Suffield Can't Catch Weaver

Suffield had quit chasing Weaver on the court of their first round Class M state tournament boys basketball game Monday night at Bulkeley High School. But the Wildcats, who had captured the battle to control the pace, hadn’t quit chasing Weaver on the scoreboard.

Playing catch for a prolonged period finally caught up with Suffield early in the fourth quarter as the Beavers took advantage and turned a close game into a comfortable win. Weaver, the No. 9 seed, advanced to the second round by defeating No. 24 Suffield 61-36.

Suffield’s rally simply ran out of steam.

“They did a better job of executing their game plan than we did of executing ours,” said Weaver coach Charles Silvan. “Regardless of the score, we were probably fortunate to have come out with a win. They maximized their potential and we didn’t. We’re still looking for that.”

Suffield (12-11) trailed Weaver 34-29 entering the fourth quarter, having whittled down a 19-5 deficit from the end of the first quarter. The Wildcats, who lost in the Class M first round last year, missed two layups in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. With those opportunities to close the gap gone, Jerome Harris fed Jaheem Spence for a layup and it was 37-30 Weaver.

That was the beginning of a 16-4 run by the Beavers that squashed all hopes of a Wildcat rally. The tempo, which had been in Suffield’s favor for the second and third quarters, was controlled by Weaver in the fourth. The Beavers wanted to run and they ran away from Suffield at the end.

“I think we were exhausted in the fourth quarter,” said Suffield coach Dan Gatto. “We gave as much as we could give. We just wanted to keep the pace down. We knew once the pace started to get quick that it wasn’t our pace.”

Weaver, which last played on Feb. 26,  losing a CCC quarterfinal to Maloney-Meriden, abruptly ended Suffield’s comeback in the fourth quarter by picking up its defensive intensity, grabbing more rebounds and pushing the pace to its liking. The Beavers’ fortunes turned with the insertion of Harris into the lineup by Silvan. Harris was on the bench for all of the first half, which had ended with a 26-16 lead for Weaver.

“James Harris just imposed himself on this game,” Silvan said. “He had like five offensive rebounds in a one-and-a-half-minute stretch.”

Harris did most of his damage from the backcourt by penetrating for baskets or passing off to teammates who scored. He was one of many Beavers to crash the boards effectively in the last eight minutes. He scored 6 of his 10 points in the fourth quarter. Harris was one of two Beavers to score a team-high 10 points, Johnny Massol was the other.

Tyren Hardy added nine points for Weaver and Jibron Young and O’Shawn Bannister each had eight. Nine Beavers scored.

Eddie Danek scored a game-high 25 points for Suffield. Andy Dodds, who withstood Weaver’s pressure as the main ball-handler, was next high for the Wildcats with six points. Only two other Wildcats scored.

“Andy Dodds was just awesome,” Gatto said. “He handled the pressure the whole game. He was swarmed. Eddie had some room to go. With all the trapping and double-teamming they did, he had some open lanes.”

After Weaver had built a 19-5 lead entering the second quarter, Suffield outscored the Beavers by 24-14 over the next two quarters. Once the momentum shifted in the fourth, Weaver outscored the Wildcats 28-7.

Silvan said he scouted Suffield in the NCCC tournament and he knew the Wildcats would be disciplined. He was prepared for how well they would run plays out of their offensive set.

“Our kids were resilient, and for that they should be commended,” Silvan said.

The game shifted crosstown from Weaver to Bulkeley at 10 a.m. when a leak was detected in the Weaver gym by the custodial crew.

Weaver (15-6) will play No. 25 Ellington, a 69-62 (OT) upset winner over No. 8 Hyde Leadership in Hartford on Wednesday.