No. 1 New London, No. 2 Ledyard meet in ECC boys’ basketball tournament final
Dave Cornish, Ledyard High School coach, was asked about tonight's Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament championship matchup.
It was back on Jan. 22 before an overflow crowd in Ledyard's Standish Gymnasium that the New London boys' basketball team, protecting an unbeaten record, edged Ledyard by a basket, 72-70, on a game-winning layup by C.J. Parker with 1.2 seconds remaining. It was good for the 399th win in the career of New London coach Craig Parker, C.J.'s dad.
It was electric.
"It hasn't lost its luster. They beat us; I don't know, maybe it's lost its luster," Cornish said, smiling, following his team's 89-74 victory over Waterford in Wednesday night's semifinals at Fitch.
"We had that in our gym (with a standing room only crowd)," said Ledyard senior Phyllip Thomas, who finished with a career-high 34 points in the semifinals. "This game (at Waterford), we're going to have 1,000 more people."
No. 1 New London, tied for second in the state in the New Haven Register's Top 10 poll, still protecting its unbeaten record at 21-0, will meet No. 2 Ledyard (19-3, ninth in the state) in the ECC championship game at 7:30 tonight at Waterford High School. The game will be livestreamed at www.theday.com beginning at 7:15 p.m.
New London had a six-season winning streak in the tournament end last season, falling in the semifinals to Woodstock Academy, meanwhile Ledyard also lost in the semifinals to Norwich Free Academy, obliterating the notion of the top two seeds - the Whalers and Colonels - advancing to the final.
Combining both teams' will to make up for last year's shortcomings and their desire to one-up each other this year following the previous two-point game, tonight's "1 vs. 2" matchup should live up to its billing.
"We've got to make shots, make free throws, rebound," Cornish said. "They're a great rebounding team. They've got a lot of size."
Craig Parker said this New London team is better than last year's, more able to overcome close-game situations, because of its seniors.
"And we're a more versatile team," Parker said. "We can go inside and outside. We can go fast, slow or moderate. … It should be a great game."
"You get a lot better in nervous situations," New London senior Seth Lake said of relying on the team's seniors.
The Whalers beat NFA 62-20 in the quarterfinals before holding off Windham 61-53 in the semifinals, getting 20 points from Lake, 14 in the second half, and 15 points from Collin Sawyer.
Ledyard beat St. Bernard 84-59 in the quarters before using an explosive third quarter to break away from Waterford in the semis. In addition to Thomas's 34 points, DeAnte Bruton had 22 points and Rashan Young 12 for the Colonels.
v.fulkerson@theday.com
Twitter: @vickieattheday
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