East Lyme boys beat NFA, closes in on ECC Div. I title
Norwich — Competitive schedules do more than sustain the old “to be the best you have to beat the best” bromide. They also place you in uncomfortable positions, creating a culture where hard lessons produce inevitable improvement.
And so Tuesday night, East Lyme High School, well versed this year in close games against good teams, suddenly found itself trailing with two minutes left in a game it had led most of the way.
Panic?
Nah.
“We trust each other,” senior Dev Ostrowski said inside the happy postgame locker room, following his team’s 66-63 win over Norwich Free Academy, a victory that moved the Vikes a step closer to the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I regular season title.
Nolan Molkenthin’s three-pointer with 2:10 left gave NFA, once down 10, a 58-55 lead. The full student section was in full throat during the Vikings’ next possession, which was a case study in poise. They swing the ball to Nate Diaz, whose three-pointer tied the game, beginning a decisive 8-0 run.
“We’ve been down three with two (minutes) to go, four with a minute to go, but they have confidence in each other,” East Lyme coach Jeff Bernardi said. “Nate stuck that shot with so much confidence.”
Luke Leonard and Ostrowski followed with layups off NFA turnovers to push the lead to five before East Lyme (12-3, 4-0) made enough free throws at the end.
Ostrowski led East Lyme with 23 points. Leonard had 16 and Diaz had nine. Drew Menghi scored seven, including two big foul-line jumpers in the fourth quarter.
Mason Jackson scored 10 of his team-high 24 points in the fourth quarter for NFA (9-6, 1-2). Xavier Marquez had 15 and Molkenthin 12 for the Wildcats, who all but lost their opportunity to win the division. It was also NFA’s third straight difficult loss, after playing quite competitively against top 10 teams East Hartford and Waterford.
East Lyme, whose loss to Glastonbury dropped it from the top 10 in the latest GameTime CT poll, remains unbeaten in the division. This would be East Lyme’s second straight ECC Division I title.
“We talked about it before the game because it’s special,” Bernardi said. “You don’t get the opportunity to win a championship much in life. We had a similar opportunity to do it here at NFA last year, too. We didn’t win it tonight, but this win got us a step closer.”
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