Printer Friendly Version - Guilford Boys’ Hoops Sweeps Week with Three Victories; Wrestling Wins Big Against Hand

Junior Jake Ciocca and the Guilford boys’ basketball team enjoyed another nice week on the court that saw the Indians win all three of their games. Ciocca scored 11 points when Guilford blew out Branford to kick off the week. File photo by Susan Lambert/The Courier

Guilford had another busy stretch with three games on the slate last week. The Indians came away with victories in all three of those games to raise their record to 6-6 on the campaign.

Guilford earned a 73-49 home victory over Branford in an SCC Quinnipiac Division contest on Jan. 28. Senior Brayden Santa Barbara scored 19 points to lead the Indians to the victory. Senior John Petonito scored 14 points, fellow senior Chris Cahill had 12 points, and junior Jeff Ciocca added 11 points for the Indians, who connected on 12 shots from 3-point land in the win.

Then on Jan. 30, Guilford hosted non-conference opponent Abbott Tech and defeated the Wolverines by a 54-40 final. Junior Jackson Tandler netted 15 points for Guilford in the win. Senior Brayden Santa Barbara scored 13 points, and Cahill had 12 points.

The very next day, Guilford claimed a 59-49 victory at divisional opponent Amity to improve to 3-1 in the Quinnipiac. Cahill had a big game by netting 30 points for the Indians. Petonito also filled up the scoring column with 24 points on the night.

The Indians earned a split while playing a pair of divisional opponents on the road last week. Guilford claimed a win against West Haven and then lost to Sheehan to move to 4-10 overall with a record of 2-3 in the SCC Housatonic Division.

On Jan. 28, Guilford traveled to West Haven and defeated the Blue Devils by the final score of 54-45. Three days later, the Indians took a 36-32 defeat at Sheehan in another divisional contest.

Guilford hosted crosstown rival Hand for an SCC showdown on Jan. 29. The Indians defeated the Tigers by the final score of 54-12 to improve to 16-2 on the year.

Senior Mohammad Halabi prevailed by pinfall just 29 seconds into his bout in the 106-pound weight class for Guilford. Senior captain Anthony Bomgardner won his match in the 126-pound weight class at the 1:29 mark. Junior Robert Masotti earned a 6-4 win via decision in his 152-pound bout, while sophomore Brent Strand won via a 5-1 decision at 160 pounds. Sophomore Christopher Murphy won by way of pinfall only 51 seconds into his 182-pound clash.

Freshman Ella Esposito took second place in the all-around while representing Guilford gymnastics in a meet at Foran High School last week. Esposito competed on behalf of the Indians as a team-of-one during the Hand gymnastics squad’s meet against Foran on Jan. 30.

Esposito posted an all-around score of 31.55 to finish in second place at the meet. She came in second pace for the beam with a score of 8.25, finished third for the floor exercise with an 8.1, and took third place on bars by scoring a 7.6.

Guilford split a pair of games last week and now has a record of 5-6-1 this winter. The Indians defeated the Eastern CT Eagles and then lost to Hand in recent action.

On Jan. 28, Guilford posted a 2-0 shutout versus the Eastern CT Eagles in a non-conference home game at Patsy DiLungo Ice Rink. Senior Jack Dacey scored a goal at the 7:44 mark of the first period to give the Indians a 1-0 lead. Guilford held on to its one-goal edge throughout the game and sealed the victory with Dacey scored an empty-netter with less than a minute to play in the game. Sophomore goalie Gavin Litvyn earned his first career shutout between the pipes for the Indians. Three days later, the Indians took a 4-1 road loss against Hand in an SCC/SWC Division II matchup at Northford Ice Pavilion. Guilford moved to 2-2-1 in the division with the defeat.

During the previous week’s action, Guilford earned a 6-3 road win versus Watertown-Pomperaug in a conference game. Dacey had four goals with two assists, senior EJ Vickerman scored a goal, and freshman defenseman Shane Considine netted his first career goal for the Indians in the win. Litvyn stopped 23 shots in goal for Guilford.

The Indians were on the road to face SCC opponent Masuk-Barlow-Newtown-Lauralton Hall-Shelton on Jan. 31. Guilford claimed a 6-3 victory at the Sports Center of Connecticut to raise their overall record to 6-3 on the year. The Indians also improved to 4-2 in SCC action with the win.

The Greater New Haven Warriors boys’ swimming and diving team had the week off in terms of competitions last week. The Warriors, who have a record of 3-2, will take on West Haven-Platt Tech for a meet at West Haven High School on Friday, Feb. 7. Then on Monday, Jan. 10, the Warriors will face Foran-Law at Foran High School. Both meets begin at 4 p.m.

Freshman Ella Esposito earned second place in the all-around while competing on behalf of Guilford gymnastics in a meet at Foran on Jan. 30. File photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier