The Conard boys basketball team hosted Farmington on Thursday night in West Hartford, in what was a tale of two halves.

By Paul Palmer 

The best part of the first half for Conard in Thursday’s basketball game with Farmington was that it only lasted 16 minutes.

“It was the worst half of basketball we have played in seven or eight years,” said head coach Jared Leghorn.

“Terrible. We were in shambles. We played like five guys that didn’t know what to do,” is how senior Riley Fox described it.

The Red Wolves couldn’t shoot straight, play defense, or control the ball on offense. The River Hawks, on the other hand, could and did, and were up 16-7 after one quarter and 27-12 at intermission.

But something happened at halftime. When the team was about as low as it could get, senior captain Jaydon Schuler stepped up. “He stepped up and spoke up before I ever got in the locker room,” Leghorn said. Schuler is injured and will not return for the season, but his words to his teammates were better than any pass he could have made or shot he could have hit.

He reminded his teammates that they had to start talking and fighting. The Red Wolves listened and behind the efforts of Aidan Scully and Riley Fox, they rallied with 39 points in the second half, holding Farmington to 21, and came away with the 51-48 win.

“We woke up and started communicating, coming together, and it all grew from there,” said Fox who finished with 21 points.

Scully got things going early in the third, when he hit a 3, then blocked Farmington’s next shot before dropping in a layup from almost under the backboard with two defenders on him – and suddenly it was 29-19 with just 2:25 played.

Fox hit a step back 3, Scully had another block, and when Fox hit a 3 with 3:33 to go, it was a four-point game at 29-25. Scully would go on to hit another 3 and the game was tied at 31.

“My trainer always tells me if you are open shoot the ball,” said Scully, who finished with 17 points – most from 3-point range.

The River Hawks would take a 36-33 lead on Harison Hawkins’ 3, but when Fox hit a short jumper with :05 to go in the quarter, Conard had the 37-36 lead, bringing fans back into the game. “Good on them to stick together and believe they could come back,” Leghorn said of his squad.

Fox opened the final eight minutes with a pair of hoops before Caleb Smith hit for Farmington to cut the Conard lead to 41-40 with 5:09 to go. Another 3 by Fox had them up 4, but the Red Wolves started to slip into the turnover pattern again. Fortunately for them, Farmington could not take advantage to retake the lead.

With 2:21 to go, Fox tipped out a rebound of a missed Conard shot to teammate Max Tartaglia who found Scully at the top of the key for a huge 3 and a 47-44 lead. Scully would score in an inside lay in, before Hawkins came through with a 3 for the River Hawks to make it a one-point game for Conard.

The next two possessions saw Fox put back a Tartaglia miss, but Farmington missed their shot. The River Hawks then fouled Conard on three straight plays to save clock and finally send Conard to the free throw line.

Scully had a chance to ice the game with 13.5 seconds left, but missed both from the charity stripe.

Farmington took a timeout with 10 seconds to play, trailing by three. Conard used tight defensive marking on the inbound play, and forced Jahkai Veal to put up an off-balance 3-point try that did not fall. When Fox grabbed the rebound, the buzzer sounded, and Conard players and fans let out a huge sigh of relief.

The win moves Conard to 3-4 on the season. Three of the four losses have come to unbeaten teams (Northwest Catholic, East Catholic, and Windsor) in one of the toughest schedules the team has played in a long time. Farmington is now 6-3 following Thursday’s loss.

Players and Leghorn all looked at this game as a chance to turn a corner. “It’s been frustrating a little bit,” said the Yale-bound Fox of the tough start to the season. “But all of these games will define us and help us in the second part of the season.”

Both Fox and Scully agree, if they can build on this two-game win streak, Conard will be a tough matchup come March. “This was a breakthrough game for us,” said Scully. “I am so proud of my teammates.”

For Conard, there will be little time to celebrate. On Friday night they travel to Hartford to face 6-0 Weaver, before opening next week with 8-1 Manchester on the road and then it’s 6-3 Hall on Thursday the 18th.

“We have guys that have not been in these spots before,” Leghorn said of his squad. “It was a huge step and if we can get a win over Weaver, we will be at .500. At the start of the season, I thought .500 at the midpoint would be good.”

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