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02/03/2017 11:00 PMAfter starting off the year 5-0, the Guilford boys’ basketball team recently went through a three-game losing streak in which one of its key players suffered a season-ending injury. However, instead of wavering, the Indians stood tall in the face of adversity, snapped the small slide, and earned a postseason berth.
Between Jan. 11 and 18, Guilford took defeats versus formidable SCC adversaries Fairfield Prep, Sheehan, and Xavier. Making matters worse was the fact that junior guard Josh Krause tore his ACL in the game against Prep. Still, the Indians didn’t sulk or look to make excuses. To the contrary, they promptly rattled off five straight victories against Cheshire, East Haven, Masuk, Law, and Lyman Hall, clinching their spot in the State Tournament with the Masuk win on Jan. 26. In last week’s action, Guilford beat Lyman Hall by a 66-53 final at home on Jan. 30, dropped a 59-55 decision in a rematch at Prep on Feb. 1, and then exacted revenge against Sheehan on Feb. 3 by recording a 74-61 victory to move to 11-4 overall. This year marks the fourth time in the last five seasons that Head Coach Jeff DeMaio’s squad has qualified for states.
“It’s a goal of ours to always make it to states and to do it on a regular basis with it now being four out of the last five years is satisfying. It’s always great when you can set and attain a goal,” said Coach DeMaio. “We also did it in 11 games, which is great. But we now hope to pad our win total and I think we can get there.”
Against Masuk, senior Jordan Krause scored 16 points and junior Noah Rubino tallied 11. Krause then netted 20 points versus Law, while junior Matt Donlan added a career-high 18 points. Facing Lyman Hall, junior Sam Dombroski collected 11 points, plus Rubino and junior Sam Inchalik scored 10 apiece. In the Prep, Rubino scored 16 points, Krause had 14, Dombroski scored 12, and sophomore Ian Slattery had nine points for the Indians.
In terms of Guilford’s statistical leaders for the season, Krause is averaging 18.2 points, 3.4 assists, and 1.8 steals a night, Rubino averages 15.5 points and 10.7 boards, and Dombroski owns a average of 10.8 points with 7.1 rebounds.
Coach DeMaio knows that experience is serving as a key component to Guilford’s success this season. The Indians feature a roster that has six seniors, along with three juniors who started varsity as sophomores last winter.
“Whenever you can get sophomores some varsity experience, it serves you well. We did lose Josh to the torn ACL, but we have a bunch of juniors that are now even more seasoned with Sam Dombroski, Sam Inchalik, Matt Donlan, and Noah Rubino,” said DeMaio. “We are also thankful for the senior leadership we have. It all adds up to a formula for success.”
From a defensive standpoint, the Indians have curbed their points allowed since the three-game skid by staying dedicated to playing in desperation mode, while constantly binding themselves to the boards.
“We’ve been making a concentrated effort in practice towards being desperate on defense,” DeMaio said. “We want to play desperate and finish plays, while also rebounding the ball and limiting opponents to one shot.”
Looking at the rest of the regular season, the Indians are aiming to earn the best seed they can for states, along with completing season sweeps of Cheshire and Hand. Those two games take place in the middle of a stretch of five consecutive road games to close out the schedule.
“I’ve always felt that after you go through the first cycle of teams, you want to beat the teams you already beat that first time and then turn the tables the second time against those that defeated you,” said DeMaio. “We have six out of our last eight games on the road, including five straight on the road. It won’t be easy, but we hope to finish strong.”
From the Sidelines
Last season, the Indians were 6-9 through 15 games and didn’t qualify for the State Tournament until their 18th contest. This year, Guilford made states in its 11th game.
The Indians allowed 71.6 points per game during their recent three-game losing streak. In its subsequent five matchups, Guilford only allowed 50.4 points per game.
The Indians close the regular season with consecutive non-conference road contests. Guilford plays at Platt Tech on Tuesday, Feb. 14 and then has a game at Amistad on Friday, Feb. 17 with both games tipping off at 7 p.m.