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03/12/2014 12:00 AMThe Shoreline Conference title was the Valley boys' basketball team's to defend, but it just wasn't meant to be this year. After beating Old Saybrook in the quarterfinals, Valley lost to top-seeded and eventual champion Cromwell 63-59 on March 3 in the semis on Cromwell's court.
"I was proud of our efforts. I told the guys before the game that it's our title to defend and someone will have to take it away from us and Cromwell took it," said Coach Kevin Woods. "I thought we were the two best teams in the league, but we're inconsistent. Some of that is our youth. We played championship-caliber basketball, but with mistakes, as well as you play, those mistakes can be costly and they were tonight."
The Panthers took a 15-12 lead after the first quarter and led 33-28 at the half. Valley missed a free throw as the second quarter came to a close and Cromwell ended up with a huge putback with two seconds to go to give it that much more momentum going into halftime.
The third quarter proved to be huge for both teams. Cromwell out-rebounded the Warriors in the third and had the momentum on its side. The Panthers held a 51-42 advantage after three quarters.
"They came out after halftime and had that momentum. If we had gotten those rebounds, maybe the game could've gone in our favor," said Woods. "As well as we played, one or two plays can make a difference. We pretty much had to play perfect basketball to beat a team like this."
In the fourth quarter, Evan Smith helped the Warriors go on an 11-1 run to start the quarter and they tied the game 53-53-the closest they got to taking the lead. Valley was down 61-59 with 29 seconds to go and had an opportunity to tie the game or take the lead, but a Chris Jean-Pierre three-pointer got tipped and didn't reach the basket and Cromwell ended up with the victory.
"Both of these teams knew each other very well," said Woods, whose squad beat Cromwell by three points early in the regular season and then lost 73-52 toward the end. "They had balanced scoring and we weren't as balanced as them."
Jean-Pierre had a strong night, scoring 31 points and bringing down 11 rebounds. Bradbury was held off offensively and didn't score until the fourth, when he notched nine points. Peter Barry also added nine.
"We were in their shoes last year-they have everyone back this year and are loaded with seniors. They persevered at the end because they've been there before," said Woods. "Could we have cleaned up some mistakes? Sure. But we played really well. We were just two very even teams. They have all that experience and that really helps. We just had a couple of mistakes here and there that turned out to be the game. You have to play that much better when you play a team as good as Cromwell."
The Warriors began state tournament play on March 10 in the first round and entered the Class S Tournament as the No. 8 seed. If they beat 25th-seeded Bolton in the first round, they played either Windsor Locks or Parish Hill in the second round on March 12 and, with a victory there, would play in the quarterfinals on Friday, March 14.