Wright shining for East Catholic in sophomore campaign

Feb. 1—HEBRON — The success Allyn Wright has had thus far in his sophomore season with the East Catholic High boys basketball team has caught a lot of people by surprise.

Wright himself is no exception.

"Not really," Wright said on if he was expecting to have this much success so early in his career. "In seventh grade, I was pretty average. I just got better. I took the time, got in the gym, and just got better."

The strong performances continued for the Eagles' 6-foot-0 point guard Monday. Wright scored a game-high 18 points as No. 7 East Catholic topped previously unbeaten RHAM 85-46 in a CCC East game.

"With his work ethic and everything he's got going and his hunger to get better every day, the future is very bright for Allyn," East Catholic coach Luke Reilly said.

Wright started playing basketball when he was seven years old.

"One of my biggest influences was Corey McKeithan," Wright said. "I grew up with him, and he taught me everything he does."

McKeithan, who was a 1,000-point scorer at Windsor High, is currently in his sophomore season at Rider.

But McKeithan wasn't the only player to help Wright along the way. He credits former teammate and recent Saint Michael's College commit Matt Houde with helping him make the transition from a JV to a varsity player.

"He was mentoring me, preparing me for this year," Wright added.

Wright floated between East Catholic's freshman, JV and varsity teams during his abbreviated freshman season last year.

His work last year and during the offseason led Reilly to name Wright the team's starting point guard this year.

"It speaks to his work ethic and it speaks to who he is and the way he approaches the game and the respect that he gets for the work that he puts in from the guys," Reilly said. "He really embraces his role as a point guard. In order to be an elite team in the state, that's what we need him to do."

Reilly described Wright's style of play by calling him an "elite on-ball defender' and that he has "go-by ability."

Developing into an all-around guard is something that Wright has worked on all year, and hopes to continue do in the future.

"Last year, I was pretty much a scoring guard," he said. "Now, I'm just trying to find my teammates and get us in positions to win."

Monday's game was a battle for first place in the CCC East, and of two of the top teams in the state — RHAM received votes in this week's state media poll.

"Just come in here and play strong," Wright said of the Eagles' mindset entering the game. "You know that you've got to just come out here and play better than you do in a regular game."

Patrick Kelly's layup 36 seconds into the game gave the Raptors (13-1) an early lead. But East Catholic (10-3) responded nine seconds later with Rob Elliott's layup, and took the lead for good with a layup from Wright 1:02 into the game.

RHAM was able to trim the deficit to three three times in the quarter, but East Catholic closed the quarter on a 15-5 run to take a 13-point lead.

"When you're on the road against a good, quality opponent, you know you want to get off to a good start," Reilly said. "We were able to do that. I think the pace of the game played to our strength tonight."

Wright scored 12 of his 18 points in the opening eight minutes. In addition to his scoring, he finished with six assists.

"I'm pretty much praising my defense tonight," Wright said. "I just turned my team up and we were solid."

RHAM never threatened again. The Eagles built their lead to 27 points at the half and 41 after three quarters.

East Catholic had 28 assists on 36 field goals Monday night.

"You want to lessen the degree of difficulty of every shot you take," Reilly said. "You want to put pressure on the rim. If you're doing those types of things, you're going to find open teammates."

James Jones contributed 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Eagles, who are at Bassick Friday. Elliott added a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds while Samson Reilly had 16 points.

Troy Miller led the hosts with nine points. Jimmy Hulland had eight while Aidan Allen had seven. The Raptors are off until Feb. 8 when they travel to E.O. Smith.

"I believe in our guys," RHAM coach Todd Dean said. "We have a good program and a good group of guys. It's one of those games where you don't even talk about it, you don't even watch any film, at least I don't. You just say whatever. Sometimes you just get whacked. It's just one of those games."

