The Guilford boys’ basketball team played three home games last week and came away with a pair of victories to improve its record to 3-6 on the season. The Indians defeated Cheshire and Kaynor Tech before losing an overtime game to Hand in last week’s matchups. Guilford has nine games remaining in the regular season and needs to win at least five of them to guarantee itself a berth in the Division II State Tournament.

On Jan. 21, the Indians hosted Cheshire and dispatched the Rams by the final score of 68-58 at Guilford High School. Senior guard Chris Cahill scored 22 points to go with three rebounds and four assists for Guilford. Senior captain guard John Petonito had 17 points, grabbed five rebounds, and handed out four assists in the victory. Senior Brayden Santa Barbara scored 14 points and had six boards to help the Indians prevail.

Two nights later, Guilford claimed a 67-39 hoeme win versus Kaynor Tech in a non-conference contest. Petonito’s 20-point effort spurred Head Coach Jeff DeMaio’s squad to the victory over the Panthers. Cahill added 13 points for the Indians, who broke open a close game with dominating performance in the second half.

“The Cheshire game was a much-needed win since we were coming off three tough losses,” Coach DeMaio said. “And after a sluggish first half against Kaynor, where we only led 25-22, we put together a very efficient second half to pull away and win comfortably.”

The Indians finished up their week by hosting Hand for another home game the very next day. In a close contest that went to overtime, Guilford dropped a 61-54 overtime decision against the Tigers. Hand rallied to tie the game late in regulation and then outscored the Indians during the extra session to get the win. Santa Barbara scored 18 points for the Indians in the loss.

“Hand was just a back-and-forth contest for 32 minutes,” said DeMaio. “We fell behind early, but fought back to take a lead late. We just couldn’t hold on.”

Guilford now gets ready to play three games this week, including two more on its home floor. The Indians are hosting Branford on Tuesday, Jan. 28, have a home game versus Abbott Tech on Thursday, Jan. 30, and will play at Amity on Friday, Jan. 31. All three games tip off at 7 p.m.

Guilford has been hitting its fair share of 3-pointers thus far this year. Through nine games, the Indians have made 69 shots from beyond the 3-point line. On the season, Cahill is the Indians’ leading scorer with an average of 15.3 points per game. Petonito is averaging 13.4 points a game, and Santa Barbara is scoring at a clip of 11.1 points per night.