Rich Pugliese, with the ball, drives to the baseline in Friday’s 76-67 loss to Middletown in the quarterfinals of the Class L tournament. (Ken Morse photo)
By KEN MORSE Special to the Middlebury Bee Intelligencer #MIDDLEBURY #PHS
The Pomperaug High School (PHS) boys’ basketball team entered uncharted waters this postseason as they tried to become the first PHS team to make it to the final four since the 1980 Panthers won the Class M state championship. The ride to glory came up short as the No. 6 seed 19-6 Panthers fell to the No. 3 seed 23-3 Middletown Blue Dragons 76-67 in the Class L quarterfinals at Middletown Friday night.
“Unfortunately, all great things have to come to an end,” said Rich Pugliese. “We really had an incredible season. We will be able to look back and see all that we accomplished as a team. A big ‘thank you’ goes out to our student section. We wouldn’t be where we are without them. I’m going to walk out of here with my head held high because we gave it everything we had and left it all out on the court.”
The LaBella Sullivan Gymnasium was rocking as the sold-out crowd of over 1,000 fans roared their approval with Middletown playing in the quarterfinals for the second year in a row. Last year’s 22-4 Blue Dragons got knocked off by Naugatuck.
That was all the incentive needed as Middletown broke out to a 19-15 advantage heading into the second quarter. Caylen Williams (20 points) hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening quarter to lead the Blue Dragons.
Chase Belden (20 points), Josh McGettigan (15 points) and Grant Wallace (12 points) all hit 3-pointers for the Panthers during the first quarter, but the Blue Dragons were big, they were fast and they had the home crowd on their side.
“They have five very good shooters,” said Pomperaug head coach Dave Yachtis. “They spread you out a little bit, and they just made a lot of shots today. I thought we played very well. We wanted to go to a zone to start. I think we handled their penetration well, we rebounded pretty good, but they got to the foul line and hit their shots.”
Matt Wynne blocked a shot and fired a pass down the floor to Rich Pugliese (11 points) for a 3-pointer to put Pomperaug on top in the second quarter. Noah Miree (9 points) went hard to the rack for a put-back and a 25-23 Panthers’ lead with 5:35 to go in the first half.
Middletown came out of a timeout, and DeAaron Lawrence (22 points) just took over the game. The Blue Dragons went on a 16-2 run with Lawrence providing almost all of the firepower, hitting four 3-pointers to open up a 40-27 advantage.
The Panthers would chase that lead for the remainder of the game with Middletown keeping a safe distance of 10 to 12 points throughout most of the third quarter. Pomperaug trailed 55-42 with 2:44 left in the quarter when McGettigan hit a pair of foul shots.
Pugliese got three the hard way, sinking all three foul shots after getting hacked on a 3-point attempt. Belden and Wallace scored on a pair of baseline drives and, heading into the final quarter, Pomperaug was back in the game, chasing a 57-51 deficit.
McGettigan and Miree took turns rattling the rim with a couple of two-fisted dunks, and with 5:17 remaining in the game Middletown retreated to a timeout clinging to a 61-59 lead.
Pomperaug may have run out of gas at that point and the next three minutes produced only one foul shot by Belden as the deficit grew back to 68-60 with 1:45 left on the scoreboard clock.
Wallace and Belden both scored on drives in the lane with under a minute to play making it a two-possession game at 70-65 and 72-67, but the Blue Dragons pulled away, making eight of eight at the foul line in the final minute of the game for the 76-67 final.
“We had to put them at the foul line, and they made all their shots,” said Yachtis. “It seemed as though we spent so much energy to get back in the game that once we got there, we didn’t have enough left to finish the job.
“It takes a lot out of you both physically and mentally. To come back from a double-digit deficit and once you get there, you tend to let up a little bit, and the other team ends up going on another run.”
Pomperaug, 19-6 on the season, saved their best for last as they averaged 76 points per game in the postseason and boasted five players in double figures in the state tournament led by Chase Belden averaging 16.1 points, Noah Miree 15.1, Josh McGettigan 15.1, Rich Pugliese 14.1 and Grant Wallace 11.1 points per game.
The Panthers will lose their three senior captains next year and will miss Miree, who scored 373 points on the season for an average of 14.9 per game; Pugliese, who scored 353 points for an average of 14.1 per game; and Wallace, who scored 140 points for an average of 5.6 per game.
But Pomperaug won’t come back empty-handed next season as they will have team leader Belden, who led the team with 389 points for a 15.7 average, and McGettigan, who scored 286 points for an average of 11.4 per game.
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