Brett LeQuire scored 39 points and set the North Branford High boys basketball school scoring record as the Thunderbirds topped Shepaug, 70-56, in a Division V second-round state tournament game Thursday in North Branford. LeQuire now has 1,895 career points.
Owen Hibbard had a team-high 21 points for the Spartans (14-10). Joe Brunelli added 16 and Kyle LaMay chipped in with nine.

By STEVE BARLOW

WINSTED – It was probably the most fun Zack Penn has ever had on the bench.
When Northwestern’s senior center came out with two fouls just two minutes into Friday’s Division IV second-round state tournament game against Seymour, it was an ominous sign for the No. 1-seeded Highlanders.

They would have to play the rest of the first half without their leading scorer and rebounder.

No problem. Northwestern owned a five-point lead at halftime and, with Penn back after intermission, rolled on to a 69-52 victory over the No. 16 Wildcats.

The Highlanders will play in the quarterfinals Monday night at home against No. 8 Lewis Mills, a team they crushed twice in the regular season.

With Penn sitting, senior forward Jayson Reola took over inside for Northwestern (21-3). Reola had nine points in the first quarter and 15 in the first half, which ended with his team up, 29-24.

When he wasn’t scoring on putbacks and layups, Reola (21 points total) was kicking the ball out to senior guards Ben North and Mike Oley for 3-pointers. Oley finished with 15 points and North had 13.

When he saw Penn head to the bench, Reola said, “I was thinking I’ve got to pick him up. He’s picked us up for the last few games. I knew it was my turn and I knew we could get it done.”

Northwestern, which had been without four regulars in its last two games for disciplinary reasons, was back at full strength against Seymour, and it was all hands on deck.

“Obviously, I was upset to come out with my second foul. Usually I don’t get into foul trouble,” said Penn. “But it was a blast to watch my teammates, because Jayson was going off and all of them were doing all they could to keep the ball moving and score points. I was having a fun time on the bench. Obviously, I’d like to be out there, but there was nothing I could do.”

In the locker room at halftime, though, Penn told the Highlanders to just watch him in the second half. And he delivered on his promise.

Penn scored all 16 of his points in the second half, including three 3-pointers in the third period as Northwestern extended its lead to 53-41 heading into the final quarter.

Seymour had its own foul troubles. Senior guard Jaylen Crawford, the Wildcats’ top scorer, picked up his second foul with about six minutes to go in the second period and also came out until the second half.

Crawford finished with 12 points before eventually fouling out. Ian Sadick led the Wildcats (13-10) with 15 points. Adam Frosceno had 12 rebounds and Tyler Strang had seven assists.

“They were a very good overall team, very unselfish and they moved the ball well. They beat us on the glass, too,” said Strang. “We wanted to get out more in transition and try to tire them out, but we didn’t do that. We kind of laid back in a halfcourt game.”

By KEVIN D. ROBERTS

LITCHFIELD — The No. 4-seeded Wamogo boys can shoot from the outside, but No. 21 Capital Prep denied the outside attempts in Saturday’s Division V quarterfinal.

Reid Turtoro and Garrett Sattazahn took it upon themselves to get the ball to the rim. Turtoro scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half, then Sattazahn (game-high 20) finished off the Trailblazers with back-to-back layups in the waning moments of a 57-50 victory in front of a big crowd in the Barn.

Wamogo will play top-seeded and undefeated East Hampton (25-0) in Tuesday’s semifinals at a site and time to be determined.

“At different points in the game, we got contributions from different people,” Warriors coach Gregg Hunt said.

Turtoro got hit in the face in the third quarter, but that just seemed to fire him up. Turtoro had his 3-point shot taken away, so he drove to the hoop instead.

“He just started to take over,” Hunt said.

Sticking with the theme of different people at different times, Cole Higgins hit two shots from the outside that loomed large in the third quarter. The second of Higgins’ two 3-pointers put Wamogo ahead, 34-25, a little over three minutes into the third quarter.

“No bigger shots than Cole Higgins’ two straight threes,” Hunt said.

The Warriors faced more man-to-man defense than expected from the Trailblazers, but that opened things up for cuts to the basket. Sattazahn was often the recipient of good passes from players like Turtoro and Ethan Collins.

Capital Prep fought hard, but lost left-hander Jeremiah Taylor (team-high 14 points) to fouls with 3:46 left in the fourth quarter. The Trailblazers still battled all the way back to 52-50 with 1:54 to play.

Wamogo lost the ball on while trying to kill clock, but got it back on a Sattazahn rebound off a contested layup. Capital Prep was called for an intentional foul with 38.3 seconds left, and Sattazahn made one of two free throws to put Wamogo ahead, 53-50.

The Trailblazers tried to trap the Warriors and thought they had Turtoro bottled up. Instead, Turtoro stepped through the double-team and passed to a cutting Sattazahn, who laid it in with just over 10 seconds left.

“They run their stuff. They don’t quit,” Hunt said of his team.

Sattazahn stole the inbounds pass and scored again for the game’s final points.

East Hampton will be a challenge. “They are very fundamentally strong, but it’s going to be a battle,” Hunt said.

The Bellringers are playing well, and so are the Warriors. Tuesday’s semifinal could end up being a classic.

