Before last week, East Hartford hadn’t beaten East Catholic in a while in boys basketball.
The last time was in Dec. 2016, when the Hornets handed the Eagles their only loss of the regular season, 84-73. It was the second time that year East Hartford had beaten East Catholic – the Hornets did it in February the previous season, too.
A decade later, a senior-laden East Hartford team beat East Catholic, 61-59, last Monday.
“(East Catholic coach) Luke (Reilly) has a great system, the kids play hard and they do what they’re supposed to,” East Hartford coach LeRon Gittens said. “This is my third year at the school so we’ve been developing the program and trying to change the culture. Our guys played hard. They were focused. You have to play almost perfect basketball, in a sense, to beat East Catholic because they are so well coached and they’re so disciplined.
“My guys were locked in and played well.”
The clock was winding down and the score was tied when senior De’Mar Moore hit one of two free throws to put East Hartford up by a point. The Hornets got a defensive stop and Zasheem McCoy hit one of two free throws with seven seconds left to put the Hornets up by two. East Catholic had a chance but missed a shot to end the game.
McCoy, who averages 19 ppg and Kehari Walker (17 ppg) are captains and two of the 10 seniors on the team. Five seniors start.
“They give us that leadership we need,” Gittens said. “They score when we need them to score, they do the little things to get guys organized.”
East Hartford (15-3) has two regular season games left this week, against Enfield and Manchester.
Meanwhile, East Catholic used the loss for motivation and finished the week with an overtime win over Bishop Hendriken (R.I.) and knocked Windsor out of the unbeaten ranks with a 75-74 win Friday.
“We had a disappointing game against East Hartford at home, but the bounce back was great and it made Friday that much sweeter,” Reilly said. “Sometimes you have to trade for some learning experiences and cash in on the back end, that’s kind of what happened.”
Windsor (16-1) beat East Catholic 87-71 on Jan. 9. Last week, Joey Montalvo, who had 10 points, hit the winning layup with seven seconds left on the clock.
“Last time I said we weren’t ready to win this game at this time,” Reilly said. “We didn’t have the experience and the time together. I think we were able to tighten up on a few things.”
Some highlights from last week:
Jack Curtis, Ellington: Curtis scored 30 points in a 65-42 win over Xavier Thursday.
Aiden Delaney, Hall: Delaney had 29 points in a 73-72 victory over Northwest Catholic Tuesday.
Tommy Dinunzio, Lewis Mills: Dinunzio had 28 points and 10 rebounds in Lewis Mills’ 62-42 win over Conard Thursday.
Sincere Folk, East Catholic: Folk had 18 points and 11 assists in a 75-75 win over Windsor Friday.
Christian Gaskins, E.O. Smith: Gaskins had a double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds) in an 88-64 win over Manchester Friday.
Syre Gillespie, Capital Prep: Gillespie had 27 points in a 71-53 loss to Aerospace Friday.
Jamaul Padilla, East Catholic: Padilla, a sophomore, had 24 of his 33 points in the first half in a 75-74 win over Windsor Friday and scored 19 points in the loss to East Hartford Monday and 17 in an 81-72 overtime win over Bishop Hendricken (R.I.) Wednesday
EJ Perez, Manchester: Perez scored 26 points in a loss to E.O. Smith Friday.
Tavin Royster, Old Saybrook: Royster scored 27 points in a 55-54 loss to Old Lyme Tuesday.
Alex Weaver, Windsor: Weaver had 27 points and 13 assists in a 106-74 win over Burke High School Saturday and 22 points in a loss to East Catholic Friday.
Games to Watch
Stafford (16-3) at Somers (13-5), Wednesday, 6:45 p.m.: Stafford has won 12 straight and is on top of the Division V standings, with Somers in the No. 3 spot.
Ellington (18-0) at Old Lyme (16-2), Friday, 7 p.m.: The Knights put their unbeaten record on the line against last year’s Division V runners-up.
Granby (16-3) at Haddam-Killingworth (12-5), Friday, 7 p.m.: Granby’s only losses have been to Ellington (twice) and Lakeview while H-K knocked off Cromwell on Feb. 6. after losing to the Panthers earlier in the season.