EAST CATHOLIC (85): Rob Elliott 6 2-4 14; Luke Reilly 1 0-0 2; Allyn Wright 8 1-1 18; Samson Reilly 6 0-0 16; James Jones 7 0-0 17; Leondre Sanchez 4 0-0 9; Josh Harris 0 0-0 0; JJ Hay 0 0-0 0; Preston Fowler 4 0-0 9; Trey Thompson 0 0-0 0; TJ Jackson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 36 3-5 85.

Three-point goals: S. Reilly (4), Jones (3), Wright, Sanchez, Fowler.

RHAM (46): Matt Fraleigh 1 1-2 3; Jimmy Hulland 3 0-0 9; Spencer Pilkington 1 0-0 2; Aidan Allen 3 0-0 7; Patrick Kelly 1 4-6 6; Ryan Heneghan 1 0-1 3; Troy Miller 2 4-4 9; Alex Demosthenous 2 1-1 5; Mike Poncini 1 1-3 3. Totals: 15 11-17 46.

Three-point goals: Hulland (2), Allen, Heneghan, Miller.

E. CATHOLIC 27 24 25 9 — 85

RHAM 14 10 11 11 — 46

MANCHESTER 62, TOLLAND 58. In Tolland, Troy Butler scored 18 points as the Red Hawks earned a CCC East victory.

Damian Sanchez contributed 16 points for the Red Hawks (9-5), who led 31-25 at the half and 53-39 after three quarters. Jermaine Robinson added 12.

Cullen Rublewski had a game-high 28 points to pace the Eagles (2-10), who outscored Manchester 19-9 in the fourth quarter. Gavin Bagnell added 15.

Manchester visits Cheney Tech Wednesday, while Tolland travels to Suffield Thursday.

MANCHESTER (62): Laquonne Thomas 2 0-0 5; Troy Butler 5 5-7 18; Damian Sanchez 4 5-6 16; Jared Lindstrom 2 0-0 4; Arlon Poteat 2 0-0 2; Lucas Ryan 1 0-0 2; Jayden Cersosimo 1 0-0 3; Jermaine Robinson 5 2-4 12. Totals: 21 12-17 62.

Three-point goals: Thames, Butler (3), Sanchez (3).

TOLLAND (58): Nathen Bowes 2 1-2 6; Mitchell Enman 3 0-0 9; Owen Lovoi 0 0-0 0; Matthew Haggerty 0 0-0 0; Daniel Kennedy 0 0-0 0; Cullen Rublewski 10 4-6 28; Matthew Tybor 0 0-0 0; Evan Quick 1 0-0 2; Gavin Bagnell 7 1-3 15; Joey Keane 1 0-0 3. Totals: 23 6-11 58.

Three-point goals: Enman, Keane, Rublewski (4).

MANCHESTER 19 12 22 9 — 62

TOLLAND 13 12 14 19 — 58

WINDSOR 104, ROCKY HILL 38. In Rocky Hill, Tyler Betsey provided 22 points, six steals and three assists as the Warriors cruised to a CCC North victory.

Kaiden James contributed 15 points and Rashawn Tibby supplied 14 for the Warriors (10-1). Ray Rodriguez added 11 points, seven assists and four steals.

Jayden Osei-Tutu had 14 points to pace Rocky Hill (0-14).

Windsor visits Hillhouse Wednesday.

WINDSOR (104): Tyler Betsey 10 0-0 22; Rashawn Tibby 6 2 14; Prince Samuels 0 0-0 0; Ray Rodriguez 5 1 11; Quintin Floyd 3 0-0 7; Kaiden James 7 0-0 15; Jonathan Georges 4 1 9; Jakeel Martin 4 0-0 8; Brandon Rosemond 3 0-0 6; Johnny Pierce 2 0-0 4; Anthony Williams 3 2 8; Shawn Bell 0 0-0 0. Totals: 47 6 104.

Three-point goals: Floyd, James, Betsey (2).

