Griswold no match for Amity in tourney opener
The tale of the tape numbers suggested Griswold would be punching above its weight class against Amity in the CIAC Division III boys' basketball state tournament Tuesday.
Amity (the state's 29th biggest school with 696 boys) versus Griswold (the 125th largest out of 180 schools with 265 boys).
Something seemed out of place number wise. The game followed in the same manner as Amity led throughout in a 66-51 first round victory at Griswold High School.
Fair or not, under the CIAC's recent five-division format, Griswold moved from Division IV to Division III this year based on a success factor of a 22-win season last year. A young team was left to rise up in class after five senior starters led Griswold to the D IV semifinals.
Griswold coach Rob Mileski expected a tough matchup against Amity despite the fact the Wolverines were at home and held a better record. The Spartans, who compete in the Southern Connecticut Conference, played in Division II two years ago.
“The SCC is a large-school 20-team conference with some great squads," Mileski said. "It's no joke. I guess it's a small compliment to where we are as a program that we were moved up. Amity was a good team. This was the type of matchup where we could not make mistakes, and we made them."
Spartans quick start
Amity took a 16-6 lead after one quarter, shutting down the usually effective Wolverine perimeter shooting. The New Haven suburban school (Woodbridge) took a 33-22 lead, holding Griswold to just a pair of 3-point baskets at halftime.
"Taking the crowd out was paramount," Amity coach Jeff Nielsen said. "We didn't want to have bus lag after sitting on the bus for an hour and a half and needed to play fast from the start. We took our lumps playing heavyweight SCC teams like West Haven and Hillhouse, but it prepared us for the state tournament."
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Amity (10-11) featured a balanced team with 6-3 forward Oliver Tenney leading with 22 points, followed by guard Tyler Wethington's 14 points, and 6-4, 220-pound center Lance Mahon, who chipped in 10 points.
"We scouted Amity and were impressed," Mileski said. "We thought Wethington would be their main cog, and Kinkade Rubino did all he could on him. Then there fourth option [Tenney] goes off."
Wolverines comeback
Griswold (14-9) has erased deficits all season and started to get back in the game after falling behind 25-10 with an aggressive, trapping defense. Amity turnovers led to hoops by Kolby Mills (12 points) and Aaden Cutter (eight points) to slice the Amity lead to single digits at 48-40 with 7:21 left in the third quarter.
"Playing Monday morning quarterback, we probably needed to make it an uglier game and fly around with a press earlier," Mileski said.
But Amity responded by forcing Griswold miscues to go on a Tenney-fueled 10-0 run to make it 58-40. The Wolverines never came closer than double digits thereafter.
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Future is bright
Sophomore center Kaiden Kazlauskas scored 14 points to lead Griswold, which started just two seniors and relied on a solid nucleus of sophomores led by Mills and Kazlauskas. Mileski said this was a quality rebuilding effort which yielded an ECC Division III regular season title.
"Kinkade, who will play football somewhere, and Sean Garvin, who is going to Eastern Connecticut to play baseball, are our seniors who don't list basketball as their top sport. Our sophomores are basketball guys. Next year looks pretty promising but this squad became a family and did well after starting 0-3."
Perhaps Griswold will return to Division IV next year with a more experienced team.
"We got bumped down to Division III and it's difficult for Griswold with us being a larger school," Nielson said. "It seems like whatever the CIAC does to improve the state tournament, it's not always fair to everyone."
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Griswold no match for Amity in CIAC boys basketball tournament
