Boys Basketball: Granby Memorial Routs Wilcox Tech in State Tourney

Nick Mazzotta scored 29 points and Carlin Champion chipped in 11 to lead the No. 22 boys basketball team to a 66-34 rout of No. 11 Wilcox Tech in the first round of the state Class M tournament in Meriden on Tuesday.

“That was a nice one,” said Bears head coach Wally Hansen. “We guarded real well and blew them out.”

The Bears overcame a tough first quarter in which they scored just 11 points, with Mazzotta accounting for nine of them.

“When he’s good, he’s real good,” Hansen said of his senior swing man.

Granby Memorial (11-11) led just 11-6 after the first quarter, but then took command in the second, with Mazzotta hitting a 3-pointer out of a timeout to give the Bears a 27-18 halftime advantage.

Champion, who struggled with his shot in the first half, held Wilcox Tech’s best player, Roosevelt Shider, to just 13 points. Shider averaged over 23 points during the regular season. In addition, Champion also set up teammates with several gorgeous passes to increase Granby Memorial’s lead.

“I thought he did a really nice job tonight,” Hansen said. “Different guys make us go. When they’re making plays and having fun, we do real well.”

The second half was more of the same, with the Bears outscoring the Indians 21-7 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.

Dan Clark and Curt Field each had six points in the winning effort, with Mike Noyes and Ken Joslyn submitting four points apiece, Dawson Tefft had three, Zachary Quinn had two and Jakob Yankauskas had one.

Joshua Arroyo had seven points, while James Pierlioni had five, and Robert Jackson, Luis Torres, Dan Guodace, Javier Vazquez each had two for Wilxox Tech.

It was a surprising lack of offense from a Wilcox Tech team that was used to scoring over 60 points a game, according to head coach Jack Smith.

“This is a team I thought we could beat, but we only put 30 points up,” Smith said. “Our shooter - we’ve got three good outside shooters on the team - and nobody came through like they normally do.”

Smith said that playing at Platt Tech instead of Wilcox Tech’s home floor may have made a difference.

“I think the excitement and the anticipation of a tournament playoff game [played a role],” Smith said. “[In games like this] you cannot let yourself not have a good game. These are the games you have to shine.”

Wilcox Tech ended its season with a record of 14-7.

“This is probably the best team I’ve had in my three years here,” Smith said. “I don’t think being in a tech league is the problem. I think the kids’ mentality as players is what affected us.”

Granby Memorial will face No. 6 Notre Dame-Fairfield, which defeated SMSA 54-36 in the first round, on the road on March 8.