Stratford Star

Bulldogs fall to Lancers (boys hoop)

This game had all the elements of a championship game.

When the Bunnell High boys basketball team headed into Notre Dame of Fairfield High’s Sister Marion Rielly Auditiorium on Tuesday night, it knew and most of the crowd expected that the Bulldogs would be in for a battle in this South-West Conference matchup.

Bunnell (9-7, 8-2 SWC) and Notre Dame (12-4, 9-2) have been chasing unbeatens Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport and Immaculate of Danbury in the league standings.

Riding a five-game winning streak, and with their coach Pat Yerina back after missing two games following the death of his father in California, Bunnell players were ready for an emotional night.

And, for all but the closing minutes, the Bulldogs were the dominant team, but the Lancers, a young squad, showed mental toughness in the stretch run to pull out a 60-57 win.

“We were in control for about 90 percent of this game,” Yerina said after the loss. “But they’re very tough. You have to finish against them and tonight we didn’t.”

The Bulldogs held a pair of five-point leads in the fourth quarter, once at 52-47 when Carmine Santorelli scored on a reverse layup with 3:56 to play.

That ended an 11-4 run, and again at 54-49, when Viriglio Lopez converted with 2:21 remaining.

But each time the Lancers came back.

They trimmed it to 57-56 on junior guard Danny Upchurch’s 3-pointer with 35 seconds left, then sealed it when freshman Donte Peeler made two free throws with five seconds remaining.

“We might’ve made a lot of mistakes tonight, but our guys sure paid attention when it mattered,” Notre Dame coach Vinny Laczkoski said.

“Watching Peeler make those two free throws was a thing of beauty. It’s why we coach high school basketball. To see young kids grow up.”

Upchurch’s 3-pointer which he scored after scooping up a loose ball, made the difference in the game, according to Yerina.

“Up until then, we’d done such a good job guarding him [Bunnell’s Tim White had the chore for most of the game],” Yerina said.

“Tim was all over him [forcing Upchurch to commit three offensive fouls]. Then, he finds the loose ball and makes the three. That was a dagger. It put the knife in us.”

The back-and-fourth first quarter and ended with Notre Dame leading 21-19.

The frenzied play of the first eight minutes was calmed significantly in the second quarter, as the Bulldogs settled in with their perimeter offense and the use of their three guards – Santorelli, Matt Nolting and White.

“They can spread you out all over the floor once they begin working the ball,” Laczkoski said. “Nolting [21 points] is an all-conference guard.”

Bunnell had a slight edge in the frame, as Nolting’s drive and basket late drew the two teams even, 30-30.

Notre Dame grabbed a 43-41 heading into the final quarter, as Upchurch (seven assists) fed senior Arkel Miles inside for a hoop.

Then came the crazy fourth quarter, in which neither team shot particularly well.

“We’re both in the state tournament and the conference playoffs, so there’s a good possibility that we could meet again,” Yerina said.

Bunnell’s Isaac Vann, a sophomore forward, came off the bench to score 16 points.

Miles, a force of a player inside, had a game-high 22 points and added 14 rebounds.

Earl Coleman chipped in with 17 and Upchurch had 12, with the biggest points being his late-game 3-pointer.

Overall, ND held a 37-26 lead in rebounds. For Bunnell, Vann had seven and Adam Samuel had five.

The Lancers shot 21-of-49 from the field, while the Bulldogs hit on 19-of-51 shots.

Even with the torrid pace, the turnovers were low. ND had 10 and Bunnell seven.