WAMOGO 57, CAPITAL PREP 50
Capital Prep (10-13): Keanu Figueroa 3 2 8, Anthony Benefield 0 1 1, Jaden Simmons 0 0 0, Andre White 0 0 0, Andrew White 2 0 6, Jeremiah Taylor 6 2 14, Kobe Anderson 2 0 4, Tylen Robinson 2 1 5, Tyler Oney 1 4 6, Dean Jones 3 0 6. Totals: 19 10 50.
Wamogo (21-4): Sean Coffey 2 0 5, Reid Turtoro 8 2 18, Cole Higgins 2 0 6, Ethan Collins 3 1 7, Garrett Sattazahn 10 1 21, Eric Odenwaelder 0 0 0, Eric Fowler 0 0 0. Totals: 25 4 57.
Capital Prep 16 7 13 14—50
Wamogo 16 8 18 15—57
3-point goals: C—Andrew White 2; W—Higgins 2, Coffey 1.

BY JOE PALLADINO

WEST HARTFORD — How do you describe a miracle? A good place to start is to tell the tale of what happened Thursday night at the University of Hartford’s Chase Arena.

Sacred Heart was down. Sacred Heart was out. … Sacred Heart was victorious.

I saw it; more than 2,500 people saw it. This morning, each and every one of them might ask themselves, ‘What did I see?’

Sacred Heart, down by 16 points to Windsor with five minutes to play, staged a comeback for the ages — no, sorry, a miracle for the millennium — to defeat the Warriors, 59-58, and advance to a fifth straight boys basketball state championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena.

At one point in the second half, I tweeted that if the Hearts pulled this off, it would take something amazing.

It was amazing, times 10, because, really, it was not going to happen. Windsor was sensational. The Warriors were all over the court, all over the boards, all over the Hearts.
Even senior Raheem Solomon admitted he had a moment of doubt as the game was slipping away. “But we just had to keep pushing,” he said. “We had to keep pushing.”

There was a 3-point hoop from Isiah Gaiter, two treys from freshman Caleb Sampson (playing his first significant minutes of the season), a steal, too, from Sampson, a drive to the glass by Gaiter, a monster defensive rebound from Zach Francisco, and then two clutch free throws from Solomon with 16.6 seconds to go in the game.

The Hearts were down one. He made two.

The stuff of miracles.

Court miracles were rampant this week. Remember, Windsor got to the semifinals on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that KO’d No. 1 East Catholic. Corey McKeithan, the player who took that shot in the quarters, had the last heave Thursday night.

He missed. The miracle traveled elsewhere.

A great team needs to do something great before we call it great. That may have just happened with the Hearts at UHart.

“I believe in them, and they worked hard for me,” Hearts coach Jon Carroll said when it was over.

There was one element lost in all the mayhem: For Solomon, this was the game he needed to get to Mohegan Sun. Remember, he missed the state tournament last season with a knee injury. He needed a miracle to get another shot.

He got that shot because he made the shots.

“This could have been my last game,” Solomon said. “I didn’t play last year. I am very excited.”

And then Solomon had the composure to find the perfect way to describe the miracle.

“It was hearts and guts,” Solomon said. “Deep down, we went into our guts, and we just fought.”

There you have it. Hearts, guts and maybe a miracle, too.

Send comments to jpalladino@rep-am.com, and follow on Twitter @RAOffTheRecord.

By JOE PALLADINO

UNCASVILLE – It’s all over but the legacy. The Sacred Heart boys basketball team now belongs to history.

The run is over. The streak has ended. They start next season all even with all other teams, back on square one.

The Hearts lost a basketball game I repeat the Hearts lost a basketball game. Yes, rub your eyes, clean your glasses, read that again.

Final score in the Division I championship game Sunday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena: Notre Dame-Fairfield 65, Sacred Heart 60.

The game was special, yes, but Sunday night was about more than a game. It was about something that these kids, a whole bunch of kids over five seasons, gave to this city, and let me tell you, this city needed it.

If they beat you, and they did, you didn’t like it. But the truth is, the Hearts raised the stature of city basketball. And more than that, they raised the NVL and dragged the whole dang city and league along with them, the way that the Crosby boys did more than a decade ago.

Let us, for a moment, remember. The last loss: March 5, 2014, to Crosby, 73-64, in the NVL title game. Since then, the Hearts won 84 straight NVL games, 107 straight games against CIAC member schools, four straight NVL championships, four straight state championships and they made five straight trips to a state title game.

Ponder that for a moment. Take as many moments as you need.

How about this: Days between losses: 1,475; weeks between losses: 210, and 5 days; years between losses: 4 years, 14 days.

Goodness gracious.

If you saw it, don’t forget it, because you’ll never see it again.

“If you had told me in December that we would end our season here, I would have laughed at you,” said Hearts coach Jon Carroll.

But laugh they did, all the way to the last day, the last game and the final minute.

“Getting here is the adventure,” Carroll added. “That’s the experience. The fact that we were able to come out winning four out of five is still incredible to me.”

It’s incredible to all.

We knew this would end. Even Carroll hinted at that.

We knew that Raheem Solomon and Isiah Gaiter were great. We did not imagine they were that great or that a large cast of role players would get this good this fast.

But here we are, at the end, and if it had to end, this place, the Mohegan Sun Arena, is where it should have ended.

A great warrior should fall in a great battle, not at Wilby High in a neutral-site quarter, not at UHart’s Chase Arena in a neutral-site semi, and maybe not even in an NVL gymnasium next season.

No, if it had to end then better it end at the Sun, where the spotlight is the brightest and where champions make history.

And the Hearts did just that. It’s over, but it was historic.

By JOE PALLADINO

In the days before and after the CIAC’s Division I boys basketball championship final, there was great excitement about the game. At last, said sportswriters, broadcasters and social media pundits, we will crown a true, undisputed No. 1.

They missed the point entirely.

The new CIAC tournament format had nothing to do with the teams in Division I and everything to do with the teams in Division V.

