Nielsen's Quintet Picks up a Pair of Weekend Wins

Narrow weekend victories over Lyman Hall (55-54) and Pomperaug High of Southbury (64-60) enabled the Amity boys basketball team to extend its winning streak to three games in a row and improve its record to 5-4.

While Coach Jeff Nielsen enjoyed Saturday’s victory over the visiting Panthers, they truly savored their Southern Connecticut Conference—Housatonic Division upset road victory over the 8-2 Trojans.

Getting off to a slow start, Amity trailed 18-13 at the end of the first period. By halftime the Trojan lead had been shaved back to only three points (30-27).

Nielsen said, “It was good that we were only down by three at the end of the first half on the road. We were right where we wanted to be.”

With Kevin Kochiss popping in half of his team’s 14 third period points, Amity outscored Lyman Hall 14-7 and held a 41-37 lead as the fourth quarter got underway. Still leading by a point (53-52) with 31 seconds to go in the game, Amity lost its edge when Rich Bronson tossed in a mid-range jumper. That 54-53 Trojan lead was maintained as the final seconds clicked off the time clock. The hosts used an aggressive pressing defense to slow Amity down and prevent any short-range, game-winning shots.

Lyman Hall tipped away an Amity back-court pass at the 6.6 second mark. Following consecutive time outs to draw up a final, possibly game-winning shot, the Spartans put the ball in play with a mid court lob pass to Grant Watkins. While the Amity plan was to have Watkins drive to the basket, he saw teammate Pat Sasso flash down the right side and head to the hole. When he got behind the final Lyman Hall defender, Watkins hit him with a perfect chest pass. Sasso laid it off the backboard and in as the final buzzer sounded.

“We played well enough to win. It’s always nice to beat a division opponent, but it’s even sweeter when it’s a come-from behind, road win," Nielsen added. “Lyman Hall had to play catch-up for almost the entire second half.”

Watkins and Kochiss each tossed in 16 points and Zac Campbell added 11 for the winners. P.J. Higgins tallied a team-high 11 points while Brunson and John DeSandre dropped in 10 points apiece for the Trojans.

The Amity victory snapped Lyman Hall’s eight game winning streak.

Free throws proved to be a key factor in the final outcome. It came down to it being a matter of quantity rather than quality from the foul line. Amity canned six of eight during the final session and 13 of 23 for the game (56 percent) . The Trojans were good on nine of their mere 13 tries (69 percent).

Back in action against visiting Pomperaug less than 24 hours later and clearly tired after its narrow win over Lyman Hall, Amity got off to another of its patented slow starts. Trailing 18-11 after the first quarter, Amity began to come alive in the second period. By the end of the first half, the hosts still trailed by four points (30-26).

“We were sluggish and still tired,” Nielsen said. “Our jump shots kept coming up short. And we gave Pomperaug too many early-game points.”

Brent Pelella scored nine of the visitors’ first half points and would end up with a game-high total of 23.

Slowly but surely chipping away at the Panther lead, Amity outscored the Panthers 17-12 during the third quarter and crept past them to lead by a point (43-42) as the fourth quarter got underway. Watkins and Campbell each tallied eight points during the Spartans’ third period surge.

Nielsen added, “During the halftime break, I told my guys that I wanted to be tied with Pomperaug by four minutes into the third quarter.”

Clinging to a 1-3 point lead throughout the final stanza, Amity went into the final seconds of the game with a 60-59 lead. Watkins was fouled and made the first of two free throws. While he missed the second freebie, Kochiss grabbed the rebound and was quickly fouled by the Panthers. Kochiss then nailed down the victory by hitting both of his charity tosses. 

Nielsen noted that his cagers made six of eight free throws in the fourth quarter and cashed out with 13 of 20 for the game. Pomperaug netted only six of 10 for the entire game.

Watkins led the winners with 21 points. Campbell chipped in with 15 markers and Kochiss added 14. In addition to Pelella’s 23 points, Tim Harris tossed in 18 and Andre Markis had 13 for the 5-3 losers.