Meriden — If the history of high school basketball in the region suggests nothing else, it's this: Never, ever, ever underestimate New London High School. And maybe that's what the Whalers want for the remainder of the season.

Remaining opponents, most within the Eastern Connecticut Conference, will see Tuesday night's score — Crosby 90, New London 56 — and may remember the 30-point loss to East Catholic 10 days earlier, perhaps believing this is the year the Whalers can be beaten.

New London, which played the first period without center Major Roman, fell behind 29-5 and never recovered against the second top 10 school it has played in the first three games. Tuesday's game, played at Maloney High School, was part of the inaugural CPTV Sports Tipoff Classic.

"Believe it or not, I wasn't too displeased with the way we played, other than start of the game," New London coach Craig Parker said. "I thought we played hard in the second, third and fourth quarters. We are a work in progress, no question about it."

Parker said Roman had some "personal issues" that forced him to miss some practice time, thus rendering him to the bench for the first period. Clearly, he is New London's most important player, based on the 29-5 deficit without him. Roman dunked on his first play of the second period, leading an 8-0 run.

"We are a different team with him," Parker said. "He gives us an inside presence. We think he can be a difference maker in our league and we're hoping that he lives up to that the rest of the year."

Tyrell Martinez led the Whalers (1-2) with 19 points and six rebounds. Roman had nine points and six rebounds, while Isaiah Cunningham-Hodge had eight points. The Whalers committed 21 turnovers and missed 17 of the 21 3-pointers they attempted.

Jordan Booker led the Bulldogs with 28 points. Jeremiah Kendall had 24. Crosby shot 49 percent, made eight 3-pointers and outrebounded New London 44-35.

"The games against East Catholic and Crosby are behind us," Parker said. "Now I hope we can settle down and play in some games we can compete in and win."

The Whalers are off for a week and play Tuesday at Waterford in an Eastern Connecticut Conference Medium Division game. The game will be streamed live on theday.com.

m.dimauro@theday.com

Twitter: @BCgenius