Sports

New Canaan’s Chandonnet Headed for the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tourney

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Former New Canaan Rams basketball player Claude Chandonnet is headed to the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament. The 2015 NCHS grad and Rams captain is a freshman shooting guard for the Denison University Big Red, who stunned the D-3 basketball world this past weekend by defeating perennial conference powerhouses Wittenberg, Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster to win the North Coast Athletic Conference title for an automatic qualifier in the NCAA’s. “At the start of the season we had meetings every week talking about what we were fighting for and what we wanted to leave for the season,” Chandonnet told NewCanaanite.com. “When the season started we decided we wanted to leave a legacy.”

And what a legacy it was. After and up-and-down regular season that saw the Big Red go 14-11, Denison pulled off an 81-75 win over Wittenberg in the quarterfinals before matching up against Ohio Wesleyan, the top seed in the NCAC and the No.

Sports

Senior Night: New Canaan Boys Basketball to Take on St. Joe’s in Home Finale

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Although the New Canaan Rams were eliminated from qualifying for a spot in the boys basketball state playoffs ten days ago, they did not go down quietly. The Rams lost a tough 61-60 decision in overtime to a Wilton team ranked among the top in the FCIAC. Propelled by that game, the Rams—now playing with nothing to lose—snapped an 8-game losing streak and reeled off consecutive wins for the first time since December, defeating Trinity Catholic 71-57 and Darien 54-47. Not surprisingly, the players leading the Rams turnaround were seniors Claude Chandonnet and Paul Hagopian, who—along with fellow co-captain Carsten Berger—will be playing their final home game in a Rams uniform Monday as New Canaan (5-13 overall, 3-14-FCIAC) tries to make it three in a row against St. Joseph (3-15, 2-14).

Sports

Greenwich Holds Off New Canaan Boys Basketball

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Conor Harkins scored 24 points, including 15 in the 1st quarter to lead the Greenwich Cardinals boys basketball team to a 63-58 win over New Canaan. With the loss, the Rams (3-12, 1-12 in the FCIAC) now need to win all five of their remaining games to qualify for the state tournament, while the Cardinals improved to 5-10 and 4-9 in conference play. “It was a great win,” Greenwich head coach Pat Heaton said. “It’s our first two-game win streak so the kids are excited about that. It shows that the kids are better as the season goes on.”

Harkins put on a show soon after the opening tipoff.

News

New Canaan Boys Basketball Falls to Westhill

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Facing an FCIAC powerhouse for the second consecutive game, New Canaan Rams head coach Mike Evans knew his team would have to be nothing short of perfect in order to pull off an upset over the Westhill Vikings in front of a home crowd on Tuesday night. Unfortunately for New Canaan, the Rams were less than perfect. Despite a breakout offensive performance from sophomore Tyler Sweeney who led all scorers with 26 points, the Rams couldn’t overcome turnovers and missed opportunities as they fell to the Vikings 69-52. “There are games on paper that we should win, and games on paper that we shouldn’t win,” Evans said. “The games that you shouldn’t win on paper, you can’t make any mistakes, almost zero.

Sports

NewCanaanite.com Athletes of the Week: Claude Chandonnet and Catherine Granito

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The NewCanaanite.com Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Baskin-Robbins, Connecticut Sandwich Co., Joe’s Pizza and Mackenzie’s. Congratulations to Claude Chandonnet and Catherine Granito, NewCanaanite.com Athletes of the Week. After dropping its first three games of the season, the New Canaan Rams boys basketball team reeled off two wins in a row to win the Cowboy Classic Tournament last week. Chandonnet led the Rams in scoring in both contests, netting 19 points in a 53-44 semifinal win over Litchfield and 15 against Cromwell in the championship game, which the Rams won 38-24. Head coach Mike Evans will look to his senior co-captain to keep the Rams’ winning streak alive against a tough 5-0 Norwalk squad this Friday night at New Canaan High School.