The West Haven boys basketball team closed the regular season in impressive fashion. Led by Loshon Roman with 18 points, West Haven defeated Hand-Madison, 70-39, on Senior Night to improve to 17-3 on the season.
During the contest, both Trew Kitson and Aaron Johnson were honored for scoring 1,000 career points, with Kitson becoming just the ninth male player in the history of the West Haven basketball program to do so against Xavier, and Johnson becoming the tenth when he accomplished the fete against Springfield Central.
Johnson and Jordan Sirabionian each finished with 10 points, K’naan Morris scored nine points, and Brandon Bellamy, Jr. had six.
Sirabionian scored the first six points of the game, and Morris and Matt Morgan each drained 3-pointers in the quarter as West Haven held a 14-12 advantage.
The Westies then turned up the defense in the second quarter, allowing just seven points, to take a 34-19 lead to the half. Roman and Morris each scored five points in the quarter, and Sirabionian scored four.
Roman scored nine of his team’s 12 points in the third quarter to help West Haven to a 46-29 lead.
The Westies opened the Southern Connecticut Conference tournament with an 83-43 first round victory at West Haven. With the victory, West Haven improved to 18-3 and advanced to the conference quarterfinals.
Morris led the Westies with 21 points, including five 3-pointers. Morris had 11 points in the first quarter, and he connected on three 3-pointers in the first quarter to give West Haven leads of 7-2 and 19-8.
Roman added 16 points, including six points in each of the second and third quarters. Kitson scored 12 points, Sirabionian added nine points, and Ricardo Harris scored seven points.
Up by 11 points, West Haven put the game out of reach with a 22-3 second quarter run to take a 41-11 lead.
West Haven advanced to the SCC semifinals with a 62-50 victory over No. 6 Shelton. Sirabionian led three Westies in double figures with 15 points, including six in the fourth quarter, while Roman and Johnson each scored 13 points.
The Westies trailed 25-23 late in the second quarter before a free throw by Roman and a basket by Sirabionian with 45 seconds remaining in the opening half gave the Westies a 26-25 advantage.
Sirabionian opened the third quarter with a dunk, and Roman added a bucket for a 30-25 advantage. Trailing 32-30, West Haven took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Morris.
A pair of dunks by Johnson sandwiched a 3-pointer by Morris for a 44-35 lead with 1:35 remaining in the third quarter. West Haven pulled away in the fourth quarter as a dunk by Sirabionian increased the lead to 48-37, and another dunk by Johnson gave the Westies a 54-40 lead.
The Westies were eliminated from the SCC tournament, falling to Notre Dame,75-52, in the semifinal round. West Haven trailed by three points after one quarter of play, but foul trouble hurt the Westies as they trailed 31-20 at the half.
The Green Knights extended their lead over the Westies to 51-31 after three quarters and were never threatened again.
Sirabionian led the Westies with 15 points, while Roman and Ricardo Harris each scored nine points in the loss. Abdou Toure led all scorers with 29 points for Notre Dame.
The West Haven girls basketball team fell at Career, 56-40. Perez Rosario led the way with 12 points as the Westies dropped to 13-6 on the year.
The Westies closed the season in impressive fashion with a 64-25 home win over Newtown. With the victory, West Haven ended the season with a 14-6 record.
Noelle Lawrence led the way with 18 points, 10 assists, and eight steals. Fatoumata Keita had 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Tiranke Keita added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Westies won the game in the first half, leading 13-3 after one quarter and 35-10 at the half. Da’Navia Pittman hit a 3-pointer in each quarter and finished with six points, while Larence had 11 first half points and Tiranke Keita had 10 first half points. Breyanna Tucker also finished with six points in the win.
West Haven opened the Southern Connecticut Conference tournament by avenging a late-season loss to Career. Behind 32 points from Lawrence, fifth-seeded West Haven topped No. 12 Career, 67-38, in the opening round of the tournament to improve to 15-6 on the year.
Madden Evangeliste, Fatoumata Keita, Tiranke Keita, and Breyanna Tucker all scored seven points in the victory.
Down 13-11 in the opening quarter, West Haven took the lead for good when Lawrence and Tucker drained 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds. The Westies led 33-25 at the half as Fatoumata Keita scored five points in the second quarter.
Any chance of a Career comeback disappeared as the Westies went on a 19-5 third quarter run, highlighted by Lawrence’s 15 points. Lawrence, who drained a pair of 3-pointers for a 43-26 lead, scored 23 of her 32 points in the second half.
The Westies advanced to the SCC semifinals with a 57-43 victory at fourth-seeded Guilford. Tiranke Keita led the Westies with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Lawrence had 19 points and eight steals.
