Running their season opening winning streak to five games proved to be a constant uphill task for Jonathan Law in its home game with Branford High on Friday night.
Down by 17 points midway through the third quarter, and 12 at the start of the fourth, the Lawmen fought all the way back to pull out a 77-70 SCC Quinnipiac Division win over the Hornets.
Diontae Eady's (26 points) first of two free throws broke a 61-61 tie with 3:10 remaining. Off a subsequent steal by Jon Vitale and a basket by Zane Birks, Law increased its lead to 64-61 before Eady widened the margin to 66-61.
Branford managed to cut it to three points at 67-64 and 71-68, before the Lawmen closed it out.
"We've got a gritty, tough bunch of kids who never stop playing," said Law coach Jamie Anderson. "Branford had our number for quite a while tonight. They know how to play us. But we were able to come through. I think you have to credit that to how many game situations we work on in practice. We study teams and how they play. It's made us better."
Branford (0-5) had opened up a 30-27 halftime lead on the strength of outside shooting and a 16-2 run. The Lawmen forced 17 second-half turnovers and 28 overall.
"We didn't handle that pressure well at all," said Branford coach Chris Burnham, who left Platt Tech three years ago and went to Branford. "But, we're very young (the Hornets started four sophomores). Still, when you're up by 17 points, you should be able to hold on. We couldn't tonight."
Eady was one of Law’s four double-point scorers. Vitale had 15, Birks added 12 and Antonio Brown tallied 11.
Kevin Baxter had a game-high 29 for Branford and Justin Elpi threw in 12.
Law has games next week against East Haven (at home on Monday night), Hand of Madison (on Wednesday) and Guilford (on Saturday afternoon).
LAW
Zane Birks 5 2-3, 12 Tyler McKenna-Hansen 3 0-0, 6 Garrett Tutlis 1 0-0, 2 Antonio Brown 4 2-5, 11 Diontae Eady 9 8-13, 26 Justice Smith 0 0-0, 0 Jon Vitale 4 6-8, 15 Brian Felag 0 0-0, 0 Noah Tutlis 2 0-0, 4
Totals: 28 18-29, 77
BRANFORD
Elpi 4 2-2, 14 C. Mills 3 0-0, 6 K. Baxter 7 11-12, 29 T. Jacobson 1 0-0, 3 A. Jacobson 3 1-2, 9 K. Holmes 1 2-2, 4 K. Gionteris 1 0-1, 3 N. Volpe 0 2-2, 2
Totals: 20 18-21, 70
Law 14 13 15 35—77
Branford 11 19 22 18—70
3-pointers: L—Brown 1, Vitale 2; B—Elpi 1, Baxter 4, T. Jacobson 1, A. Jacobson 2, Gionteris 1