There were plenty of road winners in the SCC tonight:
Notre Dame won at Fairfield Prep and West Haven won at Hamden in the SCC Quinnipiac.
Branford won at East Haven and Career won at North Haven in the SCC Oronoque.
Law won at Hand in the SCC Hammonasset.
Home winners were Cheshire (over Shelton), Guilford (over Foran) while Stratford and St. Joseph prevailed over Masuk and Westhill, respectively.

Check out the scores later on this evening at www.nhregister/boyshoops.

Highlighting tonight's area schedule are a pair of games in the SCC Oronoque Division (Career at North Haven and Branford at East Haven) and Masuk at Stratford, currently the No. 5 team in the Register Top 10 poll. Also, Notre Dame is at Fairfield Prep in SCC Quinnipiac Division action. All games tip at 7 p.m.

Around the state: No. 2 Sacred Heart tries to rebound off of its first loss of the season with a NVL game at No. 10 Crosby. No. 3 Bridgeport Central hosts Fairfield Warde while in another FCIAC contest, Bassick is at Trinity Catholic.

On Saturday, Norwich Free Academy travels down to the New Haven Athletic Center for a 4 p.m. tilt against Wilbur Cross. That is followed by the Hillhouse girls vs. NFA, two of the top five teams in the latest Register girls poll.

Hillhouse won a slow, ugly game against Xavier 54-38 Thursday night at the New Haven Athletic Center to remain No. 1 for another week. Xavier could not take advantage of Hillhouse coach Kermit Carolina benching starters Freddie Wilson, Tavon Allen and Jengodji Gates for most of the first half.
As ugly or boring as the contest may have been, Hillhouse is still solid on defense and that it necessary come March.
In other action, Sheehan won at Wilbur Cross 80-70, making Sheehan the second team from Wallingford to win at Cross this season - Lyman Hall beat Cross in the season opener.
Morgan, North Branford, Westbrook, Platt Tech and Whitney Tech were the other area winners Thursday night.

It is a battle of unbeatens at the New Haven Athletic Center as top-ranked Hillhouse (7-0) faces unranked Xavier (9-0) at 6 p.m.
Michael Boornazian leads a balanced scoring effort for Xavier, averaging 15.3 ppg. He has help in Tucker Landy (11.6) and Andrew Roberts (10.8). They have won in both convincing fashion and in close games so far.
But this will be the Falcons' toughest test to date. Hillhouse point guard Freddie Wilson (21.7 ppg.) is one of the area's best and he has help in swingman Tavon Allen (14.6) and Jengodji Gates (13.6) among others.
Xavier needs to slow down the pace, move the ball and hit close to 50 percent of its shots, and rebound well, to stay in this game. The Falcons also need to keep the score in the 50s.
If Hillhouse can get its transition game going, and hit its three-point shots in the first half, the hosts can win going away.
The Hillhouse-Mercy game starts the day's festivities at 4 p.m.

Both of our Naugatuck Valley League teams dropped games already this week, so there should be some shakeup for next week's poll.
Top 10
1) Hillhouse (7-0) def. Guilford 94-46
2) Sacred Heart (7-1) lost to Holy Cross 68-66
3) Bridgeport Central (6-0) def. Cheney Tech 75-49
4) New Britain (6-0) def. Conard 86-65
5) Stratford (7-0) def. Immaculate 81-51
6) Hyde (7-0) def. Haddam-Killingworth 69-28
7) Holy Cross (9-0) def. Sacred Heart 68-66
8) Windsor (7-1) def. East Catholic 98-67
9) New London (7-1) def. Windham 59-53
10) Crosby (7-2) lost to Torrington 71-68

Branford improved to 7-1 by winning at North Haven 45-35. North Haven has dropped all three games in the SCC Oronoque Division (the other two to Wilbur Cross) yet won all of its other games in the SCC.

Speaking of  Cross, the Govs walloped East Haven 93-53 in Jim Reynolds return to Cross after a 14-year stay that ended in 2008.

Notre Dame beat Hand 60-53 as the mentor (Gary Palladino) downed the former pupil (Frank Rossi), the first time Palladino has coached against one of his former players or coaches.

In other action, Xavier beat West Haven 67-48 and Hillhouse dismantled 94-46, setting up an undefeated matchup between the two schools on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the New Haven Athletic Center.

Wilbur Cross hammered East Haven 93-53 in Jim Reynolds' first game back coaching his former team.

Branford improved to 7-1, beating North Haven 45-35. Xavier and Hillhouse both won, setting up a showdown of undefeated teams Thursday in the New Haven Athletic Center at 6 p.m.

Check back later on this site for the full list of scores from Tuesday's games.

Tickets are now on sale at all of the participating schools in the first Connecticut Hoops Challenge next Monday at Central Connecticut State.

J.R. Hargreaves has had the idea for a few years to gather some of the top teams in the state for a tripleheader, good enough to draw people from different parts of the state.
"I would like to have the top six to eight teams in the state each year," said Hargreaves, the tournament coordinator. "I'd like to keep it at Central every year with only state teams playing on Martin Luther King Day."
The highlight of the tripleheader is the nightcap when Hillhouse, the No. 1 team in the Register Top 10 poll, plays against East Hartford at 7:30 p.m. The first game is East Catholic vs. Northwest Catholic at 4:30 p.m., followed by No. 4 New Britain against Wilbur Cross at 6.
"Hillhouse and East Hartford was a no-brainer," Hargreaves said. "And with it being the first year, I knew East vs. Northwest would draw people as well. But we necessarily don't want to see East Hartford vs. New Britain."
The tripleheader is $10. Tickets can also be purchased at the door.

Returning to coach boys' basketball at East Haven this season was important to Jim Reynolds because it was a chance to coach in his hometown with kids he coached in the town youth league.

But it also meant a guarantee to return to coach against the hallowed program where he got his first varsity job: Wilbur Cross. That first of two regular-season meetings is tonight at 7 in New Haven.
"I have very mixed feelings about it because I had so many great memories there," Reynolds said. "It will be very strange to bring another team in there. I want to get it over with and I don't want to saddle my kids with any stories about me."
Reynolds' path to tonight has been well-documented. won six Southern Connecticut Conference championships en route to a 254-90 career record at Cross. That included two perfect regular seasons (1999-2000 and 2007-08) and a trip to the Class L state championship game in 2003. He was the Register's Area Coach of the Year for both 2003 and 2004.
The Governors went 24-1 in 2006-07, his final season, losing in the Class L state quarterfinals. A disagreement with his superiors on the direction of the program led to Reynolds; resignation. Just days later, he took the head job at Guilford.
"I am disappointed that it all happened because I thought I would be at Cross for 20 years," Reynolds said. "But I moved forward, enjoyed Guilford thoroughly and now, I enjoy coaching at East Haven."
Now the Yellowjackets come in with a 2-4 record and off a 56-53 win at Cheshire. They will face a hot Cross, team, which has won its last three.
Reynolds coached almost all of the current contributors on Anthony Hill's squad, which may make for some emotional moments during the pregame handshakes.
"What Jim did in 14 years, I just hope to even try to match that success," Hill said. "It's going to be emotional especially for my seniors."
Reynolds did watch Cross play in the Vanguard Class back on Dec. 26 - his first trip back to Cross since resigning.
"It felt strange to watch other people coach from the sideline I coached," Reynolds said. "But so many people came up to me that day and were very nice. I'm sure it will be nice again (tonight)."

Each Monday by 5 p.m., we hope to bring you the top five boys' basketball teams in our poll at our website, http://www.nhregister.com/. It will be my breakdown of the top five teams with a brief outlook on each team.

Here is the link for the first week that debuted on Monday:


http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/01/11/sports/doc4b4baf8f25f5c653476466.txt

Check out Tuesday's edition of the Register to catch up on the latest boys basketball news like:

Jim Reynolds, now at East Haven, returns to coach at Wilbur Cross for the first time since resigning
Hand coach Frank Rossi goes up against his former coach and boss, Notre Dame's Gary Palladino
the first annual Connecticut Hoops Challenge lineup
the HoopHall Classic on Saturday in Springfield, Mass.

Also see the latest poll and standings in additon to a spotlight on Foran.

Check out the latest edition of the Register Top 10 poll at: www.nhregister.com/boyshoops