ROCKY HILL (38): Yazdan Aftab 2 0-0 4; Jaden Veal 2 0-0 4; Tyler Carlstrom 1 0-0 2; Shiv Ghutadaria 2 0-0 4; Jayden Osei-Tutu 6 2 14; Casey Robinson 1 1 4; Jon Ruiz 1 0-0 2; Jake Politis 2 0-0 4. Totals: 17 3 38.

Three-point goals: Robinson.

WINDSOR 20 28 20 36 — 104

ROCKY HILL 8 12 7 11 — 38

GRANBY 52, EAST WINDSOR 46. In East Windsor, Liam Heinze had 18 points to lead the Bears to a NCCC victory.

Justin Phillips contributed 16 points for the Bears (10-3), who trailed 35-34 after three quarters but outscored East Windsor 18-11 in the fourth. Josh Brown added 12.

Josh Maddox had 14 points to pace the Panthers (1-10). Ryan Lee added 11.

East Windsor hosts Bolton Wednesday.

GRANBY (52): Justin Phillips 6 3-3 16; Josh Brown 3 4-4 12; Liam Heinze 7 1-2 18; Jack Steele 2 0-0 5; Max Jansen 0 2-2 2. Totals: 18 10-11 52.

Three-point goals: Brown (2), Heinze (2), Phillips, Steele.

EAST WINDSOR (46): Ryan Lee 4 1-2 11; Josh Maddox 5 2-2 14; Eric Wyse 2 0-0 6; Nick Parakilas 1 0-0 2; Alex Giannuzzi 0 0-0 0; Justin Rodriguez 3 1-1 8; Juelz Torres 2 0-0 5. Totals: 17 4-5 46.

Three-point goals: Rodriguez, Torres, Lee (2), Maddox (2), Wyse (2).

GRANBY 13 14 7 18 — 52

EAST WINDSOR 8 13 14 11 — 46

STATE POLL

The GameTimeCT/New Haven Register poll. First-place votes in parentheses. Records through Sunday.

Record Points

1. Bristol Central (18) 12-0 568

2. NW Catholic (1) 10-1 506

3. Windsor 9-1 492

4. Notre Dame-WH 14-0 482

5. Ridgefield 10-1 414

6. Naugatuck 12-0 374

7. East Catholic 9-3 320

8. Kolbe Cathedral 9-1 257

9. Norwich Free Acad. 10-2 188

10. St. Bernard 12-1 178

Also receiving votes: Wilbur Cross (8-4), 158; Hand (10-2), 137; RHAM (13-0), 132; Wilton (10-1), 110; SMSA (11-0), 100; Fairfield Prep (10-1), 98; Cromwell (11-0), 71; Westhill (11-1), 58; Conard (10-1), 55; Simsbury (11-2), 34; Fairfield Warde (9-2), 28; Kennedy (8-1), 19; Crosby (11-2), 17; Bloomfield (10-0), 16; Hillhouse (9-4), 8; Amity (9-2), 7.

The following media members voted: Paul Augeri, Middletown Press; Bill Bloxsom, Milford/Trumbull Pubs; Mike DiMauro, The Day of New London; Scott Ericson, Stamford Advocate; Matt Finkel, WVIT-30; Tim Jensen, Patch Media Corp.; Sean Krofssik, Record-Journal of Meriden; Mike Madera, GameTimeCT; Kyle Maher, Journal-Inquirer of Manchester; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Dave Phillips, Shore Line Newspapers; John Pierson, WTNH; Dave Ruden, The Ruden Report; Chris Saunders, WATR-AM; Ben Talbott, Bird's Eye Sports; Richard Zalusky, The Chronicle of Willimantic; Jimmy Zano Norwich Bulletin; Joe Zone, WFSB-3.

For coverage of the Connecticut Sun and professional women's basketball, Hartford Athletic pro soccer team, as well as area high school and local youth sports, follow Adam Betz on Twitter: @AdBetz1, Facebook: Adam Betz — Sports Writer, and Instagram: @AdBetzJI.