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02/02/2019 11:00 PMThe East Haven boys’ basketball team notched a pair of redemption victories on its home floor last week and now stands with a record of 6-9 with four games left in the regular season. The Yellowjackets topped Law 57-49 on Jan. 28 and then earned a 57-52 9victory versus Hand on Feb. 1, defeating two squads that they had lost to earlier in the year.
Head Coach Ricky Narracci was thrilled that the Easties picked up these two crucial wins, and he thinks they are playing some solid basketball right now. East Haven needs two victories to qualify for the Division IV State Tournament.
“It was a huge week. We’ve been playing our best basketball for the last 2 ½ weeks now. Even in some of our losses against Career and Fairfield Prep, I thought we played very well,” Narracci said. “Certainly, to knock off Law, who has been a good team; and then to beat Hand, who beat us by 22 at their place five weeks ago, shows we’re going in the right direction.”
The Yellowjackets were facing a 24-21 halftime deficit when they took on Law, but then outscored the Lawmen 36-25 during the second half to come away with the victory. East Haven had previously taken a 72-50 defeat at Law on Jan. 7 in a game that saw junior Dionate Eady score 31 points on the Yellowjackets. In the rematch, East Haven held Eady scoreless on its way to beating a team that entered the game with a 12-2 record.
Senior captain Nate Furino had 17 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead East Haven in its come-from-behind win. Fellow seniors Joe Brown and Hunter Santana scored 11 and 10 points, respectively. Junior Alias Ford scored 11, and sophomore Ian Reynolds added eight points.
Coming off its big win, East Haven faced a Hand team that had defeated the Yellowjackets 66-44 on Jan. 15. In this one, East Haven brought a 26-22 lead into halftime, but the Tigers stayed close throughout the second half. With about two minutes to go, East Haven was up 54-52. The Yellowjackets passed the ball around the perimeter and took the clock down to 33 seconds, when Hand fouled senior captain Jason Giaparda, sending him to the line. Giaparda made one of his two free throws to make it 55-52. Hand missed a shot on its next possession and then sent Giaparda to the line again with 14 seconds to go. Giaparda missed the front end of the 1-and-1, giving Hand a chance. However, Giaparda’s miss was rebounded by Furino, who was fouled and then connected on two free throws the put the game out of reach with a five-point lead.
Furino netted a game-high 19 points for East Haven. Reynolds had 12 points, Santana scored nine, and Ford added seven points in the win.
“Nate has been outstanding this year and really has been carrying the load on the boards, but now we’re getting other contributions,” Coach Narracci said. “Joe Brown has played outstanding the last two weeks, and Ian started cold, but hit big shots in the second half. Really, we’re getting contributions from everybody.”
Narracci complimented Ford for playing a spectacular game against Hand. Narracci said that Ford’s ability to get into the lane created great chances all over the court for East Haven.
“Alais Ford played his best game of the year. He is so super quick and strong. He doesn’t have a problem getting by people,” said Narracci. “We want him to slow down sometimes and be able to make better decisions, but he’s certainly athletic enough to get by anyone with his quickness.”
As his team hunts down a spot in the playoffs, Coach Narracci said the Easties are playing with high spirits after avenging their previous defeats against Law and Hand by beating those teams last week.
“Coming around the second time, this is two teams we got beat pretty good by at their place,” Narracci said. “Now, the second half of the season, we beat them at our place. So, we’re happy with that.”
On Feb. 2, East Haven took an 85-33 defeat at Notre Dame-West Haven.