Norwich — His team was already leading by 14 points Tuesday night. Yet the biggest point anybody from Norwich Free Academy made came from coach Chris Guisti, walking off the floor at halftime.

"We're playing for something bigger," Guisti told GameDay. "We're not in the Division IV state tournament."

Guisti alluded to Fitch, which will be competing three divisions lower (in Division IV) than the Division I Wildcats in the CIAC tournament next month.

NFA looked every bit the school from the bigger digs, too, with a 75-53 victory in a game between the likely two top seeds in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I tournament.

"No disrespect intended," Guisti said after the game. "But we can't let anything happen to our (currently No. 1) seed. Look at Division I. East Catholic. Windsor. Notre Dame (of West Haven). Hillhouse. Even lower down, a team like Manchester is fantastic. We don't want to see a team early where we'll have to shoot like 70 percent to win."

The undefeated Wildcats (16-0) certainly played like a team with no intention of losing anything. They were never threatened, expanding a 14-point lead at halftime to as many as 26.

Jared Martin led NFA with 27 points while Mason Jackson had 19.

"This is the first time since I've been here as a head coach and even as an assistant we honestly aren't worried about who we are playing as much as being focused on what we do," Guisti said. "Our focus needs to be on what we're doing on every possession."

It's helped, too, that Martin and Jackson have played very well, especially lately. Jackson, widely regarded in and out of the ECC before the season began, has played some of his best basketball.

"You're just starting to see it," Guisti said. "He's transitioning into a young man. No more teenager. He's going to get even better as he controls those long limbs and legs."

Fitch (14-3) has lost three times since starting 12-0.

"It felt like we didn't take advantage of the opportunities we had," coach Charles Sylvan said. "By our book, we missed 16 layups. Give all the credit to NFA. They made things hard for us."

Ajia Brown led Fitch with 24 points.

"We're not moving the ball around well enough against the zone and everybody is playing zone," Sylvan said. "I think that as we continue to see it we'll begin to do better against it."

m.dimauro@theday.com