Sports

Danbury Tops New Canaan Boys Basketball 63-43

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A 63-43 home loss to Danbury was certainly not the way New Canaan head coach Mike Evans wanted to send out his four seniors—Jack Havard, Kyle Smith, Sam Larson and Brian MacCalla. That being said, as has been the case for much of the 2015-16 season, there were positives aplenty that—although they didn’t contribute to a win—were minor victories in and of themselves. “The seniors have always been vocal leaders,” Evans told NewCanaanite.com. “Tonight they got to showcase it physically.”

MacCalla gave New Canaan (4-15, 3-12 FCIAC) quality minutes running the point while Larson had a solid night for the Rams, scoring five points and doing an admirable job working in the paint against a physical and athletic Danbury (17-2, 14-1 FCIAC) squad. And in what was probably New Canaan’s best feel-good moment of the game, Havard nailed a deep three-point basket—something the senior co-captain worked on the entire offseason.

Sports

New Canaan Boys Basketball Falls to Wilton 62-47

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From convincing to confounding. Just two days removed from a nearly flawless blowout win over Bridgeport Central, the New Canaan Rams dug themselves into an early hole Wednesday night at Wilton’s Zeoli Field House, ultimately falling to the Warriors 62-47. New Canaan (4-14, 3-11 FCIAC) couldn’t get things going offensively in the early going, trailing 14-4 after one quarter and 29-12 at the half.  Wilton built a 20 point lead early in the second half, as the Warriors completely out-worked the Rams on the offensive glass, leading to multiple second-chance scores. The Rams fought back, eventually pulling to within 49-41 with just under 4 minutes left to play in the fourth. Wilton, however, reeled off an 8-1 run to put the game away, earning a huge win in terms of FCIAC post-season positioning and foiling New Canaan’s hopes of playing spoiler.

Around Town

New Canaan Boys Basketball Routs Bridgeport Central 80-34

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With a winter weather warning forecast for the area Monday night, tipoff for the New Canaan-Bridgeport Central boys basketball game was changed twice, moving from 7 p.m. to 4, then ultimately to 2:30. By the time the game ended, the Hilltoppers were probably wishing it had been cancelled altogether. In perhaps their most impressive performance in years the Rams blew out Central 80-34 in front of a shell-shocked home crowd, unused to such domination in recent memory. “I’ve never seen that in my time here,” New Canaan head coach Mike Evans told NewCanaanite.com. “With the last three games against all against legitimate opponents [Wilton, Danbury and Greenwich], this is the best way it could have gone.”

For New Canaan (4-13, 3-10 FCIAC) the scoring output was the highest non-OT total since March 3rd, 2008 when a great Will Hanley-led squad knocked off East Lyme 92-42 in the first round of the Class L playoffs.

Sports

New Canaan Rams Boys Basketball Edges Staples 57-55

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For a few moments on Tuesday night it looked like it would be the same old story for the New Canaan Rams boys basketball team. After watching a big first half lead dissipate and eventually turn into a late fourth quarter deficit, the Rams seemed destined to go down to yet another heartbreaking loss. Instead, the Rams found a way to turn the tables—and their fortune—completely around. Sophomore Nick Crovatto’s driving layup with less than 8 seconds to play broke a 55-55 tie as the Rams defeated Staples 57-55 at New Canaan High School. The win avenged a 48-23 December loss to the Wreckers and was the first for New Canaan (3-12, 2-9 FCIAC) in almost a month—a month that has seen the Rams flirt with victory several times only to fall in the end, a trend head coach Mike Evans hopes is behind his team.

Sports

Trumbull Edges New Canaan Boys Basketball 67-61

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In many ways New Canaan’s 67-61 home loss to Trumbull Tuesday night was a victory of sorts. The Rams had a remarkable third quarter, erasing a 34-23 halftime deficit to pull even with the Golden Eagles 45-45 heading into the fourth. Even after trailing by as many as six points with just over four minutes left to play, New Canaan made it a one-possession game just two minutes later, closing to within 62-59 of the Eagles before ultimately falling six points short. Even the end result was a positive for the Rams (2-7, 1-4 FCIAC), when taking into consideration the 72-59 loss Trumbull (8-1, 5-0 FCIAC) handed them in the season opener less than a month ago. Ultimately the difference in the game came down to defensive rebounds, as New Canaan gave up too many second and third scoring opportunities to a bigger, stronger Trumbull squad who came into Tuesday’s game having won six consecutive games.