The Warriors rebounded in their next contest on Dec. 17, defeating conference foe Old Saybrook 72-42 at home. After falling behind in the first quarter, Valley took the lead in the second and never looked back.

“Saybrook’s a pretty good team, possibly even comparible to Coginchaug. The difference in this game was our defense and pressure—we pressured from the beginning of the game,” said Woods. “Our team defense was the key and even though we trailed in the first quarter, we felt pretty good about things. Old Saybrook is kind of into transition jump shots and once they tired, we knew those shots wouldn’t go down later. We were optimistic even though we were down early.”

Connor led all scorers with 22 points, followed by Luster with 18 and Cunningham with 11. Pomroy led with six assists, Cunningham and Polo notched five, and Luster had three.

“Sean Cunningham gave us tremendous energy in this game—he played a very good, solid game,” said Woods. “He rebounded well, played great defense, and Jon Luster and Chris Connor were great on offense. It was a breakout game for Chris—we knew he was capable of this kind of game, but it was his first big varsity game. Everybody who played, they played incredibly hard no matter what the score or situation. It was a great rebound win and a great win for our program.”