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Greenwich Boys Rebound With Big Win Over Fairfield Warde

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Greenwich High School's Patrick McTiernan looks to find an open teammate during Monday night's game against Fairfield Warde High School. (Paul Silverfarb photo)
Greenwich High School’s Patrick McTiernan looks to find an open teammate during Monday night’s game against Fairfield Warde High School. (Paul Silverfarb photo)

To say that the Greenwich High School boys’ basketball team was hungry for Monday’s game against Fairfield Warde is an understatement.

After a disappointing loss to Norwalk a game prior and knowing that time is winding down on a possible playoff runs, the Cards found their rhythm in the second half against the Mustangs Monday night and came away with the 70-64 victory.

“The kids bounced back from a disappointing game on Friday,” Greenwich High head coach Pat Heaton said. “They were 5-3 in the FCIACs and now we are 5-3, so this keeps us in the hunt. We needed this victory as a team to help us believe in what we are doing. We have a few road games this week, so it was nice to get the victory tonight and get the momentum going to the next game.”

After scoring only five points in the first half, Conor Harkins exploded for 14 points the reset of the way, 10 of those in the final quarter, to finish with 19.

“It was a great victory,” Harkins said. “Fairfield is obviously a great team and we are coming off a disappointing and tough loss Friday against Norwalk. We are just hungry and it felt good to get the victory. I just tried to keep shooting and finding shots. Coach thankfully gives me the green light and I was looking for my shots a little more in the second half. I started to take it to the hole a little more.”

Greenwich High's Conor Harkins drives the lane during Monday's game against Fairfield Warde. (Paul Silverfarb photo)
Greenwich High’s Conor Harkins drives the lane during Monday’s game against Fairfield Warde. (Paul Silverfarb photo)

Not to be outdone was Robert Clark, who added 16 points including three consecutive three-pointers. Kieran Carroll contributed with 14 points, while Quinlin Carroll and Connor Langan each netted six points.

“Conor was a little off in the first half, but he was clutch down the stretch,” Heaton said. “The fourth quarter he really pulled us out of the game. Robert Clark also had a nice game and kept us in there before that.”

For Fairfield Warde, Giacomo Brancato was not to be denied and led the Mustangs with 16 points. Marcel Parsons grabbed 14 points and J.J. Conway pitched in with 11 points. Antonio Brancato took home 10 points and Chris Smaldone netted seven.

Trailing by six, 36-30 to start the second quarter, Big Red used its solid inside presence with Carroll and had Clark draining a key three-pointer that gave GHS the lead. The defense stepped up its game, clogging the paint and not giving the Mustangs any good looks at the basket.

The result was a 19-10 advantage for Greenwich and the 49-46 lead heading into the fourth.

“The first half we didn’t get back on defense and gave up transition points,” Heaton said. “In the third quarter we eliminated their second chance points and transition points. And that equaled a six-point win for us.”

With the victory, Greenwich upped its overall record to 7-4 overall and 5-3 in the FCIAC. For the Cardinals that means one more victory is all that’s needed to return to the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference class LL playoffs.

“We are playing as a team,” Heaton said. “We have 15 guys and the guys on the bench are supportive of the guys playing and the guys playing are supportive of the guys on the bench. Everybody is picking each other up. We obviously have a great player in Conor Harkins, but we have a few other good players that are stepping up as well.”

In order to be successful the rest of the way, Heaton said that his team needs to be more consistent in the half-court offense.

“We also need to make better decisions down the stretch,” Heaton said. “We made a couple of silly decisions in the fourth quarter and luckily tonight it didn’t hurt us. With a four-point lead we are shooting without passing the ball and that is not acceptable.”

Greenwich’s victory was much-needed, as they were able to rebound nicely from a tough loss to Norwalk High School last Friday. In that game, Big Red was in the lead throughout much of the contest, but a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter propelled the Bears to the 70-59 victory.

“The Fairfield win was huge for us,” Harkins said. “You look at the FCIAC standings and everybody is bunched up from that sixth to 12th spot. To get a win over that caliber of a team is awesome. It’s really big.”

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