Conard hosted East Hartford in West Hartford on Monday afternoon in the opening round of the CIAC Class II boys basketball tournament. 

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Ted Newton. Photos by Ronni Newton

Seniors Riley Fox and Aiden Sully had 40 and 21 points respectively as No. 7 seed Conard held on to beat No. 26 East Hartford High 77-70 in a first round CIAC Division II boys basketball playoff game.

The host Red Wolves pushed back a furious East Hartford fourth quarter comeback, during which the Hornets made numerous 3-point shots and all of their free throws to pull within three points with three minutes to go in the game.

The home crowd, which saw Conard’s 14-point halftime lead steadily dwindle, became electric as the fourth quarter score tightened. Not until senior Noah Armstrong’s sideline lob over the outstretched arms of the Hornets defender to Fox under the basket – who then calmly laid the ball into the basket while drawing a foul to put the Red Wolves up six points with a minute remaining – did the crowd breath a collective sigh of relief.

“Every state tournament win is a great one,” said Conard coach Jared Leghorn. Regarding Fox’s 40 points, Leghorn said “I asked him for a 40-baller earlier in the day, and he said, ‘Yes coach, I’ll try.’ And Scully – the last few weeks he has been totally locked in, every practice, every game. He has this confidence and aura about him right now, and he’s really ready to step up in big games. He had a big tournament game today.”

Conard sprinted out to a 13-point lead in the first quarter on nimble team passing, creating open looks for Fox and Scully to take – and make – 3-point shots. Seven of the Red Wolves’ 10 baskets in the opening period were from beyond the arc, with Fox making three and Sully four. Fox also was a determined rebounder, adding four points in the paint after grabbing missed shots.

Strong rebounding and deft 3-point shooting continued in the first part of the second quarter, but the Hornets tightened up their defense and forced a Conard scoring draught that was broken by a Fox layup with a minute to go in the half. A key charge taken by junior Maurice King with eight seconds to go energized the Red Wolves as they went into the locker room ahead 47-33.

But the Hornets came out aggressively to open the second half, challenging Conard in each aspect of the game, and slowly chipped away at the score differential. Senior Julius Goode, who brought energy to the Red Wolves off the bench and with several key baskets, came out with a minute to go as he picked up his fourth foul. Conard’s lead was down to nine at the end of the third quarter.

East Hartford continued to press Conard to open the final frame, and between key 3-point shots and several trips to the foul line where they didn’t miss, the Hornets made a valiant effort to defeat the favored Red Wolves.

Said Leghorn, “[East Hartford has] some good players that do a really good job getting into the paint, and they have some great catch and shoot guys, and toward the end we were giving them too many of those open 3s and letting them into the paint easily. I was upset with some of the mental mistakes we were making, but we got back to doing what the game plan is defensively. We did just enough to win.”

Conard (15-5 in regular season play) advances to the second round and will host No. 10 Daniel Hand (14-6) in West Hartford on Wednesday, with the time TBA.

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