After a brief hiatus, the sports scene heated up again as the weather starts to get colder with the five-team (basketball. hockey, indoor track, swimming and wrestling) winter sports season getting underway this past week.
Basketball — Connor Raines broke a tie game making two free throws with 2.9 seconds left to lift the seventh-ranked Green Knights to a 64-61 road win at 11th-ranked east Lyme to open the 2018-19 season. Raines added another free throw after East Lyme called a timeout that they didn’t have to provide the final margin. The Green Knights trailed by 10 at halftime and by as many as 13 early in the second half before outscoring the Vikings, 18-6, to pull ahead, 47-45, at the end of the third stanza. Jaedin Kimbro had a game-high 23 for the Green Knights. Raines and Zach Laput added nine points each.
Hockey — The Green Knights split a pair of games this week as the Larry Vieira era got underway. Rory and Charlie Andriole scored to give ND a 2-0 lead against New Canaan to start the season but the Rams scored five unanswered in their 5-2 win. ND flipped the script getting goals from five different players in their 5-2 win over ND Fairfield on Saturday afternoon. Connor Smith made 22 saves to record his first win in net. Tom Ashmore, John-Michael Childs, Mike Card, Thomas Hunt, and Charlie Andriole all lit the lamp for the Green Knights, who scored in every period.
Indoor Track — The sprinters ruled the roost in the meet with Notre Dame teams finishing in the top three in four of the six events at the SCSU Relay Rust Buster Meet on Saturday. Leading the way was the 4×400 relay team which won the event and posted a state qualifying mark. That team consisted of Warren Murphy, Neal Agir, Dan Range, and Christian Panagrossi. The 4×200, 4×800 and Johan Klein-Robbenhaar (shot put) also posted state qualifying marks in the first meet of the season for head coach Glenn Xavier.
Wrestling — Alex Barbour won the 182-pound division to lead the wrestling team to a 5th-place showing at the Shelton Invitational on Saturday, December 15. Khorbin Kern placed third in the 285-pound division as did Gianni Liguori in the 152-pound weight class. Chris Fillion, Sebastian Buenano, and Rob Lowe all finished fourth in their respective weight classes helping the Green Knights accumulate 105 points for their fifth place team accomplishment.
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