Two-way star Gosselin leads Ellington past Suffield in NCCC tournament quarterfinals

Mar. 1—SUFFIELD — Louis Gosselin is the Ellington High boys basketball team's 3-point and defensive specialist, the player coach Bob Freitas turns to when the Knights are in need of a spark on both ends of the floor.

The senior guard provided that spark Monday, scoring 12 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and anchoring an Ellington defense which allowed only eight points in the final stanza as the Knights topped host Suffield 71-53 in a NCCC tournament quarterfinal.

"I always tell (Gosselin) to shoot when he's open, he's such a good catch and shoot shooter," Ellington coach Bob Freitas said. "When he's confident he's good. He can really shoot. He's had some great games for us. He's stepped up a lot this year. He also a very good defender. When we beat Granby, defensively, he was great. And he does it without fouling. He does a little bit of everything for us."

Elijah Miller provided 15 points for the sixth-seeded Knights (14-8), who visit No. 2 Granby for a semifinal Wednesday at 6 p.m. Mike Bontempo added 12.

Granby withstood a career high 42 points from Cody Palazzesi to beat seventh-seeded Somers 69-62 in its quarterfinal game Monday.

The Knights topped the Bears 81-69 in the teams' lone regular season meeting Jan. 26 in Ellington.

"It'll be a great environment," Freitas said. "Granby is big and strong and they're a veteran team. If it's an up-and-down game and we're hitting shots, it'll be interesting. We just have to make sure we're not making unforced turnovers. Let's take care of the ball and see what happens."

Top-seeded SMSA will host No. 4 Stafford in Wednesday's other semifinal. Opening tip is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Ryan Levis scored 18 points to pace the No. 3 Wildcats (12-9). Jack Pixton added 11.

Ellington jumped out to a 14-11 lead after one quarter and extended its advantage to 22-15 on a Gosselin 3-pointer with 5:58 remaining in the half.

But Suffield began to use its size advantage inside to control the rebounding battle on both ends of the floor and went on a 13-2 run to surge in front 28-24 with 1:44 remaining.

Ellington wasn't rattled. The Knights scored the final four points of the half to pull even at 28 heading into the break.

The Wildcats continued to control the glass in the third quarter. A Mike Coggins rebound and layup gave Suffield a 42-35 lead with 2:51 left in the quarter and the hosts held a 45-40 advantage entering the fourth.

In the team huddle between quarters, Freitas decided to make a defensive adjustment. He called for a full-court man-to-man press to speed the game up and a 2-3 zone in the half court to clog the lane and counteract the Wildcats' size advantage.

"When they spread the floor out, they're pretty hard to guard," Freitas said. "So we wanted to stretch their big guys out and see if they would shoot some threes. We packed it in and when they shot the ball we went and got it. We were fronting the post and a couple times they got us, so we thought, 'let's pack it in a little bit and see if they can shoot some threes.' It worked out for us."

The Knights went on an 18-3 run to erase a three-point deficit and build a 62-50 lead with 1:57 remaining.

A Quinn Lynam three point play cut the Wildcats' deficit to nine, but the Knights sunk nine free throws in the game's final 1:35 to punch its ticket to the final four.

"We had more energy in the fourth quarter and built off that," Gosselin said. "We got a lot of steals and turned it into baskets. It's what we do when we're at our best. This a big confidence-builder going into the semis."

Suffield is expected to host a first round game in the Division IV state tournament Monday.

"When you get to the fourth quarter, you don't want to turn it over, you want to execute your offense, and you need to get stops and rebound," Suffield coach Dan Gatto said. "Give Ellington credit, they switched their defense, they got into some pressure stuff, and they made shots. We'll go back to practice and work on fourth quarter execution and get ready for the state tournament."

ELLINGTON (71): Mike Bontempo 2 7-7 12; Darren Zahner 1 0-0 2; Eric Thibert 2 0-0 6; Louis Gosselin 5 4-4 17; Elijah Miller 4 6-6 15; Cody Murphy 4 0-0 9; Phil Vrakas 2 0-1 5; Caden Branon 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 17-18 71.

