Maurice scores 34 as Montville rolls in ECC D-II opening round
Feb. 22—MONTVILLE — The beginning of Montville's Eastern Connecticut Conference boys' basketball tournament game Wednesday afternoon mirrored its regular season — a slow, ragged start with senior guard Lebron Maurice helping get his team on track.
Maurice scored a game-high 34 points with four assists and three steals as seventh-seeded Montville shook off an early 12-point deficit and went on to thump No. 10 Tourtellotte, 85-55, in the Division first round.
Montville head coach Jeff Brown, when asked about Maurice's importance to the team, grinned and said, "Everything. ... That's the only word I can come up with.
"He does it all. He's the first in the drills (at practice), first in the sprints, first in the huddles, first in the gym, everything. You talk about that as a coach — that's what you want on your team, a guy you can kind of trust with the ball in their hands at the end of the game."
Montville will visit at second-seeded Wheeler in Thursday's quarterfinals at 6 p.m.
It's been a bumpy season for Montville (10-11). It lost its first three games and was 6-10 after being routed by defending CIAC Division V champion Windham, 106-61, on Feb. 11.
"We were still trying to discover ourselves; like who we were as a team," Maurice said. "It was frustrating at the beginning."
Montville won three of its final four regular season games to qualify for the Division IV state tournament.
"I feel like last week was when we all started to click together," Maurice said. "Even though we took a loss to Killingly (80-62, Feb. 17), I still feel like we played well as a team. Also the game at Ledyard (a 64-46 win on Feb. 16) was another game where I felt like we were good to go."
Tourtellotte (4-17) started Wednesday's game with a 12-0 run before Montville settled in.
Maurice scored seven in the first quarter. That included a steal he turned into a layup to put his team ahead for good, 17-16, with 24 seconds left in the period.
"He's got some lightning speed," Brown said. "He's got a really fast first step. I give him a lot of credit. He's had a bullseye on his back all year. He was all-state last year, so he came in knowing people were going to go after him and he's still averaging 27 points. That's (from) him putting in the work, though.
"I've tried to kind of tell the other kids (that) he didn't just become this overnight. It's the hours and hours (he) puts in the gym."
Maurice scored 20 in the first half against Tourtellotte.
"I feel like I can shoot from anywhere," Maurice said. "I'm a pretty good facilitator on the court. I'm always bringing energy to my teammates."
Montville blitzed the Tigers in the second half, 50-24. Sophomore Jace Kobyluck scored 14 of his 20 points in that half and also finished with 10 rebounds. Senior Anthony Barbuto added 14 points and eight assists while sophomore Aidan Johnson scored 12.
Maurice comes from an athletic family as his father, Errol, was a two-time all-state football player for the Old Saybrook/Westbrook co-op in the late 1990s. He hasn't decided on a college yet but would like to go to school Florida (he likes the University of Tampa and Lynn University). He wants to major in exercise science.
Maurice is focused on the next game, though. Wheeler beat Montville in both regular-season meetings en route to winning the ECC Division IV title.
"I didn't want to be one of those teams that kind of was expected to lose in the first round," Maurice said. "I want to bring my team further into the playoffs because Montville hasn't done that in a very long time. I'd like to be one of the guys to actually be part of that team and go on a long playoff run."
