Central beats Weston

By BOB BIRGE
Hour Correspondent
January 8, 2015

WESTON ­­ The Weston boys basketball team gave defending Class LL state champion Bridgeport Central a major scare Thursday, building a 10­ point halftime lead.

The Trojans, however, could not sustain that effort following the intermission.

The result was a 19 ­point turnaround in the second half as the Hilltoppers stormed back for a 61- ­52 victory.

Nik Parker and Matt Folger paced Weston (5­2) with 15 and 13 points, respectively, but they were quiet in the second half.

"It's simple," Weston coach Mike Hvizdo said. "We played a very good first half and we played a very weak second half. You can't beat good teams not playing a solid four quarters. "

The Trojans' hopes for a late comeback suffered a critical blow when Folger picked up his fifth personal on an offensive foul call 3:33 remaining.

Hvizdo was hit with a technical for arguing the call and Dyshaun Pulliam hit the two free throws to give Central (4­1) a 51­-44 lead.

Pulliam, who scored 16 points, converted 7­of ­9 foul shots in the fourth quarter to help the Hilltoppers put away the victory.

After three games against FCIAC opponents ­­ and four overall ­­ the Trojans are ready for SouthWest Conference play, which begins on Tuesday at Notre Dame of Fairfield.

"They're a good team," Central coach Barry McLeod said. "I saw them play against Stamford (a 64­- 58 loss in the Kuczo tournament) They had a legimate chance to beat Stamford. I was aware they could play. I knew it was going to be a tough game."

Dondre Daniels led Central with 18 points while Marcus Blackwell also chipped in with 16, giving the Hilltoppers a three ­pronged attack.

"We have to play four quarters," Folger said. "We were up 10 at halftime (36­-26) and they ended up beating us by nine. The main thing is we have to play all quarters and play with heart."

With both shooting well in the first quarter ­­ Weston was 7­of­ 11 and Central 7 ­of­ 14 ­­ the contest got off to a fast start as the teams went back and forth.

After six lead changes, Matt Gurman drilled a 3­pointer just before the buzzer to give Weston a 16-­15 lead after after one.

The Trojans began to extend their lead in the second quarter, opening a 31-­20 advantage on Zach Clevenger's deep 3­pointer with 2:58 left in the first half.

McLeod insisted there was nothing unusual about his halftime speech, but the Hilltoppers were a different team in the third quarter.

Their halfcourt trap turned around the game as they outscored Weston 19­3 in the third period and 35­16 overall in the second half.

The Hilltoppers held Weston to one field in the third quarter and just four over the final 16 minutes. "Their big guy (Folger) had foul trouble throughout the game so he wasn't himself, but that's part of the game," McLeod said

"That's been my problem these past couple games," Folger added. "I've had four fouls in the fourth quarter. It's hard."

Clevenger's 3­pointer gave the Trojans a 39­-34 lead with 4:43 left in the third quarter and briefly slowed Central's momentum but the Trojans were blanked for the remainder of the period.

The score stayed at 39­38 for nearly three minutes as Central missed five changes to go ahead, but Pulliam's two free throws finally gave the Hilltoppers the lead at 41-­39 with 1:27 left in the third. "They definitely turned (the defense) up," Hvizdo said. "They're a very experienced program.

"They turned it up and that's why they won. It did get to us, but it's not like we haven't seen it before. We saw it against Westhill (a 51­-50 win) and Stamford. That's what upset me ­­ we've seen it before and we've conquered it."

Weston didn't score from the field in the fourth quarter until Gurman's driving layup with 1:38 remaining.

The Trojans' scoring drought lasted for seven minutes until Hamilton Forsythe hit two free throw with 5:42 remaining.

But the Trojans stayed in the game on the defense end and another two free throws by Hamilton Forsythe pulled the Trojans within 47-­44 with 4:31 remaining.

However, they missed Folger's presence in the middle in the final three minutes.

"We need our best player on the court," Hvizdo said. "If he's not out there, it makes it tough. We need other guys to step up and tonight no one else stepped up."