When CIAC tournament director Robert “Jiggs” Cecchini placed the best of the best in Division I, we knew we were in for a fabulous tournament, and it was sensational. But the real winners were teams of Division V. The new plan kicked schools of choice out the old Class S, and the small public schools had a blast.

Wamogo coach Gregg Hunt, a member of the CIAC basketball committee, said before the season that the new-look tourney created a true small-school field the likes of which hadn’t been seen in 30 years, with a Division V filled with honest to goodness Class S schools.

As the Wamogo boys celebrated their semifinal tournament win over East Hampton, Hunt was effusive about the plan. “Four suburban schools, very much alike, very, very good teams, all four of us,” said Hunt. He referred to Wamogo, East Hampton, eventual state champ Cromwell and Canton, public schools all in the V semis.

Not a Trinity Catholic, Immaculate, Kolbe Cathedral or Sacred Heart in the bunch. Those teams should never be in Class S, ever, and they won’t likely be there again.

“The tournament format worked,” Hunt shouted. “I am voting for it again.”

And so he should. The plan will be tweaked, but it should remain.

Immaculate, the D-II champ will no doubt move up to Division I. Kolbe Cathedral, the Division IV champion, should move up big time. Kolbe went from a 1-19 record in 2016-17 to a state champion in 2017-18. Only a parochial school can change its fortune that rapidly, which is why a parochial school should be a Division I school now and forever, or maybe Division II if they make a solid case.

“They asked me to do something, and I thought I did it,” said Jiggs, the CIAC tourneymeister. “Now we’ll evaluate it. I have had a lot of positive feedback and a few suggestions. I’ll take a look at those and be ready for the boys basketball committee meeting in April. Then we’ll pass it on to the board of control and the ADs and other coaches, and we’ll be ready for next year.”

We’re all ready for next year, Jiggs.

The only way it could better, Jiggs joked, is “if we had 183 champions.”

Parochial schools and schools of choice will dominate in basketball. We understand that. So group them together in Divisions I and II.

What has worked for boys basketball will work for other sports. All sports should take a look. I can’t imagine why, going forward, a parochial school should compete in Class S ever again, in any sport.

No. Sorry. The new hoop plan was not about the dozen or so superpowers of Division I. It was about the other 170 schools that just want a chance to compete.

Send comments to jpalladino@rep-am.com, and follow on Twitter at @RAOffTheRecord.

By JOE PALLADINO

WATERBURY — A championship story is usually about a final score or point totals, and sometimes a dramatic play or game-winning shot. But this championship is about friendship. It’s about a group of players who met as kids in the city’s north end, inspired to play the game by the heroics of a Leavenworth High team, led by Jimmy Piersall, that won the 1947 New England schoolboy championship. They learned the game together at the old north end YMCA, then moved on to Wilby High, at the time the city’s commercial high school, where they won championships together, most notably the state high school championship of 1953, 65 years ago this month.

It was the second state championship ever won at Wilby High and the last state championship, too.

When Wilby High celebrates its 100th anniversary in September, the boys of ’53 will be the stars, one more time.

There are seven surviving team members: Fred “Lefty” LaChance, Bob McHale, Sam

Salvatore, John Faraci, Carl Niesobecki, Tony Tedesco and team manager Paul Menello. The deceased members are Dick Clary, Ray Reilly, Dick Ierardi, Frank McHale, Dick Watterworth, Joe Silva and coaches John McKenna and Joe Bagley.

“We were the Hoosiers,” said Faraci, 83, of Waterbury. “We came out of nowhere. We faked them out.”

These guys were no strangers to winning, though. First, the guys from Walsh School won a city grammar school championship, and then the Slocum School boys joined them at Wilby. In summer tournaments the north end kids beat everybody_ They learned the game at the old North End YMCA on East Farms Street. “We all belonged to the Leader Corps at the Y,” said Tedesco, 82. “That was when we all came together.”

The man who glued it together was John McKenna, the beloved city coach and educator, but it was an unbreakable friendship bond that made it work. Tedesco and Faraci began their careers at Leavenworth. “I didn’t like the curriculum,” Faraci said. “I wanted to be with my friends at Wilby,” Tedesco added.

They transferred to Wilby – at the time you could move freely between the city schools – and there they all forged a championship season never to be forgotten. Piersall’s Leavenworth was the first city team to win an NVL championship. Crosby did it 1951, shared with Ansonia, followed by Wilby in 1952, tied with Torrington and Ansonia.

The leading scorer was Niesobecki. He had 940 career points in an era when no one talked about 1,000. The star, though, was Clary, thought by many to be the city’s first modern player and the first in the area to play the game above the rim.

“Dick was not a shooter,” said Niesobecki, 83, “but he could rebound, play defense, and drive to the basket.”

In a city of great athletes, no one was the equal of Clary, Niesobecki said.

Wilby was 14-4 in 1953, with four more wins in the state tourney. Over two seasons the Wildcats won 24 straight games at the Field Street Armory. They split games that season with Hillhouse, Wilbur Cross, and NVL champion Torrington, and then defeated Warren Harding in the state tournament, Danbury in the second round, followed by an upset of

Bristol. New London was the team to beat in the final.

They played before 6,200 at the New Haven Arena on March 14, 1953. Wilby beat New London, 62-53. Clary and Niesobecki scored 20 each.

“I was not the scorer,” Faraci said. “We gave the ball to Carl and Dick. But coach McKenna said that they will be double teamed. He told me, ‘You will make two shots in a row, and we’ll win the game.’ I said, ‘Coach I didn’t make two shots all season.'”

Faraci made those two shots early, the New London defense softened, and Wilby won a game for the ages.

