Torrid-Shooting Lyman Hall Scorches Law 86-55.

Lyman Hall’s red-hot cagers came out smoking Friday night in a Southern Connecticut Conference inter-divisional contest at Jonathan Law. The Trojans singed the cords on 8 consecutive shots, ran off 21 points in a row, held Law scoreless for more than 6 minutes, took a 26-6 lead at the end of the first quarter and went on to toast the Golden Eagles 86-55. With the lop-sided win, the Trojans up their record to 13-3 while the Lawmen slipped back to 3-12.

“To say the least Lyman Hall can shoot the ball. We opened up well and led 6-5 (following Nick Toto’s lay-up with six minutes, 22 seconds left in the first quarter. Then, they went on their 21-0 run. I’m disappointed with our defense tonight. It was non-existent. I knew going in, we would struggle offensively and our shooting wasn’t good, but defensively, we showed no pride," Law Coach Mike Hoggatt said.

While Lyman Hall connected on nine of its 12 first quarter shots (75%), the Devonites were good on only two of their 14 floor tries (14%). On the night, the winners connected on 35 of its 57 tries (a sizzling hot 61%) while Law hit only 22 of its 66 tries (33).

In a wild second quarter, the Trojans added 20 points while Law rang up 21 teams spit 42 points and Lyman Hall walked off with a 46-27 bulge at the break.

Thanks to a tenacious trapping press, the Trojans forced Law to make 13 first half turnovers (16 for the game),

With its huge lead, Lyman Hall’s focus, accuracy and tenacity slipped in the second half, but its lead was never less than 21 points (57-36). During the final eight minutes, both teams cleared their benches but even the Trojan reserves were able to pour in their share of points.

Winning Coach Mike Connor said, “Now the weather has gotten better, we are practicing regularly and our play is much more consistent. Before during all the bad weather, we’d play, then go two to three days without any practice.”

Led by guard P.J. Higgins’ five treys, the Trojans drained nine 3-balls. Higgins cashed out with a game-high total of 25 points. His speedy back court mate, Rich Bronson added 14 while 6-foot 7-inch forward Jason Dempsey chipped in with 13 points. Toto tossed in 19 and Aaron Gambardella added 10 for the losers.

Hoggatt added, “We couldn’t hit a shot in the first quarter and except for Nick (Toto), our big guys didn’t score much all night. When Nick comes out away from the basket and starts hitting his mid-range jumper, we lose his rebounding. I thought Willy Lopez came off the bench and did a nice job. He scored six points and made some defensive stops.”

With Toto clearing the boards for 17 rebounds, Jonathan Law did outrebound the Trojans 42-38.