A Whale of a Scare For New London

Torin Childs-Harris dealt with a disturbing realization Thursday. For the first time, the 6-3 guard was feeling the mortality of a decorated scholastic basketball career (1,600 plus points, All-State and All-Area honors) that still includes an unfulfilled goal of a state championship.

"I barely get scared, but it scared me," Childs-Harris said.

It was a possible Class L state tournament second round upset at the hands of a talented and tough Wilby-Waterbury team from a conference (Naugatuck Valley League) stronger than the Eastern Connecticut Conference that NL has dominated for the last five seasons.

The second round has been a trap historically for some of Craig Parker's best teams. Danbury beat an undefeated Whaler team in 2006, and Daniel Hand knocked off NL in Alan Chaney's junior year shortly after. New London was again in trouble as Wilby led by six at halftime and maintained it deep into the third quarter.

Childs-Harris responded to his fear with a fearless effort in the fourth quarter, carrying the Whalers with drives to the basket, 3-pointers and free throws in a 32-point effort to lead NL's comeback 76-73 victory. The Whalers (24-0) advance to host 22nd seed Daniel Hand 7 p.m. Monday in the quarterfinals.

"We practice tomorrow and we're still playing - that's the bottom line for his evening," NL coach Craig Parker said. "We didn't play particularly well tonight but that team came in here with a lot of energy and really wanted the game. They outworked us for 99 percent of the game, and we dodged a bullet."

Wilby (14-8) frustrated the Whalers in the second quarter, displaying a balanced scoring attack inside and out with five starters scoring in double figures led by Walter Wright's 15. The visitors featured a backcourt that was unperturbed by NL's press and a strong inside game, scoring a number of points in the paint and on second-chance rebounds."

We came in here with no doubt we could play with them," Wilby coach Alan Piccolo said. "I'm proud of our kids. We were not intimidated although we knew they're a good team and it's tough traveling two hours to play. We forced them to take outside shots in the first half, but they took it to the hole pretty hard in the third quarter and got fouled. They made more free throws than we attempted."

Childs-Harris made 14 of 14 from the line before his last miss with four seconds left. Reserve guard Khaleed Fields made three clutch free throws and a nice assist in NL's fourth-quarter comeback. Kris Dunn added 22 points, although he was far from his dominant self and committed a crucial turnover and fifth foul with 36 seconds left and NL up by three.

"Sometimes we have to tell Kris he doesn't have to play 100 miles an hour all the time," Parker said. "Pulling this one out is a good learning experience for him and the team because we haven't played many close games."

The early going looked like business as usual. The Whalers led 7-0 and Dunn's dunk off a turnover made it 11-4. Showtime stopped there. Wilby outscored NL, 24-15, in the second quarter to lead 36-30 at halftime.

Dunn's drive gave New London a 53-51 lead early in the fourth quarter and Keith Porter hit a free throw. Childs-Harris hit a three and made two free throws to make it 63-56, but Wilby added two hoops to cut it to 63-60. Fields then made a steal and fed Special Rhodes for a layup and 65-60 lead with 3:30 left.

When NL seemingly had the game in hand with an eight-point fourth quarter lead in the final two minutes, the Whalers lost some poise with turnovers (26 total) and only escaped when Marcus Robinson's 30-foot one hander to tie the game bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

"This game and the tournament upsets show us that the regular season doesn't mean anything record wise," Childs-Harris said. "Come states, you're 0-0 and you have to play harder because everybody wants to get where we want to get - Mohegan for the finals."    

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