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02/18/2017 11:00 PMOne week after collecting his 300th victory as the head coach of the Branford boys’ basketball team, Jake Palluzzi announced that he will that he will step down from that position when the Hornets’ season is finished.
Palluzzi is in his 29th year as Branford’s head coach and earned win No. 300 with the program when the Hornets beat Foran on Feb. 7. Then on Feb. 13, Branford defeated East Haven to qualify for the postseason. A few days later, Palluzzi announced that the 2016-’17 campaign would be his last one as the Hornets’ head coach. He will remain Branford’s co-athletic director with Sav Synodi at the high school.
Palluzzi said there were “a lot of variables” that came with his decision. At the end of the day, he just wants to spend more time with his family. Palluzzi’s son Jake is a basketball player, his daughter Tess is a freshman on the dance team at the University of Cincinnati, and his other daughter Emma is a junior at Temple University.
“My son is playing [travel basketball] and doing a lot of moving around and I don’t want to miss any of his action. For 33 years I’ve been a head coach and so it’s been a long road and a lot of sacrifices for my family. I have two girls in college with one at Temple and the other at Cincinnati and I want to see them in the wintertime, if possible. I don’t want to miss my kids’ games. It’s important to see that,” said Palluzzi, who was also North Branford’s head coach for four years and has 347 victories between the two schools. “I’ve been doing this for 33 years and not many of us hang around that long anymore. It’s a lot of wear and tear on your body and your family and it’s time for me to move on.”
Prior to Palluzzi’s announcement, Branford qualified for the SCC and Class L State tournaments by edging East Haven 53-51 at home. The Hornets trailed 26-24 at halftime, but outscored the Yellowjackets 11-3 in the third quarter to bring a 35-29 lead into the fourth, and then held on for the two-point victory. Jake Sullivan had a big game by scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Sam Roach went 10-for-10 at the free throw line en route to scoring 14 points and he also had nine rebounds. Trevor Brown scored nine and Damien Maniscalco added seven points for the Hornets.
Coach Palluzzi was proud of his team for making states while navigating a difficult schedule this season. He felt especially happy for his team’s three seniors, who are Sullivan, Brown, and Ryan Sember.
“It means a great deal to the program and the seniors who have been here. It’s good for them to go out on a really good note and I was happy for them to get it done,” said Palluzzi. “They work really hard and stayed the course with the toughness of this schedule. We play mostly [Class LL] schools and were in those games most of the time, so it’s significant for us to make it and I’m happy for the kids that they get to play in both tournaments.”
Three nights later, Branford blew out Quinnipiac Division opponent Law 75-53 in a home game. The Hornets broke open a close contest by outscoring Law 27-9 in the second quarter. It was another huge night for Sullivan, who put up 26 points to go with 10 boards, six assists, three blocks, and two steals. Maniscalco also tore it up by pouring home 22 points. Roach scored six, had eight rebounds, and handed out five assists. Brown netted 11 points and Jordan Donnelly added six in the victory. Branford went 4-4 in its first season in the Housatonic Division.
Then on Feb. 17, Branford closed the regular season by taking a 41-37 home loss against North Haven on Senior Night. Sullivan scored 18 points for the Hornets (9-11), who open play in the SCC Tournament on Thursday, Feb. 23 and would need to win three games to make the final, which takes place at Quinnipiac University at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1.