The game was broadcast on radio by Al Vestro, and portions of the broadcast still survive and can be heard here:

That broadcast tipped off city fans that there were new champions in their midst.

“Coming home that night, a police escort met us in East Mountain,” said Menello, 81. “And they took us on a parade downtown.”

Fans lined the route, which was East Main to West Main to the green where fans also waited, then up Willow Street to the old Wilby on Grove.

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“The community really supported us,” Tedesco said. “As I look back, the New Haven Arena was filled with fans from Waterbury, and they followed us all the way to Boston for the New England championships.”

At the Garden, Wilby lost in semifinal to New London.

Wilby won the first CIAC championship basketball game in 1923, over Naugatuck. The Wildcats won again in 1953, and have not won a state title since in any sport. Wilby, then a business and secretarial school, had the lowest city boys enrollment.

That win in ’53 really did come out of nowhere.

“It was wasn’t one man,” Niesobecki said. “It was everyone.”

“Nobody cared who scored,” added Faraci. “We had played together forever, and we have remained friends forever.”

And they remain one of the city’s greatest teams, forever.

Send comments to jpalladino@rep-am.com, and follow on Twitter at @RAOffTheRecord.

Here are the All-State boys basketball teams as selected by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association:

Division I

First team

• Tyler Bourne, Notre Dame Fairfield
• Noreaga Davis, Notre Dame Fairfield
• Isiah Gaiter, Sacred Heart
• Trey Hall, East Catholic
• Joe Reilly, East Catholic
• Raheem Solomon, Sacred Heart
• Matthew Veretto, East Catholic
• Qualon Wilkes, Bassick
• Tyshawn Welborn, Windsor

Second team

• Jordan Brown, Danbury
• Contavio Dutriel, Trinity Catholic
• Luca Mirabello, Northwest Catholic
• Conner Raines, Notre Dame West Haven
• Timmond Williams, Trumbull

Division II

First team

• Jackson Benigni, Xavier

• Sean Conway, Fairfield Warde
• Michael Mozzicato, Wethersfield
• Jaekwon Spencer, Bristol Central
• Tyler Thomas, Amity
• Marquan Watson, Waterbury Career

Second team

• Mike Basile, Immaculate
• Jevin Frett, Manchester
• Ralph Gilliard, Simsbury
• Trevor Hutchins, Ledyard
• Aaron Latham, Glastonbury
• DeAaron Lawrence, Middletown
• Jean Lukau, Naugatuck

Division III

First team

• Tyler Arbuckle, St. Paul
• Jadon Archer, Enfield
• Mikey Buscetto, Waterford
• Delshawn Jackson, Jr., Prince Tech
• Andrew Lohneiss, Southington
• Dev Ostrowski, East Lyme
• Noah Rubino, Guilford

Second team

• Sam Dombroski, Guilford
• Maximus Edwards, Bunnell
• Jack Ryan, Stratford
• Michael Palmieri, St. Paul
• Ed Popolizio, East Haven
• Jordan Williams, Avon

Division IV

First team

• Jaylen Crawford, Seymour

• AJ Edwards, Amistad
• Zach Penn, Northwestern
• DJ Ransom, Wilcox Tech
• Josh Schibi, Lewis Mills
• Anthony Senior, Kolbe Cathedral
• Tyreice Woods, Classical

Second team

• Tre Bailey, SMSA
• Andrew DiMatteo, Rocky Hill
• Max Gregory, Griswold
• Mitchell Holdmeyer, Valley Regional
• Clifford Jones, Windham
• Max Lee, St. Bernard
• Chris Peasley, Plainfield

Division V

First team

• Luke Brown, Canton
• Tom Close, East Hampton
• Shane Henderson, Old Saybrook
• Brett LeQuire, North Branford

• David Lopez, Lyman Memorial
• Reese Reyes, Cromwell
• Garrett Sattazahn, Wamogo

Second team

• Noah Budzik, Cromwell
• Chavon George, Windsor Locks
• Marcus Goss, East Windsor
• Jeremiah Taylor, Capital Prep
• Aedan Using, Lyme-Old Lyme
• Zach Webber, East Hampton

By JOE PALLADINO

The 2018 All-Hoop Zone team boasts some of the finest talent of recent seasons, and perhaps it offers more: a great many players who will return in 2018-19 to chase more championships.
The selections were difficult. The talent level was especially strong, the way we like it. Here are our picks:

Girls Basketball First Team
Treasure Coleman, Sacred Heart: A junior, Coleman led the team to its first Naugatuck Valley League title in more than 40 years and consecutive trips to the Class S semifinals.

Liz Wexler, Gilbert: At 15.1 ppg, Wexler led the Berkshire League in scoring and finished with 1,000 points for her career despite missing one full season due to injury. Wexler guided the Yellowjackets into the Class S quarterfinals.

Aiyana Ward, Holy Cross: The engine on the inside for Cross, Ward was also an All-State academic star. She captured both the Dottie Shortell Award as the NVL’s top senior and the Rich Genua Award as the city’s top senior.

Gabbie Dunn, Westover: Dunn became the first player at Westover to score 1,000 points and followed that up this season by becoming the first to reach 2,000. With a 25.6 ppg. average, Dunn led all area players in scoring.

Hoop Zone Girls Player of the Year

Karli, Opalka, Pomperaug: Opalka was a walking double-double for the Panthers, with 61 for her career. She beat up opponents in the paint and scored 1,333 career points with 1,294 rebounds. This past season, she averaged 15.2 ppg and 11.3 rebounds.

Opalka is a three-time All-SWC selection, a three-time Class L All-State pick and a McDonald’s All-American nominee.

“Words can’t describe how much Karli has meant to this program over the past four years,” said Pomperaug coach Joe Fortier. “Her leadership, talent and work ethic made her one of the best players to put on a Pomperaug uniform. She will be missed greatly.”

Boys Basketball First Team
Mikey West, Holy Cross: One of three juniors on the first team, West excelled in his first season with Cross. He averaged 19.6 ppg. for the Crusaders and ran an offense that featured three double-figure scorers.

Marquan Watson, WCA: Watson averaged 20 ppg. as a junior and has reached 1,000 points for his career already. Perhaps the most physical inside threat in the NVL, Watson is comfortable on the perimeter, too.

Garrett Sattazahn, Wamogo: The slick guard led the the Warriors to the Division V title game. A superb shooter with a quick release, Sattazahn averaged 19 ppg.

Isiah Gaiter, Sacred Heart: One half of the All-State duo in the Hearts’ backcourt, Gaiter is a smooth player who gets any shots he wants. Gaiter averaged 24.4 ppg., which was the second-best total in the NVL. He received the Billy Finn Award as the city’s top senior.

Hoop Zone Boys Player of the Year
Raheem Solomon, Sacred Heart: Solomon averaged 23 points, six rebounds and four assists per game, and finished with 1,538 career points. In four seasons, Solomon’s teams were 106-5, 103-1 against Connecticut schools and 84-0 in the NVL. He won four NVL titles, three state titles and was recipient of the Connie Donahue Award as NVL’s top senior.

In the NVL title game of 2017, Solomon carried the Hearts to the championship with a courageous fourth quarter, scoring clutch baskets after injuring a knee that would require surgery. And in the Division I title game defeat this year, Solomon hauled the Hearts on his back with 17 consecutive second-half points against Notre Dame-Fairfield.

“I’d offer that Raheem came into Sacred Heart as a piece of the larger puzzle,” said Hearts coach Jon Carroll, “quietly learning and improving and perfecting his craft. But don’t let his quiet demeanor take anything away from the ferocity with which he competed. He has held himself as a gentleman, on and off the court, but is as competitive a person as I’ve ever had the privilege to coach.”

Girls Coach of the Year
Ron Picard, Sacred Heart: The Hearts improved steadily under Picard, won their first NVL title in more than 40 years and made back-to-back trips to the state semis. The Hearts have won 36 games over the last two seasons.

Boys Coach of the Year
Gregg Hunt, Wamogo: Our John Wooden without the rolled-up program, Hunt does one thing consistently: win. Master of the BL tournament upset, Hunt guided the Warriors to the Division V title game this season. He earned career victory No. 400 in March and now has 415 total, including 292 at Wamogo.

Girls all-Hoop zone
Second team
Raven Cody, Wolcott; Mia Juodaitis, Cheshire; Alyana Sosa, Naugatuck; Janessa Gonzalez, St. Paul; Tiahna Pulliam, Crosby.

Third team
Meah Austin, Holy Cross; Mary Bibbey, Nonnewaug; Samantha Chadwick, Lewis Mills; Megan Todhunter, Pomperaug; Aamya Rivera, Sacred Heart.

Honorable mention
Jordyn Forte, Watertown; Armani Weaver, WCA; Sydnie Drezek, Seymour; Aryssel Flores, Derby; Addie Hester, Northwestern; Emma Propfe, Northwestern; Alexa Milius, Thomaston; Rose Kelly, Wamogo; Eliza Smith, Woodland; Maggie Lee, Pomperaug; Maddie Patrick, Chase Collegiate; Kayla Robinson, Taft; Lauren Pelosi, Taft; Mikayla Mobley, Sacred Heart; Shannon Burns, Naugatuck.

Boys All-Hoop Zone
Second team
DeAndre Wallace, Holy Cross; Jaylen Crawford, Seymour; Jean Lukau, Naugatuck; Zack Penn, Northwestern; Tyler Spears, Crosby.

Third team
Josh Schibi, Lewis Mills; Christian Harris, Wilby; Tyler Arbuckle, St. Paul; Kerwin Prince, Crosby; Mario Paniccia, Pomperaug.

Honorable mention
Matt Torres, WCA; Jadan Battle, WCA; Kyle LaMay, Shepaug; Zach Bedryczuk, Woodland; Joe Brunelli, Shepaug; Aaron Stewart, Kaynor Tech; Jason Hirschauer, Pomperaug; Lashawn Smith, Kennedy; Elmin Redzepagic, Wolcott; Mike Palmieri, St. Paul; Nyzair Rountree, Holy Cross; Isaiah Walker, Derby; Ben North, Northwestern; Jack Cook, Chase Collegiate; Joel Villanueva, Torrington.

By JOE PALLADINO

WATERBURY — Sacred Heart basketball star Raheem Solomon made his college choice official on Tuesday when he signed to play at Division I Niagara University.

Niagara plays in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Area MAAC schools include Fairfield, Quinnipiac, and Marist.

Solomon, the Connie Donahue Award winner as the NVL’s top senior for 2018 and also the Hoop Zone player of the year, finished his high school career with 1,538 points, third all-time at Sacred Heart. He is a three-time state champion and four-time NVL champion.

In four seasons, Solomon never lost an NVL game.

“When I went out there for a  visit I felt like I was at Sacred Heart again,” Solomon said about his visit to Niagara, located just north of Buffalo, N.Y. “I think going there will be really nice.”

With graduation there are openings at the guard position for the Purple Eagles. “I play the same, so I think that I can fit,” he said.

One thing the Purple Eagles get with Solomon, and they might not even know it yet, is one of the great pressure-players in NVL history. Hitting buzzer-beating baskets is a wonderful, but Solomon did more than that.

“He played on one leg in the NVL championship,” said Hearts coach Jon Carroll about Solomon’s remarkable performance to help lead Sacred Heart to the 2017 title playing on an injured knee that would later require surgery. “He rattled off 19 (points) in a row in this year’s state championship and keeps us in the thing, so again, it’s hard work, and effort, and dedication, and it’s paid off.”

And there was a level of leadership that was quiet, until it needed to get loud, and then it was really loud.

“Raheem is a shining example of how you want a kid to develop,” Carroll said. “He came in as a freshman a sort of a sub, side-kick role, but really kind of integrated himself seamlessly. As the years progressed he became a larger and larger part of the offense and defense, to the point of where he’s the key.

“He started this year not much of a talker, not very verbal,” Carroll added, “but, in the fourth quarter of the Windsor game (Division I semifinal won by Sacred Heart with a fourth-quarter rally) all of a sudden we’re in a time out and he explodes, and I’m wondering at first, we’re going to pulls the reins in on this, and then I thought, OK, we’re going to go with this. It was one of those proud parent moments. That was awesome. He sort of arrived. And I think his best basketball is ahead of him.”

By STEVE BARLOW

The CIAC announced its five divisions for next winter’s boys basketball tournament. Thirteen area schools will play in a different division, with the most significant change being the elevation of Division V runner-up Wamogo to Division III.

Crosby and Kennedy will drop from Division I to Division II, and Naugatuck will drop from Division II to Division III. Other teams that will drop are Bristol Central, from II to III; Bristol Eastern, Wolcott and Watertown, from III to IV; and Nonnewaug, O’Brien Tech and Kaynor Tech, from IV to V.

Southington will jump from Division III to II, Wamogo from V to III, and Woodland from V to IV.

Wamogo, which will return almost all of the team that fell to Cromwell in the state final, is one of only three schools being moved up more than one class. The others are Division IV champion Kolbe Cathedral, now in Division II, and Capital Prep, from V to III.

All three are considered “schools of choice” by the CIAC because they draw more than 25 boys from outside of their district. Kolbe is a parochial school, Capital Prep a magnet school and Wamogo a vo-ag school.

According to the CIAC, divisions were created using a complicated formula that included enrollment, the strength of a league, and power points awarded on the success of the teams you beat. Schools of choice are also awarded points for success in the state tournament.

Wamogo will be in Division III based on the 450 “success points” it accumulated for making the Division V state final.

Wamogo coach Gregg Hunt declined to comment Wednesday, saying he had just seen the new divisions and needed time to digest the change.

The number of teams in each division was also juggled. There will be 20 teams in Division I, down from 21; 36 in Division II, down from 38; 38 in Division III, down from 42; 40 in Division IV, down from 41, and 49 in Division V, up from 41.

The CIAC said the unequal numbers were done to ensure enough teams qualify in each division to avoid an excessive number of byes. The CIAC said no appeals based on the formula will be allowed.

This new format affects only boys basketball. Girls basketball will continue to have classes LL, L, M and S.

The CIAC’s 2019 boys basketball divisions

Division I: (20) Sacred Heart, Notre Dame-Fairfield, East Catholic, Immaculate, Danbury, East Hartford, Fairfield Prep, Trumbull, Trinity Catholic, Notre Dame-West Haven, Hillhouse, Holy Cross, Wilbur Cross, Hamden, Weaver, Windsor, Simsbury, Bassick, NFA, Ridgefield.

Division II: (36) Pomperaug, Middletown, Crosby, Greenwich, Xavier, Fairfield Warde, Amity, New Britain, Wilton, Newington, Northwest Catholic, Kennedy, Brien McMahon, Kolbe Cathedral, Glastonbury, Manchester, Southington, Wethersfield, Guilford, Ledyard, WCA, Stamford, Waterford, Bunnell, Darien, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Cheshire, Westhill, Enfield, Hartford Public, New London, Brookfield, Wilby, E.O. Smith, Fairfield Ludlowe.

Division III: (38) Shelton, Harding, West Haven, Staples, Bristol Central, Amistad, Norwalk, East Lyme, Newtown, Prince Tech, Torrington, Bethel, New Milford, Joel Barlow, Naugatuck, North Haven, Bridgeport Central, Stratford, Avon, St. Paul, Bacon Academy, Hall, Wamogo, Plainfield, Maloney, Farmington, Career Magnet, Rocky Hill, Tolland, Conard, Daniel Hand, Windham, Capital Prep, Fitch, Wilcox Tech, RHAM, SMSA, Berlin.

Division IV: (40) New Fairfield, Weston, Lyman Hall, Griswold, St. Bernard, St. Joseph, Sheehan, Platt, New Canaan, Wolcott, Woodstock Academy, Foran, Seymour, Bulkeley, Ansonia, Masuk, Northwestern, Aerospace, Stonington, Lewis Mills, Branford, Bristol Eastern, East Haven, Canton, Watertown, Killingly, Abbott Tech, East Hampton, Classical Magnet, Suffield, Cromwell, Granby, Lyman Memorial, Jonathan Law, Platt Tech, Goodwin Tech, Old Saybrook, Ellington, Woodland, Windsor Locks.

