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01/16/2015 11:00 PMThe Hornets’ boys’ basketball team found itself in an early hole against North Haven last week, but Jake Palluzzi’s athletes rolled up their sleeves and clawed their way to daylight with a huge midgame surge that ultimately resulted in a 59-54 victory.
Branford’s offense struggled at the outset against the Indians. Instead of establishing their size inside, the Hornets fired up a series of unsuccessful three-pointers and found themselves down 8-4 through one quarter and chasing a 21-10 deficit at the halfway juncture of the second. But then Branford started to blitz North Haven by revving up its defense, moving the ball more effectively, and working it to the big guys down low. The Hornets cut it to 25-22 at halftime and outscored the Indians 18-6 in the third to bring a 40-31 advantage to the fourth. Palluzzi’s club then made its way to the line 21 times in the final stanza and hit 18 freebies to prevail with room the spare.
“We wanted to go inside because we felt we had the advantage with our bigs, but we did the opposite and started the game 1-for-13,” Coach Palluzzi said. “In the second quarter, we started getting to the foul line and got some better looks to get back in the game. Then in the third, we picked up the intensity defensively and got the ball inside more like we should have in the first quarter.”
The Hornets were led by new starting point guard Richard Jacobson, who scored 19 points and handed out six assists, along with junior small forward Kory King, who netted 18 to go with six rebounds and four assists. Jacobson scored nine of his 19 in the decisive third quarter while King scored seven. Both athletes then delivered at the stripe in the fourth as Jacobson made all six of his attempts with King going 8-for-10. The Hornets were further aided by their senior captain duo of center Colin Tracy (7 points, 11 boards) and point guard Joe Carbone (5 points, 4 assists), plus 10 points and six rebounds by sophomore small forward Jake Sullivan.
Branford improved to 5-4 overall and 2-1 in the Oronoque while North Haven dropped to 2-7, 0-4. Palluzzi was not only pleased to see his team topple a division opponent, but also with the all-around start to the season, especially considering that King was the lone athlete who returned with much varsity experience.
“North Haven is a scrappy team that’s well-coached and plays hard. They spread you out and have good offensive kids, but we finally wore them down a bit in the third period. This was our third game of the week and sometimes it takes its toll on you, but we woke up just in time,” Palluzzi said. “Overall, I’m happy. We’re progressing nicely and to get out to a 4-1 start gave us some confidence that we can play with anybody. It’s a good start so far.”
Branford proved it could hang with one of the state’s elite squads when it tangled with Career in New Haven on Jan. 12 and took a 24-20 lead to halftime against a squad that was unbeaten at the time and ranked No. 2 in the New Haven Register’s Top 10 Poll. Palluzzi said his boys played “a perfect first half,” although Career’s half-court pressure defense led to a 22-3 third quarter differential. Branford stuck around and was down nine with two minutes left, but the Panthers wound up winning 63-42.
King scored 13 and had seven rebounds, Tracy had eight points with eight boards, Carbone scored seven with two assists, and Jacobson contributed six points and five assists.
Two days later, the Hornets played at another solid squad in Notre Dame-West Haven and took a 40-34 defeat. Branford trailed 19-9 at halftime and 34-22 entering the fourth, yet rallied to draw within 34-31 and get two chances to tie it in the final 1:10, yet came up just a bit short. Palluzzi was pleased with his team’s defense, which held the Green Knights’ top threats Benjamin Bagnoli and Patrick Doyle to nine and four points, respectively. For Branford, Carbone scored 10, King had seven points and four rebounds, Jacobson scored seven with six assists, Tracy scored four points and grabbed and eight boards, and junior power forward Brad Valalik added four points with two steals and two rebounds.