St. Joseph's Timajh Parker goes up against Trinity's Paschal Chukwu Tuesday night.
The Cadets' James Jennings drives to the basket in Tuesday night's game against Trinity.
The Game of the Year — Trinity Catholic’s annual regular season contest with St. Joseph on Tuesday night — really wasn’t The Game of the Year in one regard.
Probably because the Crusaders came in with a pair of losses, the second an upset to Greenwich a week earlier, there was not the customary electricity in the Trinity gym for the renewal of the FCIAC’s best boys basketball rivalry.
Still, a good three quarters set up a sensational final eight minutes, when Trinity rallied from a 15-point deficit to get within two twice during the final 90 seconds before the Cadets’ Timajh Parker hit two straight free throws, which made him 10 of 10 from the line for the game, to secure a 65-61 win.
If you missed it, here’s colleague Emery Filmer’s story on the game.
And here is the column I wrote on the game.
Since my piece appeared only in the Advocate and thus was focused on Trinity, my postscript here on the game, given as a bunch of random thoughts, will be a little bit more Cadet-centric.
— Frank Beneski, who with his wife Sheila travels the state and attends about 125 high school games a year (I wrote a feature on them a few years ago and will have a blog piece on them soon; if you have been to a big game in Connecticut, you have surely seen them), told me prior to last night’s game he thinks St. Joseph is the best team in the state, followed by Northwest Catholic. I trust Beneski’s opinion; he’s the only person in my mind qualified to offer a truly informed vote — based on what you see, and not read or hear — in any state poll.
I had seen bits of two of the Cadets’ previous games, and while they are going to be awfully tough for any team to beat this year, they are hardly unbeatable. Granted, Quincy McKnight, the sophomore who has been one of the surprise impact players in the league thus far, was held to just five points. St. Joseph has the best starting five in the league, but not much depth. They are easier to defend on the perimeter, and much more harder to contain inside.
— That last part has to do with Parker, who is headed to Towson next year. I jumped on the Parker bandwagon the first time I saw him play, when you could see he was a Division I prospect, and he has lived up to his potential. He still has to work on a mid-range jumper — more so for next year than the present — but he is a dominant force in the paint and was the primary reason the Crusaders didn’t offer a reprisal of the teams’ previous meeting, in the FCIAC Tournament last March, when Trinity rallied from a 20-point deficit late in the third quarter to pull off a stunning first-round upset.
— To stop the Cadets, you have to slow down point guard James Jennings, who is a classic floor leader. Jennings opens up the floor, is dangerous in transition and can hit the outside shot. Stop Jennings and you can stop St. Joseph. Easier said than done.
— TWO QUESTIONS to consider (and feel free to comment on below): if there was a college draft of FCIAC players, would Parker be your No. 1 pick? If not, who would you select over him? Another interesting debate: who is the league’s best point guard: Jennings or Westhill’s Tony Dobbinson (or none of the above)? The two play different styles but are equally effective.
— The most unsung player on the Cadets’ roster is Patrick Hopkins, one of the league’s top defenders.
— Even though they lost, the Crusaders got a confidence boost from their performance. After two disappointing efforts, they demonstrated they can go toe-to-toe with the team to beat in the league. This makes Friday night’s game at another undefeated team, Danbury, all the more compelling.
As I noted on my Twitter account this afternoon, this is a must-win game that is not a must-win game. Huh?
A loss is not going to keep the Crusaders out of the playoffs. However, they need to step up and beat a good opponent — Norwalk is their best league victory to date. They get their chance at one of the FCIAC’s toughest road spots. The Trinity players earned the right to make the “this is a game to build on” comments after Tuesday’s game. That was also the expiration date for good close losses.
Mad Hatters
Danbury, a preseason sleeper, has been elevated to a good team with a 7-0 start. We are going to find out just how good over the next nine days.
While the Hatters have a quality win over Bassick, they are about to enter their most difficult stretch of the season: Home Friday against Trinity Catholic, home Tuesday against St. Joseph and on the road a week from Friday at Ridgefield.
It will be interesting to see where the team being touted as the quickest in the FCIAC stands after the three games.
The Starting 5
1. ST. JOSEPH (8-0). Vito Montelli was crestfallen after the loss to Trinity in last year’s quarterfinals. Not sure his heart could have taken another devastating come-from-behind defeat to the Crusaders.
2. RIDGEFIELD (7-0). The Tigers’ new advertising campaign: winning is fundamental(s).
3. DANBURY (7-0). Contenders or pretenders? We are about to find out.
4. GREENWICH (7-1). Still one of the more difficult teams to get a read on, record notwithstanding.
5. TRINITY CATHOLIC (5-3). As I wrote the other day, love the talent (which I still think is second best in the league), hate the (lack of) chemistry. We will see if Tuesday changes that.
Odds and ends
A shoutout to Barry Boderick, who scored 30 points as Stamford rebounded from its heartbreaking loss to Trinity with a win over Trumbull. … I’m not sure how good the top of the league is yet, but the bottom of the league this year is bad. As in BAD. There are five to six wins waiting out there for the middle class and above.
A PROGRAM ALERT: Check bad tomorrow, when we EXPECT to have some significant news to report.
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