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01/28/2017 11:00 PMThe Valley Regional boys’ basketball team was at home for two games against Westbrook and East Lyme last week and dropped both contests to move to 5-8 on the year. The Warriors took a 62-51 loss to Westbrook on Jan. 26 and were right back out there the following night to face East Lyme, which defeated Valley 63-49.
Although his team didn’t pick up a win against either opponent, Warriors’ Head Coach Kevin Woods said that it certainly wasn’t due to a lack of trying. Woods’s club now needs to win three of its last seven regular season games to make states.
“We did enough energy wise and we did enough defensively. We just made some mistakes that we’ve kind of been making all year: couple of missed layups, couple of forced possessions, and we didn’t commit to boxing out,” said Woods after the East Lyme game. “When we box out, we’re a good rebounding team. When we don’t box out, we’re not big enough to get away with it. Those were key possessions that cost us.”
The Warriors started last week by tipping off against Shoreline Conference foe Westbrook, which entered the matchup at 8-1 and on a seven-game win streak. The Knights came out strong in the first quarter and outscored Valley 15-10. Westbrook didn’t let up in the second, outscoring the Warriors 15-9 to take an 11-point advantage to halftime. Westbrook won the third quarter 14-11 and Valley outpaced the Knights 21-18 in the fourth, but the deficit proved too much to overcome.
Colin Sparaco led the scoring charge for Valley Regional with 14 points. The junior captain worked both ends of the floor by pulling down eight rebounds and grabbing two steals. Fellow junior Ben Weinstein helped out on the boards as he corralled a team-best 10 rebounds. Brian Tonks, also a junior, poured in 10 points for the Warriors, while captain Jordan Moran and fellow senior Ryan Kelly rounded out the scoring attack with nine and seven points, respectively.
Just 24 hours later, Valley matched up against non-conference squad East Lyme, which came in owning an 8-4 record. The Warriors drew first blood on one of five three-pointers by Sparaco, who again led the way offensively by scoring 20 points. Valley looked to be in control early and held a 9-4 lead with 2:30 to play in the first, but East Lyme came back with a 7-0 run to gain an 11-9 lead with a minute left. Following a flurry of back-and-forth transition baskets, the first period ended in a 13-13 tie.
The game started getting away from the Warriors a bit in the second quarter as a turnover led to an open three-pointer from the Vikings for a seven-point advantage. After a quick timeout by Coach Woods, the Warriors came out moving the ball around the perimeter to get Sparaco another good look behind the three-point arc. Sparaco nailed the trey to cut the deficit to 25-21. East Lyme then lost control of the ball coming into its half-court offense, leading to another three-pointer by Sparaco that made it 25-24. Unfortunately for Valley, that was the closest it would get for the rest of the game, and the second quarter ended with East Lyme up 34-29.
Even though the Warriors weren’t able to climb all the way back, they stayed in the game through the final quarter. Valley was only down by seven heading into the fourth and continued playing hard, but East Lyme hit its free throws down the stretch, and outscored the Warriors 16-9 to come away with the 63-49 victory.
Sparaco had another great scoring night by shooting 7-of-14, including a 5-of-9 performance from three-point land, while bringing down eight rebounds. Moran added 10 points, plus Tonks scored six to go with a block.
Despite the outcome, Coach Woods was pleased with the fight his team showed as the Warriors never quit, even when facing a deficit.
“We’re young, but we have great resolve—no doubt about that,” said Woods. “We may not always be the best executing team. Some of that can be to youth, some of that is attention to detail. But one thing no one can take away from these guys is that they play hard all the time.”
After losing its last two, Valley has some work to do in order to return to the playoffs. The Warriors have seven regular season games remaining and each one presents an opportunity for them to get a much-needed win and inch closer to a postseason berth. It night not be easy for the Warriors during the final stretch, but they’ve been in this situation before. Valley was also 5-9 at this point last year, yet still clawed its way back to get the eight wins they needed to reach the Shoreline Conference and State tournaments. While getting to the postseason is always a goal for Coach Woods, he knows that it’s about more than just qualifying.
“We don’t just want to get to the playoffs. We want to win in the playoffs. The key is getting there,” he said. “With a young team like this, if we get hot, we’re dangerous for anybody. I don’t think a lot of teams are going to be lining up to play Valley Regional, especially as an early matchup.”
Coach Woods and his Warriors were back on the court on Jan. 31 (after press time), when they faced Creed on the road. Next up, Valley has games against Ledyard, Haddam-Killingworth, Morgan, Cromwell, North Branford, and Coginchaug.
“It’s like anything else. We’re not going to do anything by talking about it. It’s what we do in the gym the next couple of days,” Coach Woods. “We have [Jan. 29 and 30] to practice, then get after it. We’ll see the results in [the game against Creed].”