Crosby used its athleticism and muscle in the second half to pull away from the Ansonia Chargers and grab a 78 – 56 victory in the NVL quarterfinals Saturday at Wilby High School.
The Bulldogs raised their record to 15 – 6 and will play in the NVL semifinals on Monday at Wilby.
Ansonia dropped to 13 – 8 and awaits its seed for the Class S tournament, which comes out this week at casciac.org.
“I wasn’t happy with how we played from midway through the third quarter and into the fourth quarter when they made their run,” Chargers coach Bill LaRovera said. “We didn’t counter with a run when they made a run and we needed to do so.”
Crosby had an 18 – 12 lead after one quarter and built its lead to 10 in the second quarter before Ansonia started to come back and cut the deficit to four at the half, 35 – 31.
“We pressed them in the beginning and tried to slow down the tempo but they beat us on the boards,” LaRovera said.
Rebounding played a major role in the Bulldogs’ run. At times, Crosby had three or four shots at the basket during a given trip down the court, which led to many points off the glass.
Senior tri-captain Sheldon Clarke (13 points, one blocked shot) swished a 3‑pointers to pull Ansonia within five, 39 – 34 with 6:02 remaining in the third quarter. Clarke also made a layup junior Christian Abdul-Akbar (two points) hit a free throw to keep the deficit in single digits.
Charger junior Keshont Graham (seven points) hit a layup to cut the deficit to seven, 49 – 42 with 1:54 left but Crosby came back with a layup and trey to make it 54 – 42. The Bulldogs forced back-to-back turnovers at the end of the quarter and led 58 – 42 after three quarters.
Senior co-captain B.J. Kline (33 points) was lethal from outside for Crosby with four 3‑pointers. The Bulldogs’ lead peaked at 30, 78 – 48.
“We gave them too much of a lead and they went on a run,” Clarke said. “We need to learn from this and not let it happen in States.”
“To do well at States, we’ve got to beat a team like this,” LaRovera said.