New London - With the clock winding down and a berth in the Eastern Connecticut Conference tournament title game on the line, Stonington High School boys' basketball coach Mike Reyes had a few options.

But there was little doubt who would have the ball in his hands with the game on the line.

Junior Will DeFanti hit a pull-up jumper with 4.5 seconds remaining to give seventh-seeded Stonington a 60-59 win over No. 6 Waterford at Conway Gym on Wednesday.

The game featured eight ties and 15 lead changes, including four in the final three minutes.

"Just a crazy game," Reyes said. "I'm at a loss for words right now. Just an awesome game. That's why you coach. That's why you play."

Stonington (18-5) will play top-seeded and unbeaten New London (22-0), the state's top-ranked team, on Friday at 7 p.m.

The Whalers defeated No. 5 Plainfield, 96-56, in Wednesday's other semifinal behind Kris Dunn's 28 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and seven steals, depsite fouling out in the third quarter. Torin Childs-Harris scored 21 and Doug Henton added 14 points and eight assists for New London.

Plainfield trailed 9-7 early in the first before the Whalers ended the quarter on a 22-4 run.

"We did what we had to do," New London coach Craig Parker said. "We've been better. Now we get ready for Stonington. They're a team that plays hard and scrappy and they have some good shooters."

Waterford (16-7) built a seven-point lead - the largest by either team - late in the third quarter, but the Bears cut the lead to two when Cody Candelet hit a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"We had a couple of opportunities where we had it where we wanted it," first-year Waterford coach Greg Gwudz said. "We took some 3's and some long shots we didn't need."

Waterford's Pat Rogers, who finished with a game-high 25 points, made a pair of free throws midway through the fourth quarter to tie the game at 50. A putback by Nolan Long put the Lancers up, but Stonington's Sam Donahue answered with a 3-pointer to put the Bears up, 53-52 with 2:45 remaining.

Waterford's Geary McLeod hit a 3-pointer with under two minutes left as Waterford again went ahead, but DeFanti hit a tough pull-up jumper with just over a minute remaining to tie the game.

A 3-pointer by Rogers put the Lancers back up, but the Bears answered again on a 3-pointer by Jake Berkowitz, just his seventh of the season.

Long then made one of two free throws with 32 seconds left before DeFanti's game-winner.

"He wants to put the team on his back," Donahue said of DeFanti.

Reyes and the Bears couldn't exhale until Waterford's Matt Irvine missed a contested shot at the buzzer.

"That was a huge shot and Will's the first kid to say, 'Granted, I made the shot, but it was because Logan (Hertlein) came off the bench and played big or Berk hit a big shot,'" Reyes said. "He's the first one to give credit to his teammates. These kids, they love playing with him. It takes a lot of guts to take that shot."

Donahue led the Bears with 17 points (11 in the second half) while DeFanti added 16 and Jackson Donahue 11.

"That was one of the biggest, craziest atmospheres I've seen in a while," Sam Donahue said. "We love to play the big teams."

Stonington now gets its third shot of the year at New London. The Bears are one of just two teams to have led the Whalers at halftime this season and they played them closer than any ECC team has, a 14-point loss in early February.

DeFanti said the Bears got too complacent after that game, believing that a halftime lead over New London was a victory in itself."

"This is what we want," Reyes said. "We know what's ahead of us. We're not going to back down. Our guys are excited for the challenge. (New London) is the best team in the state and have a ton of talent. We'll see what happens."

o.poole@theday.com