With wins Wednesday night, Stamford and Trinity Catholic, last year’s finalists, qualified for the FCIAC Tournament, which begins Saturday at Fairfield Warde with four quarterfinal games.
Stamford, the defending champion, defeated Brien McMahon to earn the sixth seed. It will play No. 3 Warren Harding in the noon opener.
That will be followed by a game between No. 7 Trinity Catholic, which lost to the Black Knights in double overtime a year ago but earned its 12th straight conference tournament berth with a win Wednesday over Staples, and No. 2 St. Joseph.
The teams played twice during the regular season, with the Crusaders winning the season opener on Jonathan Boykin’s 50-foot shot at the buzzer and losing in the Cadets’ holiday tournament when Remy Pinson missed a 40-foot shot as time expired.
In the evening session, No. 4 Bassick and No. 5 Trumbull will face off at 5 p.m. That will be followed by a contest between No. 1 Bridgeport Central, the state’s top-ranked team, and eighth-seeded Ridgefield.
As we enter the FCICA this weekend, most people agree that Central and St.Joes are the team’s to beat. I agree also. I think one of the darkhouse teams is Harding. As a kid, Charlie was my coach in a summer league. He has been around a long time and he knows how to coach. His team is not that tall this year, but if they play together and bring there “A” game (so to speak), I think they may suprise people. I think Central will win a close game against St. Joes in the finals. Good luck to all teams. It should be a fun weekend of basketball.
Stamford High School is a real darkhorse in this tournament.
Trinity is one and done….