Waterford - Seth Lake was 7 years old when his dad made a few corrections to his shooting technique, making sure he released his shot with one hand instead of with two.

The evolution of Lake's shooting was certainly important Friday night, too, when his unerring shot was what mattered most in top-seeded New London High School's Eastern Connecticut Conference boys' basketball championship win over No. 2 Ledyard.

Lake hit eight 3-point field goals and finished with 27 points to lift New London to a 68-62 victory in front of a capacity crowd at Waterford High School. Lake earned Most Valuable Player honors, as the Whalers, tied for second in the New Haven Register Top 10 poll, won their seventh ECC title in eight years and remained undefeated at 22-0.

New London edged Ledyard 72-70 on a shot by C.J. Parker with 1.2 seconds remaining on Jan. 22, setting the stage for a feverish rematch, during which the Whalers led 21-8 after a quarter and trailed 36-30 in the third.

"Seth was like Kobe (Bryant) out there," Parker said of his hot-shooting teammate. "Like Kobe took over his body."

"Seth Lake had an unbelievable game," Ledyard coach Dave Cornish said. "He came in shooting from the scorer's table. He was the hero. Lake was the hero."

New London still trailed 59-54 on a pair of free throws by Ledyard's DeAnte Bruton with 5 minutes, 43 seconds remaining and things appeared to grow more dire with 5:20 to play when Collin Sawyer, the Whalers' leading scorer throughout the season, picked up an offensive foul, his fifth of the game.

The turning point for New London came with 4:10 to play, however, down 61-57. Eddie Guilbert hit a 3-pointer, one of 10 for the Whalers, from the right-hand corner to pull them within 61-60, then Guilbert dove back toward the inbounds pass and deflected it off a Ledyard player to give New London the ball.

Lake delivered his eighth 3-pointer at 3:54, giving the Whalers the lead for good at 63-61, and Ledyard scored only one point from there on a free throw by Phyllip Thomas with 8.8 seconds remaining. Major Roman scored for New London to push the advantage to 65-61 and Guilbert was 3-for-4 from the foul line in the final minute.

Roman (15 points) and Parker (10 points) joined Lake on the all-tournament team, as did Ledyard's Bruton (25 points) and Thomas (12 points, 34 points in the Colonels' semifinal victory over Waterford).

New London had six straight ECC tournament titles to its credit before losing to Woodstock Academy in last year's semifinals.

"During the game I was kind of stressed out," said Lake, who called losing last year's tournament "awful." "It looked like it was going to be a hard game to get back. But we showed up in the second half."

"When we play them it's a great game so far," said Parker, a senior, as is Lake. "I love these games; I wish we could play them every time."

Parker said that the satisfaction in the championship was twofold. Beating Ledyard was one reward, but the accomplishments of the New London team this entire season have been gratifying, as well.

"Our team, our time," Parker said. "Last year was the first time New London wasn't in the final since, like, 2003. I was really disappointed. This year, we had the confidence to do it, the talent to do it and the work ethic to do it. We got it done."

Ledyard trailed 23-8 early in the second quarter before reeling off 11 straight points, making it 23-19 on a tip-in by Rashan Young, when suddenly the matchup with New London was the game everyone had anticipated.

Ledyard took a 31-30 lead on a 3-pointer by Mario Graham to start the third quarter and extended it to 36-30 on a basket by Young and a 3-pointer by Bruton. The Colonels (19-4, ranked ninth in the state) held the lead from there until Lake's sixth 3-pointer pulled New London within 49-48 and Roman dunked at the buzzer to end the third, giving the Whalers the 50-49 edge.

"It is to the kids," said Cornish of whether the loss was a disappointment. "I feel bad for the kids … go out on top. But it's back to work (for the state tournament). We've got to hurry up and pick up the pieces. We can't hang our heads right now."

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday