It was a contest between two 1-1 teams at East Haven on Dec. 18 when the East Haven boys' basketball squad hosted the Guilford Indians. Guilford took the lead early, but the Yellowjackets came back in the second quarter to make it a close game. In the end, it was Guilford that stood its ground by defending East Haven well and making important shots to win 58-52.

"I thought [East Haven] played well. I thought they attacked the basket well and I give them a lot for credit for fighting," said Coach Jeff DeMaio. "We had them by I think 10 late and they kept grinding. I don't think we played particularly well, but it's a win so we'll take it."

Will Confrances helped ice the Indians' victory by scoring key points down the stretch in the face of some East Haven defensive pressure.

"I was just trying to stay confident and trying to put the game away," said Cofrances. "Second quarters have been a problem for us this whole year and we're still working on it, but we pulled it out in the end. It's a 'W.'"

It was a slow start for both teams as they ran the court for a couple of minutes before Nick Moretti (18 points) put Guilford on the board first with a free throw, followed by two layups from Dante Parisi (2 points) and Luke Dombroski (10 points) to go up 5-0. East Haven's senior guard PJ Warrick finally answered Guilford with a three-pointer wide outside to get on the board and the Indians continued to hold the lead at the end of the first quarter, 14-7.

The second quarter began and the Yellowjackets showed they were there to play. Senior forward Steve Perricone (10 points) hit all of his layups, putting 10 points on the board for East Haven and closing the gap on Guilford's lead. It was under a minute left in the half when Perricone rebounded to tie the game at 22-all and followed up with another basket for the Yellowjackets' only lead of the game, 24-22. Guilford quickly set up its last shot of the half for Moretti to get a three-pointer at the buzzer and the Indians were only leading East Haven by one point, 25-24.

As the teams returned from the half, East Haven could not find contact with the basket and it was Guilford which claimed the third quarter. Dombroski started the scoring for Guilford with two layups and Moretti took it into his own hands as he swished three three-pointers from the same spot, putting his team ahead of the Yellowjackets 38-27 by the fourth.

"I think we needed a little spark and I just did what I could to give us that spark and we held the lead after that," said Moretti.

East Haven was still scraping the floor for the win in the fourth quarter. This time, it was senior guard Nick Lamberti (11 points) helping the Yellowjackets, scoring eight of his points, including hitting all four of his free throws. This brought East Haven to within a few points with just over a minute to go and Guilford knew it needed to hang tough to pull off this victory. East Haven continued to foul in order to get the ball back, but Guilford did not crack under pressure as Cofrances (8 points) and JP Barrett (11 points) both had six points each down stretch, sealing the win at 58-52.

With the victory, Indians demonstrated that they are able to win under pressure. Starters Moretti, Barrett, Parisi, Dombroski, and Shaun Ross (4 points) were major contributors to this matchup, scoring 45 combined points. Other points came from Cofrances, Andrew Kelly (5 points), and Chris Rogers (4 points).

This win helped the Indians one step closer to their goals as Coach DeMaio said, "We're trying to make the state tournament. We do have a tough schedule, but we do have games that are winnable and we're hoping to keep clawing and scratching. It's about the process and we're trying to get better so we'll see what happens."