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STAMFORD, Conn. Nothing seemed to go right Tuesday for Trinity Catholic, the state's seventh-ranked boys basketball team. Despite being frustrated all night by Greenwich, Kevin Leumene had just tied the game at 41-41 and the Crusaders had the ball with a chance to win with 3.6 seconds to play.
Then disaster stuck. Greenwichs Alex McMurray, who had just turned the ball over to the Crusaders, stole Brandon Wheelers inbounds pass and rolled in the game-winning layup as time expired, stunning Trinity, 43-41.
Greenwich outhustled us, outshot us they did everything, Trinity head coach Mike Walsh said. I have to give all the credit to them. We didnt play the game were capable of playing, and Greenwich is the reason that happened.
Greenwich executed an almost flawless gameplan against Trinitys high-powered offense, which includes 6-foot-8 power forward Jason Boswell and 7-foot-1 center Paschal Chukwu. The Cardinals frustrated both, holding Boswell scoreless in the fourth while Chukwu was blanked for the entire second half. Greenwich held Trinity to just 14 points in the final two quarters.
Schadrac Casimir led the team with 12 points, but eight were scored in the fourth quarter. The Crusader guard had several chances to drive home the dagger against Greenwich, but several three-point shots rattled out.
Walsh said he was especially impressed that Greenwich kept playing hard even after its 6-foot-10 center, Sem Kroon, left with an ankle injury. And we also did a good job of shutting ourselves down, he said. We missed an awful lot of open shots. You dont look good when youre not shooting well. We still have a lot of work to do.
It was Trinitys first in-conference loss of the season and its lowest point total of the season by far. The Crusaders had scored at least 63 points in each of their previous games.
Trinity (4-2) hosts cross-city rival Stamford Friday at 7 p.m. Click here to watch video of Greenwich's game-winning shot.
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