East Windsor Outpaces Granby Memorial 54-50

Some games, it just doesn’t come together.

Such was the case for the boys basketball team, which fell to East Windsor 54-50 at home on Tuesday evening.

Indeed, open shots didn’t fall for the Bears, their help defense was just a step late, and that run to get them over the hump just never materialized. All of which was enough for the Panthers (2-1) to snap Granby Memorial’s two-game winning streak.

“We fought hard,” Granby Memorial head coach Wally Hansen said. “We just didn’t do the little things you need to do when you don’t shoot the ball well. If you don’t shoot well, you can’t give up second chances.”

Carlin Champion and Nick Mazzotta led the Bears (2-3) with 17 points each, while Dan Clark scored eight and Mike Noyes and Curt Field each chipped in four.

But their efforts weren’t enough to offset Kevin Mocadlo’s game-high 18 points for East Windsor. Rick Reilly added 15 for the Panthers, while Matt Graham had nine, Giovanni Wickham scored eight and Dajon Farley submitted four points in the victory.

Thing started auspiciously enough for the Bears, who took an 8-4 lead late in the first quarter when Mazzotta hit two free throws. But East Windsor, behind a field goal and a 3-pointer from Mocadlo and a bucket from Reilly, went on a 9-2 run in the final two minutes of the quarter to take an 11-10 lead.

The game seesawed from then on, as Granby Memorial clawed back to take a 17-15 lead midway through the second period on Carlin Champion’s three-point play, only to see East Windsor close out the quarter on an 11-6 run to take a 26-23 halftime advantage.

East Windsor went up by as much as seven points a couple of times throughout the game, but Granby Memorial fought back and even took the lead in the fourth quarter, only to see it slip away.

It was a tough loss for Granby Memorial, particularly after an emotional victory over Simsbury last Wednesday.

“I don’t want this to be a tale of two teams,” Hansen said. “The team we saw against Simsbury was not the team we saw tonight. Give credit to East Windsor. They executed when they needed to execute. It’s a long season. I hope we’re going to learn from this.”

Granby Memorial will face Ellington on the road at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 5, while East Windsor squares off against Stafford at home on Friday, Jan. 6.