By David Fierro

Greenwich High School’s boys basketball team held a double-digit lead on St. Joseph for most of the first half and was ahead for the majority of the second half, yet unfortunately for the Cardinals, Cadets senior guard TJ Wright found his shooting form.
Wright scored 18 of his game-high 30 points in the second half, including the 1,000th point of his impressive career, enabling St. Joseph to earn a 70-63 comeback win over host Greenwich in an FCIAC game held on Jan. 8.
The loss dropped Greenwich’s record to 1-5 overall, however, GHS bounced back from the tough loss and defeated Wilton on the road on Jan. 10, 62-53. Therefore, Greenwich’s record currently stands at 2-5 overall and 1-2 in the FCIAC.
Against St. Joseph on Wednesday (Jan. 8), senior guard/captain Matthew Maloney scored a team-high 22 points and junior guard/forward Sandro Scott poured in 21 points for the Cardinals, who despite the loss, showed several positive signs.

“I just talked to the kids about being positive, because they took huge strides from Saturday (a 55-39 loss to Fairfield Ludlowe at New Canaan High School on Jan. 4),” Greenwich coach Bill Brehm said. “From last Saturday to today was leaps and bounds. They played as a team, they executed what we were asking them to do.”
Senior guard/captain Blake Martin totaled 12 points, eight of which came during the first half for Greenwich, which held leads of 18-9, 28-16 and 32-21 on St. Joseph in the first half. The Cardinals also had leads of 39-28 in the third quarter and 54-46 in the fourth.
“The offense didn’t look great against Fairfield Ludlowe and I think we made a lot of steps that will lead to success later on in the season,” said Maloney, who also served as one of the Cards’ soccer team’s captains in the fall. “We don’t have a lot of experienced guys on this team, so we are making good steps toward being a good offensive team.”

Wright scored his 1,000th career point for St. Joseph by making a layup with 4:11 remaining in the fourth quarter, a basket giving the Cadets a 56-54 lead. He made seven 3-pointers for the game on his way to his 30-point game.
Greenwich led St. Joe, 18-11, following the first quarter and went into halftime ahead, 35-28. The score after three quarters of play was 48-42 in favor of the Cardinals. Behind Wright’s stellar shooting, the Cadets outscored the Cardinals 28-15 in the fourth quarter and 42-28 during the second half.
“Credit to St. Joe’s they’ve got some good shooters, he (Wright) got his 1,000th point and hats off to them, they came back and played well in the second half,” Brehm said of St. Joseph. “We just didn’t take care of the ball either, too many turnovers.”

A layup by Maloney, a basket off an offensive rebound by junior center Michael Golden and a layup from Martin gave GHS a 24-14 lead on St. Joseph early in the second quarter. The visitors closed to within 32-28 on a 3-pointer from the corner from Wright and a basket off a putback late in the second quarter. Maloney put the Cards up by seven points at 35-28 when he swished a 3-point in the final minute of the second quarter.
Golden scored four points and led Greenwich on the offensive and defensive backboards. Sophomore guard Tyler added two points and senior guard/captain Guy Germain made a foul shot for a point for the hosts. Maloney, Martin, Ryan Brennan, Germain and senior Oliver Suppo are the Cardinals’ senior captains. Suppo is currently sidelined with a thumb injury and should be back in action late in the season.
Greenwich began the third quarter with four straight points thanks to layups off strong drives from Scott, which capped a 7-0 run, making it 39-28. Another Scott basket put GHS on top, 45-36 late in the third quarter.

Martin drove to the basket and scored, giving Greenwich a 54-46 early in the fourth quarter. Then the Cadets made their move. A 3-pointer by junior guard Lemeik Black, followed by a shot from beyond the arc by Wright tied the score at 54-54. Wright’s layup, giving the Cadets a 56-54 edge at the 4:11 mark of the final quarter gave the visitors the lead for good.
Jermaine Hatchett, a senior guard, scored nine points and junior guard Jayden Febus had 13 points for St. Joseph.
“TJ Wright is a good player and we let him get going and he started draining 3s,” Maloney said.

Said BrehThey’re good shooters, we thought in the first half some of our zone traps went well, we kind of went back to them a little bit, but one or two possessions didn’t win or lose the game.”
Added Maloney: “We are going to carry on to Wilton and put up a good fight against them. They are another good FCIAC team and we want to get a good win.”

Maloney’s words rang true as Greenwich got back on the winning track against Wilton on Jan. 10 with its 62-53 road win.
Greenwich’s next game is Tuesday (Jan. 14) against Bridgeport Central. The Cards will then host New Canaan on Jan. 17.