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03/18/2019 12:00 AMThe Valley Regional boys’ basketball team went on a nice run through the Division V State Tournament that ended with a loss in the semifinals last week. The Warriors rallied for a 58-56 victory versus Nonnewaug in a quarterfinal matchup, before taking a 42-38 defeat against Innovation in the semifinal round. Valley finished its year with an overall record of 18-7.
On March 11, the 5th-seeded Warriors were on the road to face to No. 4 seed Nonnewaug and came away with a thrilling 58-56 win against the Chiefs. After trailing by 17 points by halftime, Valley turned the game around in the second half by using relentless defense to generate to easy offense on its way to the quarterfinal triumph.
Nonnewaug held an 18-11 lead after one and was up 36-19 at halftime. In the third quarter, Valley took a big chunk out of the lead by outscoring the Chiefs 15-6. The Warriors won the fourth quarter by a 24-14 margin to complete their comeback and seal the victory.
“I think our biggest break was in the third quarter. It was big to get the kids to believe, and we got it back to eight after the third,” Head Coach Kevin Woods said. “It was a nice thing for us. We had to get it done with our defense. We held them to six points in the third quarter.”
Valley ran into some foul trouble early, leading to senior captain Kevin Fasulo and juniors Cade Ensinger and Chris Sparaco having to come out of the game in the first half. Coach Woods made the call to bring all three players back in and allow them to play through it—and his decision paid off.
“We were in a bit of foul trouble. Kevin, Chris, and Cade had to spend time on the bench, each of them with two fouls,” said Woods. “Then I made the decision to put them back in, and they didn’t pick up any more before halftime. We got to the second half without any of those guys having three fouls.”
Junior Gavin Grabowski had a heavy hand in the victory by scoring 19 points to go with five rebounds and three steals on the night. Ensinger recorded a double-double the hard way by grabbing 10 steals and dishing out 10 assists. Sparaco had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, as did Fasulo, who scored 13 points and had 10 boards.
Grabowski and Ensinger both made the All-Shoreline Conference Second Team this year. Fasulo capped off his career by earning All-Conference Honorable Mention in his senior season.
“Kevin Fasulo really hit big shots when we need him to, especially against Nonnewaug. He hit big shots against Innovation, too. He was able to answer the punch in both games,” Coach Woods said. “We are really going to miss him. Not just as a player, but mentally. He never quits. Hopefully, he’s passed that down to the other guys. We’ll look back to him as one of the toughest guys to come through our program.”
Two days later, the Warriors went up against No. 1 seed Innovation in the Division V semis and ended up on the other end of a narrow decision by dropping a 42-38 contest at Bulkeley High School. Once again, Valley hung its hat on its defense and mounted a second-half push, but came up a few points shy of advancing to the final.
Coach Woods said that Valley played an outstanding game against Innovation, which went on to defeat Old Lyme for the Division V title. The Warriors held the Ravens to just 42 points, marking the lowest total they scored by far in any of their state tourney games.
“We had the lead down to two on numerous occasions. We missed a few shots that we probably should have made. We played great defense,” Woods said. “We made their offense look not as good, and that came down to our defensive effort. There are no moral victories in the tournament. Unfortunately, the ball didn’t bounce our way that game.”
Sparaco scored 10 points for Valley Regional in the defeat. Grabowski had nine points, Ensinger scored eight points, and Jake Grow added seven points.
Looking ahead to next year, Coach Woods feels encouraged by the number of players who will be returning to the team. Woods believes that his athletes received some key postseason experience that will hopefully help the Warriors make it even further in 2020.
“We had a great year, but now we have our eyes set on next season. We have high goals with Valley basketball. We have so many of these guys coming back next year,” said Woods. “You never know what hand you’ll be dealt or how you’re going to play on an individual night. Regardless, we are going out to find the best available teams to play. We want to be tournament ready, not regular-season happy.”
From the Sidelines
The Valley Regional boys’ basketball team’s varsity roster features senior captain Kevin Fasulo, senior Jason Montecalvo; juniors JT Dickson, Cade Ensinger, Gavin Grabowski, Jake Grow, Drew Kelly, Macklin Miezejeski, Brian Rankin, Ryan Shasha, Chris Sparaco, Dylan Sparaco, and John Tibbets; and sophomores Cameron Ruel, Marcus Santamaria, and Keenan Pindar.
Head Coach Kevin Woods’s coaching staff included assistant coaches Anthony Pagano, Brad Pitman, and Lou Rolon, JV coach Scott Harger, and freshman coach Bobby Sanchez.
In the regular season, the Warriors earned two victories over Morgan (57-51 and 43-41), Coginchaug (53-38 and 42-41), North Branford (91-64 and 77-42), and Haddam-Killingworth (54-31 and 75-45) to go with one win apiece versus Old Saybrook (54-41), East Hampton (51-41), Windham (62-56), Hale-Ray (46-33), Portland (72-53), Westbrook (51-23), and Rockville (49-48).
Valley also took two defeats against Cromwell (70-56 and 42-36), along losses to Old Lyme (59-50), Old Saybrook (88-79), and Amistad (69-50) during the regular season.
In the Shoreline Conference Tournament, No. 3 seed Valley Regional notched a 47-25 win over East Hampton in the quarterfinals and then took a 66-47 defeat against Old Lyme in the semis.
Earlier in the Division V State Tournament, the 5th-seeded Warriors earned a first-round bye before defeating 12th-seeded Kaynor Tech by a 55-49 final in the second round.