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For one quarter on Friday night, you could not have asked for much more out of the New Canaan High School boys basketball team. Tied at 13 apiece with an undefeated, heavily favored McMahon team and hampered by the loss of senior co-captain Kyle Smith to a shoulder injury, the Rams were doing almost everything right—eventually building a four-point lead midway through the second quarter in front of a big home crowd.
Unfortunately for New Canaan, the Rams were unable to consistently sustain that level of play for the rest of the game. The Senators took advantage of New Canaan turnovers and missed opportunities, turning missed shots and steals into easy layups at the other end of the court and eventually pulling away with a 68-55 win.
“Turnovers are just killing us,” New Canaan head coach Mike Evans told NewCanaanite.com. “We turn the ball over at very critical times too. Our timing of turnovers couldn’t be worse, so we are just going to have to go back to the drawing board.”
Even with the timely miscues, the Rams hung with McMahon for most of the second half, keeping the game within three possessions and single digits until the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. New Canaan was led by junior Tyler Sweeney who scored a game-high 20 points. Junior James Crovatto also had a strong game for the Rams, scoring 10 points with all of them coming in the second half. Sophomore Jackson Selvala had 8 points and several strong rebounds while filling in for Smith, who did not play after suffering a shoulder injury Tuesday night in a loss to Stamford.
“Not having Kyle is a huge factor,” Evans said. “Defensively he is so smart and he just creates energy. Not having him was huge.”
Despite the absence of Smith, New Canaan (1-5, 0-2 FCIAC) gave the Senators (6-0, 2-0 FCIAC) all they could handle for most of the first half. Junior Austin Bell opened the scoring with a three-pointer, and after Selvala hit two jumpers and a free throw, the Rams had a 10-7 lead with just over two minutes left in the first. McMahon would answer with a 6-0 run to take a 13-10 advantage until Sweeney sank a three-pointer just before the buzzer to knot the game up at 13.
New Canaan opened up a 16-13 lead after McMahon was called for a technical foul, the first of two T’s on the night for the Senators, who for the moment were being out-rebounded and out-hustled by the Rams. New Canaan increased that lead to 20-16 before McMahon went on another run, outscoring New Canaan 15-6 over the last 3:30 of the half. The Senators were helped in large part by the play of Matt Saint-Louis who scored all nine of his points in the second quarter to send the teams into the intermission with the Rams trailing 31-26.
McMahon opened things up in the third quarter as star player Jahmerikah Green-Younger racked up 12 of his 18 points on the night after being held in check for most of the first half. James Crovatto kept the Rams in the game with several strong scoring drives to the hoop, cutting a 10-point deficit to four as New Canaan trailed 46-42 with less than a minute to go in the third. McMahon, however, reeled off the final four points of the period to make it 50-42 heading into the fourth.
Countering the efforts of Sweeney, junior Timmy Russo (4 points) and sophomore Nick Crovatto (7 points), McMahon was able to maintain its lead in the final stanza, ultimately holding off a tough New Canaan team that seems to be creeping tantalizingly closer to being an FCIAC contender.
“If we come with intensity, we can hang with anybody,” Evans said. “The win for us is the proximity of where we want to be. It’s nearby. It’s the closest it’s ever been.”
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McMahon | 13 | 18 | 19 | 18 | 68 |
| New Canaan | 13 | 13 | 16 | 13 | 55 |
NC - Tyler Sweeney, 20; James Crovatto, 10; Jackson Selvala, 8; Nick Crovatto, 7
McMahon - Jahmerikah Green-Younger, 18; David Civil, 11; Matt Saint-Louis, 9
Fouled out: McMahon - Green-Younger; New Canaan - J. Crovatto
Records: McMahon 6-0 (2-0 FCIAC); New Canaan 1-5 (0-2 FCIAC)