On a night when they honored players from their present, the New Canaan Rams got a glimpse into their future.
Blake Wilson drives against Stamford’s Lukas Sotell (#15). (Credit: Mike Wilson)
And if Blake Wilson’s performance in Thursday’s 56-44 Senior Night win over Stamford is any indication, the future is blindingly bright for the Rams.
The New Canaan sophomore scored a team-high 23 points to lead the Rams back from an 11-point third quarter deficit. New Canaan outscored the Black Knights 39-18 in the second half to improve to 9-2 on the season with one regular season game left at Wilton this Saturday. Stamford ended the regular season at 2-10.
“I’m running out of things to say about Blake,” New Canaan head coach Danny Melzer said. “What he did really well tonight was go to the offensive glass. He got a couple big offensive rebounds for us and made some big plays when we needed him to.”
Denis Mulcahy (#22) fights for a rebound. (Credit: Mike Wilson)
Senior Denis Mulcahy was a force in the paint, scoring 19 points for the Rams. Senior co-captain Christian Sweeney added 10—all in the second half—and fellow co-captain Will Bozzella scored 4 for New Canaan.
“Shots weren’t falling in the beginning but once I started driving the paint the shots started finally going down,” Wilson told NewCanaanite.com. “Denis did a great job down low and our offensive rebounding was great as a team. The seniors have done so much for the program and it was great to get them a win on Senior Night.”
Mulcahy carried New Canaan in the first quarter scoring 8 points, including a shot at the buzzer that tied the game at 11.
Stamford rode the hot shooting of Davion Pinn in the second quarter as the sophomore netted 11 points to lead the Black Knights to a 26-17 advantage going into the half.
Christian Sweeney (#12) puts up a shot for New Canaan. (Credit: Mike Wilson)
New Canaan turned up the pressure in the second half, forcing some turnovers with press defense and playing with more physicality in the paint. The Knights got up by as many as 11 nearing the midway point of the third quarter before Wilson caught fire. A three followed by a field goal pulled New Canaan back to within six. Mulcahy’s basket made it 32-28 with 1:07 left in the third and a pair of Wilson scores on consecutive New Canaan possessions tied the game with 27 seconds remaining.
Sweeney scored the final three points of the period to send the teams into the fourth with New Canaan up 35-32.
“I felt like we didn’t really play with a sense of urgency to start the game,” Melzer said. “At halftime, probably for the first time all year, I really let them have it. I got into them a little bit because they weren’t playing up to their capability with the right passion and the right energy. We weren’t executing. But in the second half they responded.”
New Canaan’s Blake Wilson (#13) fends off Stamford defenders. (Credit: Mike Wilson)
The Rams added to that lead in the final stanza as Wilson started the quarter off with a steal and score and followed it up with a pair of free throws. Stamford finally ended New Canaan’s 18-0 run with a traditional three-point play from senior Isaiah Jackson to make it 39-35 with 6:49 left.
It was the closest the Knights would get from that point forward.
New Canaan went on another run, outscoring Stamford 9-3 over the next two-and-a-half minutes to go up 48-38. Stamford got as close as six down but the Rams converted all six of their foul shots down the stretch to earn the comeback win.
“We’ve been down double-digits in multiple games this year and come back,” Melzer said. “We know what we are capable of and how to handle that situation. What we need to do a better job of is not getting into those situations to begin with. Hopefully we’ll learn from that and have a bigger sense of urgency going forward. We’re entering the playoff stretch and four or five bad minutes can end your season.”
New Canaan 56, Stamford 44
Stamford 11 15 6 12-44
New Canaan 11 6 18 21-56
S: Davion Pinn 3 2-2 11, Isaiah Jackson 4 1-4 11, Christopher Portuando 3 2-2 8, Chris Nana 3 0-0 6, Jesont Holley 2 1-2 5, Lukas Sotell 1 0-0 3. Totals 16 6-10 44
NC: Blake Wilson 8 5-7 23, Denis Mulcahy 8 3-4 19, Christian Sweeney 2 5-6 10, Will Bozzella 1 2-2 4, Braden Sweeney 0 0-0 0, Griffin Bramwit 0 0-0 0, Gavin Bramwit 0 0-0 0, Jack Hladick 0 0-0 0, Ned Brady 0 0-0 0, Logan Sykes 0 0-0 0, Mike Sanseverino 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 15-19 56
3 pointers
Pinn 3, Jackson 2, Sotell, Wilson 2, C. Sweeney