On Feb. 26 at Fairfield Ludlowe High School, the fifth-seeded Staples Wreckers fell to the fourth seeded Bassick Lions 83-70 in the quarterfinals of the FCIAC boys’ basketball playoffs.
Gabe Seidman ’11 was the leading scorer for the Wreckers with 30 points. On the other end of the court, Bassick’s leading scorer was Anthony Allen ’11. Allen had scored 10 points only twice during the regular season but surprised both the Wreckers and the Bassick faithful with a 25 point outburst, including seven dunks. At 7’0” tall, Allen was also able to rack up six blocks and a remarkable overall performance.
“We didn’t really shoot well,” Allen said. “But the rest of the team played off my good performance and from that we were able to succeed,” Allen said.
Not shooting well is an exaggeration as Bassick was able to shoot 60 percent from the floor compared to the Wreckers’ 39 percent. The Wreckers, however, did knock down 9 shots from outside the arc.
Despite Staples’ good three point shooting, the first quarter was dominated by Bassick and by the end of the second quarter fortunes looked bleak. The score stood at 37-28 and Allen had already scored 16 points, 8 of them on jams.
More of the same happened in the third, with Demetrius Thomas ’12 supplementing Allen with some points of his own, highlighted by a put-back dunk to help Bassick gain an edge of 60-48 by the end of the quarter.
When the teams moved to the fourth, the game started turning into a contest. Captain Luke Yeager ’11 quickly hit a three to bring the Wreckers within single digits. After Seidman made a lay-up on the fast break, the Lions called a timeout and regrouped.
When Bassick took the court again, the squad did not let one play go by without answering a Staples’ point with one of its own. No sooner was the score 66-58 than it was 70-59 and Bassick started to run away with the game. With a minute left on the clock, Thomas and Jamill Powell ’11 threw down back-to-back jams to bring the score to 80-67.Staples then hit a couple of threes, but in the end it, was too late.
“I think what we’ve been doing so well is teamwork,” Allen said. “If we can keep passing the ball like we did tonight and play great on double-team defense then I think we’re looking pretty good.”
