Pomperaug High School seniors No. 15, Noah Miree; No. 31, Grant Wallace; and No. 10, Rich Pugliese, are shown in a game against Masuk. (Ken Morse photo)
By KEN MORSE
Special to the Middlebury Bee-Intelligencer
The Pomperaug boys basketball team is wrapping up its most successful season since the Panthers last played for the South West Conference (SWC) title. Last Wednesday, Pomperaug held their senior night celebration and honored Grant Wallace, Rich Pugliese and Noah Miree in an 85-61 victory over Bethel as the Panthers racked up win No. 15, tying the mark set by the 2011 squad, which played for the only SWC title in school history.
The 85 points was a season high for the Panthers, and Miree led the way, scoring 22 points with five assists and four steals. Wallace threw down 12 points and hauled away six rebounds with five assists while Pugliese added eight points in the convincing victory.
“I’ve been here four years and I will certainly miss this place,” said Wallace, who will look to play baseball in college. “A lot of memories and a lot of great times. I’m looking at WPI and Babson, and I’d like to go on and play baseball in college.”
Pomperaug came out with a little fire on the emotions of senior night, building an early 13-3 advantage over Bethel with Josh McGettigan (17 points) hitting a 3-pointer and a put-back in the lane.
Bethel closed the gap at 15-13 heading into the second quarter before Chase Belden (18 points) began to heat up with a 3-pointer and a runner in the lane to open up a 39-25 lead at the half.
Miree had nine of the 24 second-quarter points for Pomperaug. His addition to the team as a transfer student has really kick-started the Panthers’ return to the top of the league.
“It’s been a great season so far,” said Miree, who is still undecided but intends to play basketball in college. “I couldn’t have asked for a better situation. My teammates are great, and the support we get from the student section has really helped us to stay undefeated at home this season.”
The student section cheering only got louder when Bethel made a run at it, closing the deficit to 43-38 with 4:53 remaining in the third quarter. Jacob Mendicino and Tom Satkowski helped the Panthers reestablish the inside game that ignited an 18-8 spurt to close out the quarter with Pomperaug on top 61-46.
Matt Wynne was a force under the basket as Bethel could not recover from the 12-4 Pomperaug burst that began the final quarter. Wynne (six points, five rebounds) hit a pair of free throws to open up a 74-50 lead with 4:32 to go in the game.
Pugliese, who is looking at Roger Williams College and Endicott to pursue collegiate basketball, said, “It’s been an incredible four years bonding with these guys and getting through some tough seasons, but to go out like this is just incredible. It feels great to have accomplished all that we have, but we are not done yet.”
At around the two-minute mark, Pomperaug head coach Dave Yachtis took the opportunity to pull his seniors from the game in their final home game of their careers, and the Panther fans roared with approval.
Jason Hirschauer, Will McDonald, Zach McGettigan, Joshua Miree and Mario Paniccia came on to finish the deal as Pomperaug improved to 15-3 on the season.
“Grant and Rich have been here all four years, and you could see early in their careers that they were going to be very good players,” said Yachtis. “These kids have been great all four years and are rock-solid leaders.
“Noah came in this season, and what a pleasure he has been, a very talented player and a great kid. I’m so happy for our seniors to have a season like this in their final year. The team chemistry only got better with these three kids leading the way.”
“We have a couple of tough games left before the tournament, but we are looking to have a good postseason. It certainly is great to finish up like this at home.”
Pomperaug took to the road to finish out the regular season and ran into a tough Stratford team last Friday, coming up on the short end of a 71-65 final. Josh McGettigan had a career night, scoring 29 points, with Belden adding 13 points and Pugliese scoring 12 points. The Panthers were undone by a fourth quarter in which they were outscored 27-18 in the game’s final eight minutes.
The Panthers’ regular season finale at Immaculate Tuesday was postponed until Wednesday night, Feb. 24, when the Panthers won with a score of 82-78. The SWC tournament gets underway Friday with Pomperaug hosting either Barlow or Bunnell.
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