Hartford — At the end of the first quarter Saturday, the scoreboard read, Northwest Catholic 14, Ledyard 2. Nothing like reality to illustrate how far removed the Colonels looked from last season's Eastern Connecticut Conference championship.

But then, Ledyard didn't earn its pedigree without a little resolve. And while coach Dave Cornish used the word "ugly" several times to describe the day, his team accomplished the only thing that truly mattered.

Ledyard clinked and clanked its way to a 43-35 victory over Northwest Catholic in the Spirit of Doc Tournament at Trinity College, honoring the late Doc Hurley, an inspirational educator in the Hartford schools.

Ledyard allowed the aforementioned 14 points after one period, but 21 the rest of the game.

"It was ugly," Cornish said. "I'd say it was mostly nerves. Trevor (Hutchins) and Ken (Turner) were the only ones out there with real varsity experience."

Turner led the Colonels with 10 points and eight rebounds, while Hutchins and Devin Rickerson scored eight apiece. Turner made two free throws and Rickerson scored coming out of a timeout in the last minute to help seal the game.

Maybe the biggest shot, however, came from sophomore guard Jaiden Bickham, who made a 3-pointer with 3:30 left to give Ledyard its biggest lead up to that point, 35-30.

Ledyard, normally preferring man-to-man defense, went to a 2-3 zone most of the game. Northwest Catholic had eight field goals combined in the last three periods.

"I don't like zone," Cornish said. "But we're a long team. Trevor and Devin were in foul trouble. That's what we had to go do today."

Cornish knows it might take a while for him to grasp his team's strengths and weaknesses. Still, a win over a brand name — Northwest is a six-time state champion — isn't a bad way to start.

"It'll take about eight games to know the identity," Cornish said. "And we can start to put pieces together. I still don't know who I'm going to start the next game."

Ledyard's win over Northwest Catholic of the Central Connecticut Conference and East Lyme's win over defending Class M champ Brookfield later Saturday gave the ECC an encouraging start to the season.

m.dimauro@theday.com