Familiar feeling as Griswold holds off NFA for ECC crossover win

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It seemed like déjà vu all over again for the Griswold and Norwich Free Academy boys basketball teams.

A year ago the Wolverines withstood a furious Wildcats rally and stunned NFA on a buzzer-beating shot from Kaiden Kazlauskas in front of a raucous crowd at Griswold High School.

The teams returned to the scene of last year’s barnburner on Wednesday night and the exciting Eastern Connecticut Conference divisional crossover contest wasn’t decided until Griswold junior Carmelo Curtis made a free throw with 1.8 seconds left to give the Wolverines a four-point cushion.

Behind terrific 3-point shooting and daring drives to the basket down the stretch, Griswold remained unbeaten with a hard-fought 69-65 victory in Jewett City.

Griswold’s Kaiden Kazlauskas goes up for a shot against a host of NFA defenders, including Jamier Ford (4), during the Wolverines’ 69-65 win Wednesday at Jewett City.

“What a great game for people to watch,” Griswold coach Rob Mileski said, “It was entertaining even to coach.”

NFA rallied from a 12-point deficit early in the and took a 59-58 lead midway through the fourth quarter on Jayvon Thompson’s driving layup following a turnover.

“NFA is NFA,” Mileski said. “They’ve got some athletes. Jeff’s (Wildcats coach Brown) is doing a really good job with them.” 

Griswold regained a slim down the stretch. A driving layup from Kolby Mills was followed by a terrific bounce pass from Aaden Cutter to a cutting Mills for another layup. Kazlauskas then made a nifty move along the baseline for a reverse layup, giving the Wolverines a 64-59 advantage with just 1:15 remaining.

“What an athletic play by Kaiden,” Mileski said.

Wildcats sophomore guard Josh Lavoie answered with a pair of free throws and a driving layup which were sandwiched between a Nick Watters hoop and it was a one possession game at 66-63.

NFA came away with a steal with 29 seconds left but Ethan Graham’s three-pointer from the corner rattled just off the rim.

“That’s…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/familiar-feeling-griswold-holds-off-193517042.html

Author : The Bulletin

Publish date : 2025-01-09 19:35:00

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