Free Throws Tell the Story as North Haven trips Amity 66-62

North Haven and Amity played a nail-biting Southern Connecticut Conference inter-divisional basketball game Friday night at the Indians' Fred Kelly Gymnasium and the home team came out victorious 66-62. The Indians of North Haven were actually down 5 (34-29) at the half but outscored Amity in the third quarter 18-11 , putting them up 2  (47-45) at the start of the fourth. 

Amity struggled guarding Dominic Schioppo who shot an astounding 15 of 18  from the foul line. He added four field goals, two of which were 3-pt field goals and finished with a game-high 25. NHHS center Billy McDonald was  not to be outshined in the win as he  dropped in  23 points. Amity played its usual team-oriented game spreading the scoring around with Grant Watkins leading them with 18 points. He  was 6-6 from the charity stripe and hit a pair of 3-pointers as well. Kevin Kochiss also chipped in with 11 points.

This was a back and forth game from the start which continued all the way to the final buzzer. North Haven took advantage of going to the free throw line 35 times, connecting on 26 of them (74 percent.)  Meanwhile, Amity only went to the line 24 times and hit 17  (71 percent.)  The quantity of NHHS  free throws was the difference in the game with the Indians being the aggressor and Amity settling for more jumpers from the outside.

Throughout the fourth quarter Schioppo and McDonald were doing the majority of the damage for North Haven. Amity, down 7 midway through the fourth, got big baskets from Kochiss and Watkins to cut the lead to 2 but North Haven continually fought off any run the Spartans tried to make.

When asked what the difference in the game was, Amity Coach Jeff Nielsen said "I feel like they were just the more aggressive team tonight. We had to get to the line more often."

North Haven Coach Pete Civitello was happy with his team's play. He said, "We were down at the half and I am glad we fought back, stayed aggressive, and pulled out our first win. These are the types of games we need to win at home." Both teams are now 1-1 in the SCC.