Champion Leads Granby Past Simsbury 56-50

For the second time in three years, the basketball team won its border skirmish with Simsbury High, as the Bears defeated the Trojans 56-50 in Granby on Wednesday evening.

It was a game marked by a state tournament-type atmosphere, as the Granby Memorial gymnasium was packed with fans to see the Bears earn their second consecutive victory of the season to improve to 2-2, while Simsbury was handed its first loss of the 2011-12 season to fall to 3-1.

“[It was a] very high-energy, intensity type game - great atmosphere,” Granby Memorial head coach Walter Hansen said in an e-mail. “Both teams really battled and played hard.”

Junior Carlin Champion led Granby with 21 points, while Nick Mazzotta had 16 and Mike Noyes added 15 in the victory. Dan Clark also had four points for the Bears.

Hansen said that Champion, Noyes and Mazzotta all made key baskets at the end of the game, while Champion showed off new dimensions of his game.

“Kind of a break out performance for him,” Hansen said of Champion. Hansen also credited Noyes was 9-for-10 in free throws and made “some huge free-throws down the stretch,”  Hansen said.

Simsbury led 23-21 at halftime before Granby Memorial outscored the Trojans 24-16 in the decisive third period to give the Bears a 35-29 advantage going into the fourth quarter.

Simsbury point guard Jake Downing nailed five 3-pointers en route to a game-high 26 points in the losing effort.

“He was very tough to stop,” Hansen said.

Jeff Smith scored 11 points for the Trojans, while Hunter Phillips had six, Corey Coombes had three, and Devin Conley and Ryan Ahrens each had two.

Granby Memorial is next scheduled to face East Windsor at home on Jan. 3, 2012 at 7 p.m. while Simsbury is scheduled to square off against Windsor Locks on Friday, Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. at home.

Scoring by quarter:

Simsbury 14  9  16  11   50

Granby    13  8  24  11   56

Scorers:

Simsbury - Hunter Phillips - 2 2 6, Jake Downing - 7 7 26, Jeff Smith - 5 0 11, Devin Conley - 1 0 2, Ryan Ahrens - 1 0 2, Corey Coombes - 1 0 3

Granby Memorial - Dan Clark - 2 0 4, Mike Noyes - 3 9 15, Carlin Champion - 9 0 21, Nick Mazzotta - 8 0 16