Six games. Nearly 12 hours. A rough start but an exciting ending.
The best game was the Career girls knocking off undefeated and No. 1 Hillhouse in overtime.
As far as the boys games go, the last one was the best one: Crosby, despite getting outrebounded by 25, managed to come from behind to stun Wilbur Cross 62-59. Crosby got a free throw, steal and layup in a 5-second span to account for the three-point win.
Tyshon Rogers had a game-high 24 points for Crosby.
After opening the season 3-0, the Govs have dropped three straight to Hillhouse, North Haven and Crosby all in New Haven. This was a bad loss. You can't have such a huge rebounding advantage and lose, simple as that.
Cross coach Anthony Hill sat his top player, Kyle Holmes, for disciplinary reasons in the third and fourth quarters. Holmes came back in with just under 2 minutes left. He finished with eight points and passed on the game-tying three-point shot to Jaylin Fuller, who missed.
Career pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat a rebuilding Stratford club 57-44. Bernard Brantley had 21 for Stratford before fouling out with 3:47 left. Career is 4-1 and looks to be the best team - not by much - in the SCC's best division, the Oronoque.

Hilhouse also struggled to put away rebuilding Harding. winning 47-34 to move to 6-0. Hillhouse had survived against Harding in the opening round of the Class LL state tournament a year ago, winning in overtime. The Academics will cruise in the SCC Hammonasset once again.

Hyde is also rebuilding, but hung tough against Kolbe Cathedral before falling 47-38 in what was truly a dreadful game on offense. Kolbe is now 5-0, Hyde 2-3.
Hamden beat its SCC Quinnipiac Division rival West Haven 47-34 in the opener. The Green Dragons kept the wraps on WH's leading scorer Tieron Jackson, holding him to 13 points after he went off for 77 combined last week.

All in all, a good day of basketball at the Floyd Little Athletic Center as we move into conference play.

Right now, everyone is chasing St. Joseph until at least Jan. 10, when the Cadets play at Trinity Catholic.

The holiday itself may be over but we have some Christmas tournaments this week that are worth checking out, none better than the Northeast Catholic Classic at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport.


Three of last year's state champions - St. Joseph (Class LL), New London (Class L) and Trinity Catholic (Class M), along with New York powerhouse Archbishop Molloy, are in a round-robin tournament beginning Tuesday at 6. Trinity faces New London, followed by Archbishop Molloy vs. St. Joseph at 8. On Wednesday, Molloy faces Trinity Catholic at 6, followed by St. Joseph vs. New London.

Masuk hosts Shelton in its own Christmas Tournament at 7 Tuesday. That game is preceded by Norwalk vs. Bunnell at 5:15. The consolation and championship finals are at the same times in Monroe Thursday.

In the Branford Holiday Festival Tuesday, the hosts face Hewlett (N.Y.) at 6, followed by Hand vs. East Lyme at 7:45. On Thursday, Hand takes on Hewlett at 6, followed by Branford and East Lyme at 7:45.

In the Candy Cane Classic at Woodland Tuesday, the hosts face Ansonia at 7, preceded by Amity vs. Oxford at 5. The consolation and championship are Wednesday at the same times.

In the Kohs Holiday Classic, East Hartford faces Glastonbury at 5:30 p.m., followed by Valley Regional at Xavier at 7:15. The consolation and championship are at the same times on Wednesday.

A rematch looms in Fairfield Prep's tournament final on Friday between Prep and Notre Dame-Fairfield that was quite a game a year ago. That will be at Fairfield University at 8 p.m. if the favorites can prevail.

Then there is Thursday's Vanguard Classic at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven. The schedule is as follows: West Haven vs.Hamden, 11:45 a.m.; Hyde vs. Kolbe Cathedral, 1:30 p.m.; Hillhouse vs. Harding, 3 p.m.; Hillhouse vs. Career (girls), 5 p.m.; Career vs. Stratford, 7 p.m.; and Wilbur Cross vs. Crosby, 8:45 p.m.