Ellington boys basketball tops Granby Memorial for second-straight NCCC tournament title
· Yahoo Sports
SUFFIELD - Sophomore Reese Nicol and junior Ty Fieldhouse each stepped up and played key roles to lead the Ellington boys basketball team to its 63-40 win over Granby Memorial in the North Central Connecticut Conference tournament final on Monday.
Nicol, who would be named MVP of the game, and Fieldhouse each scored 19 points for Ellington, the 10th-ranked team in the GametimeCT boys basketball poll. Nicol, Fieldhouse and Jack Curtis all earned NCCC all-conference honors before the game.
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Ellington, which has won 48 of its last 49 games, defended its NCCC championship. Ellington's 46-game win streak came to an end in its final regular season game at Old Lyme.
Ellington, which won the CIAC Division IV tournament a year ago, will compete as the No. 1 seed in Division III this year.
In their previous two matchups this season, Ellington won 82-47 and 80-36. But Ellington faced the challenge of heading into thee final without star player Jack Curtis, who injured his knee during the quarterfinals.
Nicol understood best that he and the team needed to step up, and in the first half of the game, he did so by scoring 14 points.
"I'm really proud, I mean, one of our best players got hurt, one of our best scorers. We had players step, and we just did what we had to do," Nicol said. "More players are getting more shots…and our defense has to be suffocating, and tonight it was pretty good."
Defence was indeed a strong suit for Ellington, which held multiple Granby starters under 10 points. The only outlier was junior Jake Teclaw, who managed 17 points in the first half. But in the second, Ellington's relentless defense held Teclaw to five points.
"We are a really good team," Ellington coach Robert Freitas. "We just played the way we play and need to continue to do that into states."
Whether or not Curtis will be available in states is unknown.
"It's still up in the air," he said when asked about when he may return. "Right now we are going to enjoy the NCCC, and we will get ready for them (next opponent)."
The opening round of the CIAC Division III tournament is Saturday. CIAC boys basketball pairings will be announced Tuesday.
Ellington 63, Granby 40
Ellington 19 17 17 10 - 63
Granby 15 10 5 10 - 40
Ellington
Reese Nicol 4 3 2-2 19 Ty Fieldhouse1 5 2-2 19 Colin McKee 3 1 0-0 9 Dylan Killoran 4 0 0-0 8 Jack Weigand 4 0 0-0 0
Granby
Will Auer 6 Brady Liss 5 Oliver Douglas 6 Jake Teclaw 22
This article originally published at Ellington boys basketball tops Granby Memorial for second-straight NCCC tournament title.