Amity Quintet Twists the Lions' Tail 56-36

Foran’s Shawn Caraglio scored the game’s first two points on a put back with 30 seconds gone in Thursday night’s Southern Connecticut Conference inter-divisional contest against Amity. They would be the only points the Lions would score for nearly six minutes. During that span, the Spartans ran off a string of 13 unanswered points and never looked back as they went on to record a 56-36 road victory over Foran. The win gives the visitors an 8-7 record and qualifies them for both the SCC and State tournaments for the first time in three years.

According to winning Coach Jeff Nielsen, “This is a huge win for us. We hadn’t been in the post-season tournaments for two years. One of our senior's goals was to get some post-season action.”

Hitting half its 10 shots, Amity held a 14-7 lead over Foran at the end of the first quarter. Foran managed to score on only three of its first eight shots from the floor. During the opening session, the Spartans’ Zac Campbell landed two of his game-total of 5 three-pointers. Cam Ratleff also landed a try during the opening stanza.

Led by another Campbell 3-ball, Amity again landed half of its shots during the second quarter while Foran was good on only two of its eight tries from the floor. At the end of the first half, the Spartans had extended their advantage to 12 points (27-15).

“I thought we had a terrible start. We played with a low energy level and showed no urgency. Amity is a big, strong, physical team. They knocked us around and outrebouned us. The way we rebounded tonight, we couldn’t beat anybody,” said Foran Coach Tim Swaller.

After landing only a quarter of their 16 shots during the first half, the Lions began to show some life as the second half got underway. Ignited by 3’s from Tucker Schumitz and James Richetelli along with a pair of scores from Al Torrens, Foran crept back within three points (34-31), with 53 seconds left in the third quarter.

Being outscored 16-7 during that span, Amity was reignited by Campbell’s third 3-ball and a steal that he converted into two points with 1.5 seconds left in the third quarter. That would be as close ads Foran would get. The fourth quarter began and ended with Spartan baskets by Kyle Kalanta, who recorded six of his 10 points during the final session and Campbell, who pouted in seven of his team-high 24 points. Amity gradually extended its lead and came away with its 20 point victory.

Swaller added, “We showed some life in the third quarter and got back into the game but then went flat again in the fourth quarter. We didn’t execute tonight. Amity wanted this game more than we did. Give Amity credit. They played well offensively and defensively. This is the second time this winter that they played better than we did. We simply showed no aggressiveness tonight.”

Amity also trimmed the Lions 50-36 back on Jan. 11..

The winners ended up with three starters in double figures. In addition to Campbell’s 24 points and 10 from Kalanta, Pat Sasso also dropped in 10 points. Amity hit 24 of its 41 shots (59 percent) while Foran was good on 13 of its 42 tries (31 percent).  Led by seven rebounds from Grant Watkins and six from Campbell, the winners came away with a 33-26 edge off the glass. Torrens scored 11 points and Schumitz added 10 for the losers.

Nielsen said, “Zac Campbell had a huge game tonight. He was phenomenal! He stepped to hit his 3’s but since they were playing a match-up zone against us, he was able to also go inside to score or dish off to Grant Watkins, who had a better match-up. Zac hit some big shots without having good looks.”

“As a team, we knew that we had to get off to a good start because Foran usually shoots well at home, although they didn’t do that tonight. We got a lot of good shots, especially in the first half when we saw no pressure. Pat Sasso also had a good game. He got off to a good start and got into a good rhythm. He did the same thing the other night when we played Shelton.”

Foran (now 10-6) hosts Fairfield Prep on Tuesday night while Amity visits the Jesuits Saturday night and is at Shelton on Monday.

Nielsen added, “This was a big win for us as it was the first game of a three game road set.”