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NEW CANAAN, Conn. The rebuilding process continues for the St. Lukes boys basketball team. The Storms youth was painfully on display on Wednesday against a senior-laden King Low Heywood Thomas squad. Playing with two freshmen and an eighth-grader for a majority of the game, St. Lukes was outgunned, 75-61.
Its a combination of inexperience and they just hit shots. They have guys that have been around a while and theyre the ones who hurt us, St. Lukes head coach Brian Kriftcher said. There are concepts you sort of cant teach. You can only learn them through experience. You have to say, Im not going to let somebody shoot on me. And I dont think we had that toughness tonight.
Kings Drew Sawyer, Matt Reggina and Chris Gaynor led a three-headed assault against St. Lukes, combining for 59 points. The Vikings led by as many as 30 points in the second half.
Another dagger to St. Lukes game was foul trouble. King was a whopping 26-for-32 from the free-throw line, while St. Lukes got to the line just eight times. Reggina and Gaynor combined for a perfect 12-for-12 performance from the foul line.
St. Lukes did not go down without a fight, though, as eighth-grader Jalen Latta ended up leading the team with 17 points. He was the big reason St. Lukes managed to go on a 24-11 run in the final six minutes to make the score respectable. Elijah Holyfield finished with 11 points while J.B. Boggs added nine.
I take away that we did show effort with that run at the end, Kriftcher said. Our young guys did a lot of the lifting there at the end. Were not going to quit on our seniors and juniors, but were also building for the future because its really bright.
St. Lukes is back in action on Wednesday, Jan. 11, when the Storm hosts the Masters School for a 6 p.m. game.
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