15 FCIAC Teams Qualify For Boys Basketball State Tournament

Fifteen of the FCIAC's 19 teams have qualified for the CIAC boys basketball state championships in either Class LL or Class L.

Leading the way is St. Joseph, which is the top seed in Class LL after completing a 20-0 regular season. The Cadets also are the defending Class LL state champions, winning their 10th title in school history last year with a 79-53 victory over Fairfield Prep.

Ten teams qualified in Class LL as the Cadets are joined by No. 9 Ridgefield (15-5), No. 11 Westhill (14-6), No. 17 Stamford (12-8), No. 19 Danbury (12-8), No. 21 Bridgeport Central (11-8), No. 23 Greenwich (11-9), No. 26 Trumbull (10-10). No. 27 Norwalk (10-10) and No. 29 Staples (9-11). 

Five teams qualified in Class L: No. 6 Bassick (15-5), No. 7 Trinity Catholic (15-5), No. 19 Fairfield Warde (11-9), No. 23 Wilton (10-10) and No. 26 Fairfield Ludlowe (9-11).

Trinity Catholic, which faces Bassick in the FCIAC championship on Thursday, moved up a class after its improbable run to the Class M state championship last year. Wilton will be making its first state tournament appearance since 2000 while Fairfield Ludlowe qualified for the second straight year by winning six of its final seven games after a 3-10 start.

The only non-qualifiers were McMahon (4-16) in Class LL and Harding (4-16), Darien (2-18) and New Canaan (2-18) in Class L.

For the second straight year, St. Joseph was upset by the No. 8 seed in the FCIAC playoffs, falling to Bridgeport Central 62-58 last Saturday. A year ago, the Cadets recovered to win a state championship and they hoping to take a similar path this year.

Class LL is stacked, however, as No. 2 Hillhouse and No. 3 Hartford Public also completed 20-0 seasons, although, like the Cadets, both lost in their conference tournaments.

No. 4 seed Windsor (19-1) is ranked fourth in the state and No. 5 New London (18-2) moved up after winning the Class L state title last year. Fairfield Prep is seeded sixth after an 18-2 regular season.

First-round play in Class L and Class S is set for Monday while Class LL and Class L begin on Tuesday.

In first-round Class L games on Monday,  Bassick hosts No. 27 Masuk (9-11), Trinity Catholic entertains Fairfield Ludlowe, Warde visits No. 14 East Catholic (12-8) and Wilton travels to No. 10 University (15-5).

St. Joseph begins its quest for a second consecutive state championship on Tuesday against No. 32 Shelton (8-12) while Ridgefield and Westhill also earned home games. The Tigers host No. 24 Bulkeley of Hartford (11-9) and the Vikings entertain No. 22 Norwich Free Academy (11-9).

Stamford is at No. 16 Cheshire (12-8), Danbury heads to No. 14 New Britain (12-8), Bridgeport Central takes on No. 12 Holy Cross of Waterbury (14-6) and Greenwich ventures to No. 10 Manchester (15-5). Also, Trumbull is at No. 7 Crosby (18-2), Norwalk faces Fairfield Prep and Staples gets Windsor.

Second-round games in Class L and class L are Wednesday with Class LL and Class L back in action on Thursday.

The state championship games once again will be played at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville the weekend of March 16-17.