Milford Mirror

Lawmen lose to Guilford (boys hoop)

Tuesday, 07 February 2012 13:10

First-year Jonathan Law High boys basketball coach Tim Dooley emerged from his team’s locker room following a 61-41 Southern Connecticut Conference Hammonasset Division with a grim look on his face. The Lawmen had squandered a good first half of basketball, where they trailed by only two points, 25-23, into a 20-point loss in dropping their 12th consecutive game of the season to remain winless.

“That’s exactly how we want to start a game,” Dooley said. “We want to have an up-tempo style where we get the ball into the paint and score. We also want to play good defense and rebound well.

“It all worked so well in those first five minutes. After that, I really can’t explain what happened.”

The Lawmen came out with energy and intensity in their game at Guilford’s Keneflick Gym.

After losing the initial lead, Law ran off 10 straight points and led, 12-2, on Jason Binder’s short jumper with 2:07 to play.

Guilford followed by closing it to 12-7 with a 5-0 run.

The Indians began chipping away at Law’s lead, eventually going up 15-14 on a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Will Cofrances.

Good inside play aided the Indians who put together runs to hold five-point leads (21-16 and 23-18) before Law narrowed it to two, 25-23, at the half.

At this point, Guilford coach Jeff DeMaio made a decision that turned the game around.

“Playing at a frenzied pace rarely works to our advantage,” DeMaio said. “We always want to have intensity on defense and to be patient on offense.

“Sometimes, it’s hard getting our kids to buy into that idea. Tonight, they did and we played a complete second half.

Guilford put up 36 points and limited Law to 18 after intermission for its third win in 11 starts.

After making only 8-of-30 shots in the first half, Guilford, in its half-court offense, knocked down 14-of-25 second-half shots.

“Our play dropped way off in the second half,” Dooley said. “We missed layups and gave them way too many second chances.

“We weren’t intense. Usually, we always play hard. Tonight we didn’t have that sense of urgency.”

Law did hold the rebounding edge, 45-40, as Zack Toto pulled down 11, followed by Jokari Trueheart with nine.

Toto led Law with seven points and Brendan Williams chipped in with six.

For Guilford, Ted Jensen and Cofrances shared leadership with 16 each, and Nick Moretti added 13.

Guilford swept the series with the Lawmen, winning 48-45 back in December.

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