Spartans Fall to New London in Class L Semis

There were no late-game heroics for Maloney this time. Torin Childs-Harris made sure of that. 

Childs-Harris scored 17 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, leading unbeaten No. 3 seed New London to a 72-56 victory over No. 2 seed Maloney in the semifinals of the Class L tournament in New Haven Wednesday. 

Senior Zach Milslagle scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half and fellow senior Ryan Belote added 20 for the Spartans (25-2), whose only other loss came to Windsor in the Central Connecticut Conference championship game. 

Maloney seemed like a team of destiny after pulling out an overtime win over East Lyme in the second round and a two-point win over Kennedy (Waterbury) in the quarterfinals. But New London (26-0) led wire-to-wire, setting up a showdown with Northwest Catholic in the championship game at Mohegan Sun on Saturday night. 

“They are not number one in the state for no reason,” Belote said.  “That’s a very, very good team.  You just have to tip your hat. That’s just a great team.” 

Belote was understandably solemn afterwards, but acknowledged the terrific run. 

“It was a great season for all of us,” he said. “Everyone stepped up. I’m just sad for all the seniors. We are never going to be able to put on this uniform again. It’s really hard.” 

The silver lining is that Maloney, which won the Class L title in 2008, didn’t back down from the best team in the state. 

“I’m proud of the kids for the way they stayed (in it),” Maloney coach Howie Hewitt said.

“That’s a real nice ball club,” New London coach Craig Parker said. “They are well-coached. We expected that. We just had to withstand the runs and we were able to do that.” 

The Whalers certainly did. They answered every time Maloney got close. The Spartans, who trailed 32-24 at halftime, pulled to within 40-34 with 3:18 left in the third. But Special Rhodes scored five straight points during a 10-3 run and the Whalers led 50-37 heading into the fourth. 

Maloney then cut a 15-point lead to nine before Childs-Harris, who sat most of the first half due to foul trouble, drilled three straight 3-pointers in a span of 1:31 late in the fourth.  His third 3-pointer from the left wing put New London ahead 63-49 with 3:14 to play. 

“The guy comes down the floor and hits three threes in a row,” Belote said. “You just have to tip your hat to that.” 

“It’s still a ballgame in the fourth quarter and the kid makes three threes in a row, from out there,” Maloney coach Howie Hewitt said.

Childs-Harris capped his huge night by throwing down a two-handed dunk off the backboard.  His backcourt mate, Kristopher Dunn (18 points), stole the ball at midcourt and lofted it for the trailing Childs-Harris, who slammed it down to the delight of the New London fans on hand.

Early on, it didn’t seem like it would be much of a game, as New London raced out to an 18-9 first quarter lead. But Belote singlehandedly kept the Spartans within striking distance by scoring 11 of his 15 first-half points in the second quarter. “I was just trying to stay aggressive,” he said. “I had a couple easy shots I missed in the first quarter and coach told me to stay aggressive. Once I hit a couple shots I got into a rhythm.” 

Though the season didn’t end in the final at Mohegan Sun, Hewitt was in good spirits. As he walked out of the New Haven Athletics Center, he concluded: “We’ll take 25-2 every year.”