By BRIAN JENNINGS
STAFF WRITER
The Blue Knight basketball team may not have closed out the regular season the way they wanted to after dropping their second-straight game in a 61-44 loss at Amity on Monday, Feb. 20, but Southington coach John Cessario said that he thought his team showed a hunger for the postseason.
“We want to play as many games as possible,” the coach said. “We didn’t get to play in the CCC tournament, but it’s always been about preparation to play in the state tournament. We played with a bunch of energy for three games in a row to end the season.”
Win or lose, a road trip to Amity was just what the Knights needed to help them prepare for the postseason.
“I specifically set up that game with coach (Jeff) Nielsen at the end of the season because it is a long ride and a talented team,” said Cessario. “It is exactly what the postseason is about. We looked to prepare ourselves just for that.”
Although they put up just four second-quarter points, the Spartans led, 27-19, at halftime with the help of 23 points in the first. The Spartans went on to outscore the Knights, 34-25, in the second half and finished the game with nine three-pointers, going 8-for-8 from the foul line.
Tyler Thomas made six of Amity’s nine threes, burying four in the first quarter alone. The Knights made just one triple in the contest and went 9-for-16 from the charity stripe.
“We went punch for punch with a very talented team,” said Cessario. “They had a player that really scored a lot of points, but we played to the style that was being asked that was very physical, fast, and emotional.”
Brendan Taylor paced the offense with 11 points. Jeremy Mercier backed Taylor with eight points. Andrew Lohneiss and Tim O’Shea contributed with six points apiece.
“It was senior night in a hostile environment that we purposely wanted to have going into the postseason,” the coach said. “I learned that we have some gamers, and when we start to see that progression, I think we’re doing exactly what needs to be done to get ready for the postseason.”
The Knights will enter the postseason this week when they compete in the Class LL tournament. Pairings are to be announced by the CIAC by noon on Wednesday, Mar. 1, but it is likely that Southington will be the 31st seed with a first-round road game at No. 2 Hillhouse (19-1). Hillhouse’s only loss, 70-62, of the season was to Fairfield Prep (10-10) earlier this month.
The Academics will certainly be no easy task, but Cessario said that they have to be precise in the way they handle the basketball.
“They have four fast guards and three very good swingmen that shoot threes and get to the rim,” the coach said. “Part of their strength is to really bother you defensively, so we have to take care of the basketball. They want to play fast, and we can’t turn the ball over on fast break points.”
The Knights just missed out on a CCC tournament bid after falling to Hall, 53-29, the week prior. In the quarterfinals of the tournament at Bulkeley High School in Hartford on Saturday, Feb. 25, top-seeded Weaver defeated No. 9 South Windsor, 63-51. Other quarterfinal games included No. 2 East Catholic over No. 10 Windsor, 90-71, No. 3 Middletown over No. 6 Bloomfield, 56-53, and No. 5 Simsbury over No. 4 East Hartford, 48-44.
The semifinals will include Weaver against Simsbury and East Catholic against Middletown. Both games will be played at Bulkeley High School on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Southington finished the regular season at 9-11 overall (5-5 home, 4-6 away), garnering a regional record of 7-7 in the CCC Central and a divisional record of 5-3 in the CCC Central Blue. The Knights finished third out of five teams in the division.
Simsbury (12-2) won the CCC Central Blue title. Hall (8-6) finished as runner-up. Weaver (15-0) finished as the top team in the central region.
For this week’s box scores, click here: (http://southingtonobserver.com/2017/02/28/weekly-scoreboard-for-the-march-3-edition/). To contact sports writer Brian Jennings, email him at BJennings@SouthingtonObserver.com.