The run in the conference playoffs ended against top-seeded Sacred Heart Academy in a 53-31 loss. The Westies played well in the first half, trailing just 28-23 after 16 minutes.
West Haven’s offense went cold in the second half, scoring just eight points. The Westies were outscored 21-6 in the third quarter as Sacred Heart Academy took a 49-29 lead.
Tiranke Keita led the Westies with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The West Haven boys hockey team will be playing in the postseason. Led by a pair of goals from Connor Moriarty, West Haven defeated Han, 6-1, to improve to 7-8-2 on the year.
The victory also kept the Westies undefeated in their last six games with a 4-0-2 record.
West Haven scored the lone goal of the first period when Cam Lipford scored in front off an assist from Brody Bush, before the Westies put the game away with three goals in the second period.
Moriarty gave West Haven a 2-0 lead off an assist from Luca DiLegge at the 6:09 mark, before Sean Bush scored off assists from Leo Mazuroski and Adam McGlone with 3:45 left in the second. Tyler McColgan scored 33 seconds later off assists from Trey Wanerka and Dhruva Garani.
Leading 4-1, Moriarty increased the margin to four goals with an unassisted goal 5:02 into the third, before Kyle Guarino added a late unassisted goal in the final two minutes.
Just one game after qualifying for the postseason, West Haven fell to Milford. The Westies jumped out a 2-0 lead, but Milford scored the final three goals to secure the win.
Lipford needed just 11 seconds into the game to score when he came down the left wing and found the back of the net. Moriarty scored 2:50 later off an assist from Mazuroski, but that was all the scoring on the day for the Westies as they fell to 7-9-2.
Kai Lupa made 25 saves in the loss.
West Haven got back on the winning track with a 6-4 win over Glastonbury. Led by two goals and an assist from both Moriarty and DiLegge, West Haven improved to 8-9-2.
The Westies jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead as Moriarty scored off assists from Jack Wellins and Guarino, before Guarino scored an unassisted goal 1:17 later.
Glastonbury closed the period with three goals in the final 4:59, before Sean Bush scored 1:15 into the second off an assist from Wellins to even the game at three. DiLegge scored an unassisted goal with 6:04 remaining in the middle period, but Glastonbury evened the game at four 2:21 into the third.
That would be the last tie of the game as Moriarty scored the go-ahead goal 5:07 into the third off assists from DiLegge and Wanerka, and DiLegge closed the scoring with a short-handed goal off an assist from Moriarty with 1:36 remaining.
West Haven closed the season in impressive fashion with an 11-3 Senior Night victory over Notre Dame Prep. The Westies had 15 different players in the scoring column as they closed the regular season with a 9-9-2 record.
Sean Bush led the way with three goals, DiLegge had one goal and three assists, Vincenzo Trevetten and Mazuroski each had three assists, McColgan scored twice, Jack Wellins had a goal and two assists, and Aedan Guarino finished with a goal and an assist.
Trailing 1-0, Sean Bush sent the game to the first intermission tied when he scored with 6:34 left in the opening period off assists from Aedan Guarino and Alex Cretella.
The Westies took the lead for good with four second period goals. DiLegge gave West Haven a 2-1 lead, before Sean Bush scored his second of the game for a 3-2 lead with 8:41 left in the second.
McColgan and Wellins added goals 1:39 apart in the final 7:06 of the second period for a 5-2 lead. Trey Wanerka, Sean Bush, McGlone, and Moriarty extended the lead to 9-2, before McColgan and Aedan Guarino added late goals.
Jack Bartels and Lupa combined to pick up the win in goal.
The season has come to a close for the West Haven/Sacred Heart Academy girls hockey team. Traveling to play fourth-seeded Guilford in the opening round of the Southern Connecticut Conference tournament, fifth-seeded WH/SHA fell, 5-3, in East Haven.
Rylee DeSanto was stellar in goal as she finished with 47 saves. DeSanto was particularly impressive in the first two periods, where she made 20 saves in the opening period and 22 more in the second period.
DeSanto’s play helped keep the game even at one after the first period. Trailing 1-0, the Westie Sharks evened the game when Hailey Azzarone scored off an assist from Alina Lipinsky with 5:15 remaining in the opening period.
Guilford again took a one-goal lead in the second period, but the Westie Sharks responded 19 seconds later to even the game when Olivia Twarowski scored off an assist from Caty Aloi 1:54 into the middle period.
The Grizzlies then scored the next three goals, including two more in the second period for a 4-2 lead after two periods and a 5-2 advantage 58 seconds into the third period.
The Westie Sharks capped the scoring with 5:52 remaining in the contest as Azzarone scored her second goal of the game off an assist from Brooklynn Maher.
The Westie Sharks finished the season with a 3-14-2 record.