Old Lyme stays unbeaten in Shoreline play
Old Lyme — The scene begged for drama: two neighboring rivals playing inside a full house and before dueling student sections, exactly how high school basketball should look, sound and feel.
Except that Old Lyme was so good Friday night that drama became an impossibility.
The Wildcats used a 17-0 run in the third quarter and defeated Old Saybrook, 70-47, snapping the Rams’ seven-game win streak. Old Lyme (13-1) has yet to lose in the Shoreline Conference (12-0) and is headed for a late-season showdown at unbeaten Cromwell for the regular season title.
Old Lyme coach Kirk Kaczor saw early-game jitters from his players — and wasn’t all that disappointed either.
“It was good for us,” he said. “I was actually excited about it. We haven’t been in tight situations yet this year. It felt like a championship game and that’s going to help us in the long run. I respect Old Saybrook like you can’t believe.”
Aedan Using, a candidate for Shoreline Player of the Year, led the Wildcats with 21 points, scoring inside and out. Olin Fredericks did the same, finishing with 16 points while Brady Sheffield had 13 and Jared Ritchie came off the bench to score 12. Old Lyme ran its winning streak to 10 straight.
“We’re a pretty calm team,” Using said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone here get in a fight and maybe one of two technicals ever. I was proud of the way we kept calm in that atmosphere because it was really exciting.”
The Old Lyme student filled an entire section, all wearing white T-shirts for a “white out” night.
“It’s really pretty cool to see the gym like that,” Using said. “We have a school with maybe 500 students. To see all of them here says something about our school. We support our teams. Our whole school is a team.”
Shane Henderson led the Rams (8-4) with 21 points. The Rams trailed 34-27 early in the third quarter before succumbing to the 17-0 run.
“We were coming off a stretch of games where maybe we could afford to make some mistakes and still win,” Using said. “That wasn’t the case tonight. Old Saybrook is a good team. We knew they’d make us pay for every mistake we made.”
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