Pomperaug High School’s Rich Pugliese drives to the basket against Barlow on Tuesday in the Panthers’ 63-53 win that improved Pomperaug to 10-2 on the season. (Ken Morse photo)
By KEN MORSE
Special to the Middlebury Bee-Intelligencer
Opponents are finding that the Pomperaug boys basketball team just has too many weapons to contend with. Normally a coach can simply devise a defense to stop the other team’s leading scorer or the guy with the hot hand.
What happens when you run across a team that boasts four players who are putting up double digits on a nightly basis? Joel Barlow of Easton found out quickly Tuesday, Jan. 26, at the Panthers Den when Pomperaug broke out to a 19-8 first-quarter advantage on its way to a 63-53 victory.
It was the fourth win in a row for the 10-2 Panthers after they registered a season high 84-61 win over Brookfield Friday, Jan. 22. Pomperaug is clicking on all cylinders, led by junior Chase Belden, who is scoring at a 15.3-points-per-game clip. He scored a season high of 26 points on the strength of five 3-pointers in the win over Brookfield.
Seniors Rich Pugliese (14.8 points per game) and Noah Miree (12.1 points per game), along with junior Josh McGettigan (11.6 points per game), all scored 14 points each in the win over Brookfield as a 35-33 halftime advantage quickly got out of hand when Pomperaug exploded for 49 second-half points to pull away.
“The last couple of weeks we have been playing some good basketball,” said Pomperaug head coach Dave Yachtis. “Our defense has really picked up its intensity, and our offense is a lot smoother. We made 11 threes against Brookfield the other night, and we are finishing up shots under the basket. There are still some things we need to work on, but this team is definitely heading in the right direction.”
The Pomperaug defense took over the game against Barlow early on, crashing the boards and allowing Barlow just one look at the basket on each possession as the Panthers raced out to a 13-2 advantage with 2:49 to go in the opening quarter.
Belden (9 points, 7 assists) got it started, sinking a pair of foul shots to open the game and closing out the quarter by burying a 3-pointer from the corner as Pomperaug took a commanding 19-8 lead into the second quarter.
“We can really score in a variety of ways,” said Belden. “We don’t look for any particular guy to shoot. Whoever has a miss match or whoever is open is going to get the ball, and we have so much confidence in one another that it’s hard for other teams to defend us.”
That diversity in scoring showed up at the start of the second quarter when Belden drew a crowd driving to the basket. Belden simply kicked it back out to a wide-open Miree (8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) and the 20-foot turn-around jumper found nothing but net.
Miree stole the ball at the other end and took it down the floor, finding McGettigan in the lane for a pullup jumper that went in off the window to open a 23-11 lead that forced the Falcons into a time out.
When coach Yachtis went to the bench, the Panthers didn’t miss a beat as Jacob Mendicino hit both ends of a one-and-one at the foul line, and Tom Satkowski added another body to battle on the boards. Pugliese (14 points) ramped it up a notch, taking it down the lane on three straight possessions to open up a 32-21 lead at the half.
“We knew coming into the season that we were going to have a strong team,” said Pugliese. “A lot of us played over the summer, and we worked hard on our game. We have a lot of seniors on this team and we all want to be successful, and to be at 10-2 right now in the season is where we want to be. We still have a lot of work left in front of us but we are all pulling for each other.”
Barlow tried to pick up the intensity on defense, pressuring the ball and looking for the 3-point shot out on the perimeter, trying to cut into the lead. McGettigan and Grant Wallace had the answer for the Falcons’ pressure defense. Wallace unloaded length-of-the-court passes to McGettigan for easy buckets to open up a 40-28 advantage with 4:48 to go in the third quarter.
“What makes it work is we are a very good passing team and don’t turn the ball over a lot,” said McGettigan. “Our starting five can all shoot the ball and can bring it up the floor through pressure. We work just as hard in practice on our defense as we do on our offense, and that has helped us to become a more complete team.”
The Falcons began hitting those 3-point tries, managing three long-range shots to go down with Alex Stillman (17 points) and Tom Rossini (12 points) leading the Barlow charge.
Matt Wynne (7 points, 5 assists, 4 steals) hit a baseline drive for the final points of the third quarter as Pomperaug went into the final eight minutes of the game holding a 48-39 advantage.
Two quick buckets by Barlow cut the deficit to 48-43 with 5:27 to play, and this one looked like it was going down to the wire. But the Panthers just shifted gears and began to run the ball up and down the floor with four different scorers contributing to a 9-0 run, and it was over with Pomperaug back in control holding a 57-43 lead in a span of two minutes.
The Panthers will certainly be tested from here on in as they are at Weston on Friday, Jan. 29, and next Tuesday, Feb. 2, will have them at 10-2 Notre Dame of Fairfield before they return home Friday, Feb. 5, against Masuk.
Stay tuned for further Panthers basketball action at www.bee-news.com throughout the season.
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