Three-point goals: Miller, Murphy, Bontempo, Vrakas, Thibert (2), Gosselin (3).

SUFFIELD (53): Tyler Lewis 0 0-0 0; Nick Van Cott 2 0-0 6; Ryan Levis 7 4-5 18; Mike Coggins 2 0-0 4; Nick Sattan 3 0-0 6; Quinn Lynam 1 2-3 4; Jack Pixton 5 0-0 11; Will Crozier 1 2-3 4; Ryan Sunshine 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 8-11 53.

Three-point goals: Pixton, Van Cott (2).

ELLINGTON 14 14 12 31 — 71

SUFFIELD 11 17 17 8 — 53

STAFFORD 43, CANTON 40. Mark McLaughlin scored 15 points and made four key free throws down the stretch as fourth-seeded Stafford rallied to advance to the tournament semifinals.

The Bulldogs (14-7) will visit No. 1 SMSA on Thursday. Game time is 6 p.m.

Stafford fell into a nine-point hole in the first quarter and trailed 26-17 at halftime. The Bulldogs cut the gap to four going to the fourth quarter and then outscored fifth-seeded Canton (14-7) 12-5 to win it.

Logan Briggs and Isaac Minaya added eight points each for Stafford. Brandon Powell scored 12 points for Canton.

CANTON (40): Khalil Thomas 2 0-0 4; Brandon Powell 4 3-5 12; Matthew Benedetti 4 1-2 9; Isaiah Reece 2 0-0 5; Connor Nadeau 0 0-0 0; Taylor Kim 0 0-0 0; Luke Maher 4 2-2 10; Totals: 16 6-9 40.

Three-point goals: Powell, Reece.

STAFFORD (43): Tom Balanceau 3 0-0 7; Logan Briggs 2 3-4 8; Isaac Minaya 4 0-3 8; Mark McLaughlin 5 4-6 15; Zack Donovan 0 0-0 0; Collin Gudeman 2 1-1 5; Totals: 16 8-14 43.

Three-point goals: Balanceau, Briggs, McLaughlin.

CANTON 17 9 9 5 — 40

STAFFORD 8 9 14 12 — 43

GRANBY 69, SOMERS 62. Justin Phillips scored 26 points and No. 2 Granby survived a career-best 42-point performance from Somers senior Cody Palazzesi to earn a tournament semifinal berth.

The Bears (17-4) will entertain sixth-seeded Ellington Wednesday.

A Palazzesi halfcourt shot brought the No. 7 Spartans (16-6) to within two going to the fourth quarter but Granby was able to maintain its edge as it went 6-for-7 from the foul in the final minutes.

Josh Brown added 17 points for the Bears.

Somers will return to action in the Division IV state tournament and is expected to get a first-round bye and host a second-round game.

SOMERS (62): John Zapolski 1 0-0 3; Tommy Lafayette 0 0-0 0; Troy Maia 3 0-0 6; Braden Davis 2 0-0 6; Colby McCormick 0 0-0 0; Jake Yvon 0 0-0 0; Cody Ferrero 0 0-0 0; Conner Marchi 1 0-0 2; Cody Palazzesi 13 15-18 42; Sean Crocken 1 0-0 3; Totals: 21 15-18 62.

Three-point goals: Zaploski, Davis (2), Palazzesi, Crocken.

GRANBY (69): Declan Lynch 3 0-1 9; Troy Crockett 1 0-0 2; Justin Phillips 11 2-3 26; Josh Brown 3 11-12 17; Liam Heinze 2 0-0 5; John Bell 0 2-2 2; Max Jansen 1 0-0 2; Ralph Rossi 3 0-3 6; Totals: 24 15-21 69.

Three-point goals: Lynch (3), Phillips (2), Heinze.

SOMERS 10 18 21 13 — 62

GRANBY 14 18 19 18 — 69

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