Division V: (49) Coginchaug, Cheney Tech, Nonnewaug, Kaynor Tech, Rockville, Creed, Valley Regional, Plainville, Haddam-Killingworth, North Branford, Old Lyme, Oxford, Somers, Norwich Tech, Montville, Westbrook, Ellis Tech, Innovation, University, Putnam, Bullard Havens Tech, O’Brien Tech, East Windsor, Whitney Tech, HMTCA, Windham Tech, Derby, Vinal Tech, Morgan, Terryville, Wolcott Tech, Tourtellotte, Grasso Tech, MLC, Parish Hill, Shepaug, Litchfield, Thomaston, Coventry, Portland, Gilbert, Wheeler, Housatonic, Stafford, Bolton, Public Safety, Hale Ray, East Granby, Achievement First.

The new divisions for the 2019 CIAC boys basketball tournaments:

Division I: (20) Sacred Heart, Notre Dame-Fairfield, East Catholic, Immaculate, Danbury, East Hartford, Fairfield Prep, Trumbull, Trinity Catholic, Notre Dame-West Haven, Hillhouse, Holy Cross, Wilbur Cross, Hamden, Weaver, Windsor, Simsbury, Bassick, NFA, Ridgefield.

Division II: (36) Pomperaug, Middletown, Crosby, Greenwich, Xavier, Fairfield Warde, Amity, New Britain, Wilton, Newington, Northwest Catholic, Kennedy, Brien McMahon, Kolbe Cathedral, Glastonbury, Manchester, Southington, Wethersfield, Guilford, Ledyard, WCA, Stamford, Waterford, Bunnell, Darien, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Cheshire, Westhill, Enfield, Hartford Public, New London, Brookfield, Wilby, E.O. Smith, Fairfield Ludlowe.

Division III: (38) Shelton, Harding, West Haven, Staples, Bristol Central, Amistad, Norwalk, East Lyme, Newtown, Prince Tech, Torrington, Bethel, New Milford, Joel Barlow, Naugatuck, North Haven, Bridgeport Central, Stratford, Avon, St. Paul, Bacon Academy, Hall, Wamogo, Plainfield, Maloney, Farmington, Career Magnet, Rocky Hill, Tolland, Conard, Daniel Hand, Windham, Capital Prep, Fitch, Wilcox Tech, RHAM, SMSA, Berlin.

Division IV: (40) New Fairfield, Weston, Lyman Hall, Griswold, St. Bernard, St. Joseph, Sheehan, Platt, New Canaan, Wolcott, Woodstock Academy, Foran, Seymour, Bulkeley, Ansonia, Masuk, Northwestern, Aerospace, Stonington, Lewis Mills, Branford, Bristol Eastern, East Haven, Canton, Watertown, Killingly, Abbott Tech, East Hampton, Classical Magnet, Suffield, Cromwell, Granby, Lyman Memorial, Jonathan Law, Platt Tech, Goodwin Tech, Old Saybrook, Ellington, Woodland, Windsor Locks.

Division V: (49) Coginchaug, Cheney Tech, Nonnewaug, Kaynor Tech, Rockville, Creed, Valley Regional, Plainville, Haddam-Killingworth, North Branford, Old Lyme, Oxford, Somers, Norwich Tech, Montville, Westbrook, Ellis Tech, Innovation, University, Putnam, Bullard Havens Tech, O’Brien Tech, East Windsor, Whitney Tech, HMTCA, Windham Tech, Derby, Vinal Tech, Morgan, Terryville, Wolcott Tech, Tourtellotte, Grasso Tech, MLC, Parish Hill, Shepaug, Litchfield, Thomaston, Coventry, Portland, Gilbert, Wheeler, Housatonic, Stafford, Bolton, Public Safety, Hale Ray, East Granby, Achievement First.

By JOE PALLADINO

The 2018 CIAC boys basketball tournament was brilliant. The games were wonderful, and the divisions as perfect as one could expect. Powerhouse parochial schools were no longer beating up on small public schools. Little schools finally had a fighting chance in the new Division V.

The formula that produced that 2018 tournament is essentially unchanged, but the recently released tourney divisions for 2019 left us, in a word, flummoxed.

In one sense, the formula still works. Kennedy now plays in Division II, not I. The Eagles fit better there. Crosby is also in Division II, a change that angered coach Nick Augelli. But it is OK. Crosby can request to play up, and Augelli said he will likely do that.

“We have an outstanding formula in place, and there is no subjectivity. It is black-and-white, and that’s what we wanted. All teams are ranked from the first to last, and you play wherever you fall.” — Sacred Heart principal Anthony Azzara (head of boys basketball committee)

But there are bits of odd business: Woodland, a Division V school in 2018, is in Division IV for 2019. The Hawks won eight games last season, lost in the state tournament’s first round and – ta-da! – are in Division IV.

Under the CIAC formula, schools earn points for enrollment and wins. If you play in a strong conference, like the NVL, your power points earned through regular-season victories are multiplied. Plus, schools of choice earn tourney success points. The lines between divisions also change to ensure that divisions have enough teams to fill out a bracket.

Woodland did not win its way into Division IV, but, gosh darn it, Hawks, you are going there nonetheless.

The supreme oddity, however, concerns Wamogo. The Warriors staged a magical run to the Division V title game and, as a reward, received a bodacious boot in the rear. The Warriors are now slotted for Division III, along with schools like Harding, West Haven, Norwalk, Bristol Central, Prince Tech, Naugatuck, St. Paul, Maloney, Farmington and Capital Prep.

Prep was a Division V school last season, won eight games, lost to Wamogo in the quarters and followed the Warriors to Division III, while the team that beat Wamogo in the final, Cromwell, is in Division IV.

Prepare your heart for this shocker: St. Joseph of Trumbull, historically a basketball juggernaut, plunged from Division II to Division IV after a four-win season.

