Boys Basketball: Stafford Spoils East Granby Senior Night

Zack Rollins scored a game-high 20 points and came up with a key block with less than 10 seconds remaining to help Stafford defeat East Granby High 47-46 on the Crusaders’ Senior Night Wednesday evening.

The game was as tight as the final score indicated, as the lead changed no fewer than 13 times.

The 13th and final lead change was the most controversial, however.

With East Granby leading 38-35 in the fourth quarter, Stafford’s Kyle Pellanck (6 points) was fouled. A Crusaders’ player took issue with the call and was called for a technical foul, putting Pellanck on the line with four free-throws, all of which he made to give the Bulldogs a 39-38 lead.

“The technical obviously didn’t help us,” East Granby head coach Jeff Moger said. “That was a tough one. I don’t know what was said, exactly, but I’m going to find out.”

The stunning reversal of fortune appeared to knock the wind out of East Granby’s sails, as Stafford (10-10, 7-10 NCCC) built its lead to five at 47-42 on a Rollins 3-pointer with 4:16 left.

A basket by Noah Fersch (tied for a team-high 14 points) and two free throws by Ryan Aeschliman (14 points) pulled the Crusaders (12-8, 9-8 NCCC) to within one at 47-46 with 1:20 left in the game.

East Granby had several chances to go ahead, but Aeschliman’s floater in the lane with 8 seconds left hit the back of the iron.

A missed free-throw by a Stafford player left 5.7 seconds on the clock allowed East Granby’s Dylan O’Brien to dribble down the length of the floor, only to have his shot blocked by Rollins.

East Granby may not have needed any late heroics, but for shooting just 4-for-8 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.

“We had plenty of chances from the free-throw line, we just didn’t hit any of them,” Moger said. “I was proud of the way they didn’t quit and the way they played to the end. Any other night, the game goes our way if we make out free throws and we do a few things differently.”

Brian Watterlond had nine points for East Granby, while Jack Beatty had three and Tyler Arsenault and Connor Kennedy each had two.

Tim Artruc had 11 points for Stafford, while Jack Kulette had four and Alex Hoss had two.
Stafford raced out to a 16-7 lead in the first quarter, before East Granby counter-punched on a Fersch-led 10-0 run to take the lead 17-16 at the 5:22 mark in the second half.

The teams spent the remainder of the second quarter trading the lead before going into the half with Stafford leading 27-26.

Aeschliman gave the Crusaders the lead at 28-27 early in the third, which East Granby ultimately built to 36-31 on free throws by Kyle Bowers (4 points) with 4:12 left in the quarter.

Stafford closed to within one at 36-35 at the end of the third, before setting the stage for the technical foul. All of which gave Stafford a hard-fought victory in its regular-season finale.

“We just had to buckle down and get the stops,” Stafford head coach Mike Morhardt said. “We’ve been resilient all year. This is a great group of kids that we’ve asked to work hard and change the culture of the program a little bit.”

The loss was particularly heartbreaking for East Granby, which bade farewell to seniors Aeschliman, Watterlond, Jared Lowenstein and Bowers.

“It’s tough to have that one on Senior Night,” Moger said. “ You’d like to have that one again.”

Next up for the Crusaders is the first round of the NCCC tournament, at which they are the fifth seed. After that comes the state Class S tournament, the pairings of which will be announced on Feb. 29.