked that NFA's late scoring drought might have been because of the demons circling about the gym they call the "X." The Wildcats haven't had great luck there always.

"I thought we got good looks," he said. "I've had that feeling before here."

The victory gives NFA a chance to play East Lyme and sophomore guard Dev Ostrowski, among the league's best players.

"That's an interesting reward," Guisti said. "Go 16-4 and now you get probably the single most dynamic guard in the conference. Even more important, we have to play a well-coached team that we've already beaten twice. (East Lyme coach Jeff Bernardi) is going to have his team ready. We're going to see the kitchen sink."

The Whalers, meanwhile, will go the rest of the way without Benson, thus making the one-and-done portion of the schedule more difficult.

"I feel relatively good," New London coach Craig Parker said. "We've got some guys that battle. Our outside game is improving. So is our foul shooting. I'm feeling good. I think we can make a run at the ECC championship and go from there."

m.dimauro@theday.com