Let’s summarize: Wamogo is in III, St. Joseph in IV. Wamogo, with all of its 187 male students, is in a division with five SCC schools, 10 CCC, three FCIAC and three NVL schools.

Who’s driving this bus? Did we go from perfect to absurd? What changed?

Robert “Jiggs” Cecchini, the CIAC’s mastermind of the boys tournament, insisted nothing changed. The formula that created near-perfect 2018 divisions is basically the same one that created the 2019 divisions.

“They asked me to do it numerically,” said Jiggs. “It is as simple as that. I did what people asked me to do.”

It is all about the math, but in this case E=mc -what?

Gregg Simon, CIAC associate executive director, cautioned us to not be alarmed. Schools were not “moved” up or down, he stressed. “We applied the same formula that worked great last year,” he said.

The reason Wamogo climbed the charts faster than a Lennon-McCartney song is this: Wamogo is a school of choice, a vo-ag school, with 53 boys who live outside of the Region 6 towns of Warren, Morris and Goshen. It’s lumped in the same category with the Sacred Hearts and Notre Dame-Fairfields of the state.

“Wamogo’s success in playing all the way to the final created a large amount of points in the success-in-tournament portion of the formula,” Simon said. That created the significant rise, from V to III.

It isn’t punishment. It’s about numbers. So why does it look so awful?

The efficient tourney plan of last season had a basic objective: Get parochial schools away from small public schools. Small Catholic schools can bring in elite players from distant places. We accept that. But to equate a vo-ag school with a parochial school when it comes to cyphering point totals strains credulity.

The initial plan two years ago was for an oversight committee to evaluate divisions. After the math, the brackets were to get an eyeball test. That idea was rejected. CIAC member schools wanted subjectivity removed from bracket building. Stick with the numbers and only the numbers, they said.

“Nobody saw how I did it for last season,” Jiggs said. “I didn’t share the numbers.”

Now, the numbers and the math have been released. (We put the charts on our website, thezone.rep-am.com.)

CIAC’s complete rationale for tournament changes

“I don’t look at individual schools,” Jiggs said, “just the mathematics.”

Hey, don’t blame Jiggs. One plus one still equals two. But even Simon admitted, “It has a bad look to it.” I suspect that’s why the numbers were made public.

Wamogo, Sacred Heart, Notre Dame-Fairfield, Nonnewaug, Kaynor Tech, Holy Cross, New London, Bloomfield … they all have one thing in common on the charts: an asterisk. When you read the charts, look for an asterisk after a school’s name. That designates a school of choice. Schools of choice receive additional points for tournament success, above and beyond enrollment and conference multipliers.

It was done for one reason: To bump schools of choice up the competitive ladder. With the run to the Division V final, Wamogo was whacked with 450 success points: 100 for reaching the quarterfinals, 150 for the semifinals and 200 for being a finalist.

Added to Wamogo’s enrollment numbers and power-point numbers, the 450 success points got the Warriors ranked at No. 79 among all Connecticut teams, which plants Wamogo in Division III.

“All our athletic directors and member schools demanded, 100 percent, that we line up schools strictly by the amount of points they earned, No. 1 through No. 183,” added Simon.

Gone is the appeal process. Last season, 19 schools appealed the point totals. Two appeals were successful. However, an appeal requires a subjective judgement. As Simon noted, there is no reason to appeal the answer to a mathematics equation.

OK, if this is all about numbers, check these numbers out: The 2019 Division III bracket has two schools, Staples and Norwalk, with enrollment totals five times larger than Wamogo. Fifteen more D-III schools are either three or four times larger.

Sacred Heart Principal Anthony “Butch” Azzara, chairman of the boys basketball committee, bristled when asked how the formula placed schools of such divergent size into the same division.

“We have an outstanding formula in place, and there is no subjectivity,” Azzara said. “It is black-and-white, and that’s what we wanted. All teams are ranked from the first to last, and you play wherever you fall. The only thing that changes is the number of teams in each division.”

Wamogo got hammered by the tournament success points. A tiny school, Wamogo was lumped into the same “success” equation as the Hearts, Kolbe and Notre Dame-Fairfield.

This has me baffled. The scholastic basketball stars who transfer to play for the Hearts, the Lancers, Kolbe, Trinity Catholic and St. Joseph will not suddenly wander up Route 202 to feed chickens in Wamogo’s vo-ag program.

We squeezed Catholic schools, vo-ag schools and tech schools into the same formula. Numbers may not lie, but the tournament cries out for the application of just a little common sense.

“I was very surprised when they removed any of the subjectivity of the plan,” said Wamogo coach Gregg Hunt, also a member of boys basketball committee.

“The problem we had before with the state tournament was not the vo-ag or tech schools,” he added. “It was the charter, magnet and Catholic schools.”

But all are treated the same. Numbers are a beautiful thing in the hands of a mathematician, but they are vicious and cruel as a guide to run a basketball tournament.

The Warriors, a 2019 title contender had they stayed in Division V, or even Division IV, face an uncertain landscape in Division III.

Gregg Simon did ask this: Why do we immediately assume Wamogo, which returns all its starters, is not a legitimate Division III contender? He got me there. Great question. Maybe the Warriors are the team to beat. All righty then, let’s get the FCIAC or SCC up to Litchfield for a Division III showdown next March.

But here are a few more great questions: Why are success points for a Division I final the same as for a Division V final? Why are staggeringly disparate county vo-ag schools and urban parochial schools ruled by the same school-of-choice equation?

The CIAC took a dramatic stride forward with the boys tournament of 2018. Have they just taken an equally dramatic step back?

Send comments to jpalladino@rep-am.com, and follow on Twitter @RAOffTheRecord.