Newington Basketball Rolling into States

(Newington's Jared Simmons scored a game-high17 points in the win at Wethersfield) 

The boys’ basketball team at Newington muddled through a tough early-season schedule, losing four of five games prior to the end of December.

So far 2017 has been a different story.

The Indians closed the regular season on a high note, winning 13 of their final 15 games, including a 57-41 victory at rival Wethersfield last Tuesday night.

“That’s a good Wethersfield team that we beat. To beat them and end the season 14-6, I’m very proud of our team,” said Newington head coach Scot Wenzel, who added that his veteran players were the catalyst behind the turnaround this season, “I give a lot of credit to our seniors for grinding it out. In the beginning it was tough, but they were able to turn things around with their leadership and by keeping everyone focused on what we needed to accomplish. Things started to click for us.”

One of those seniors is Jared Simmons, who is the team’s leading scorer and has assumed a bulk of the leadership responsibility.

Simmons opened the game at Wethersfield by knocking down a three-pointer on the team’s first possession and the team never looked back.

The all-state guard also canned a triple to open the second quarter and finished with a game-high 17 points.

“My brother preaches to me that I need to start coming into games more aggressively as we get later in the season, because the games are going to get tougher. If I play lackadaisical coming out, it’s going to be a long game,” said Simmons, who feels that the early-season troubles helped motivate the team, “Losing those games early on gave us that fire to do better at practice, do better in games and get the confidence going into the conference and state tournaments.”

Newington led wire-to-wire, but the Eagles battled valiantly on their home court in the first quarter, narrowing the gap to 11-10 on a short turnaround from Mike Mozzicato, who led the Eagles with 15 points.

James Sullivan scored ten points and Connor Peterson added nine more for Wethersfield.

The one-point margin was as close as the home team would get.

The Indians scored the next seven points, five by Simmons, and put the game on ice in the third quarter, holding the Eagles to a mere seven points in the frame.

“I thought that we did a very good job of attacking them, especially Jared. He can do so many different things for us, but I think that’s his strongest attribute,” stated Wenzel.

It was the second time Newington defeated their conference and crosstown foes this season, also winning 64-47 at NHS back on Jan 20.

The win Tuesday night was Newington’s fourth straight over the Eagles, who finished the regular season 12-8.  

“It’s a good feeling,” Simmons said about beating Wethersfield, “Knowing how big the rivalry is and how long it goes back makes it a good feeling.”

Simmons, who is averaging 22 points per game, was also the leading man a season ago when the team finished the regular season 20-0 and breezed through the first three rounds of the Class L tourney before losing an overtime-heartbreaker in the semifinal round to Middletown.

Following the season, the team graduated six players and watched as productive junior Nick Guadaramma transfer out of state, leaving Simmons without a proven wingman.

Despite the departures, the team has banded together and had several players fill the vacancies, including talented middleman Matt McKinnon.

McKinnon scored 10 points and hauled down 10 rebounds in the win Tuesday night. The senior has been an automatic double-double and has garnered the respect of his coaches, teammates, and his opponents.

“He’s worked his butt off. He lifted a lot of weights in the offseason and physically he’s gotten a lot stronger. I think the biggest change is his confidence, he wants the ball and he’s able to do a lot of things down low for us,” Wenzel said of McKinnon, “He does a lot of stuff that people don’t see. He’s averaged a double-double and he does a lot of the dirty work for us.”

Simmons added that he had a conversation with McKinnon following last season to discuss his expanded role. McKinnon not only filled the role, but he has flourished with the heavier workload.

“He had a great offseason and he’s a great kid,” said Simmons, “He works hard and moving on he knows that if we want to go far he’s going to have to keep doing what he’s doing.”

Simmons and McKinnon have formed a terrific one-two punch, but a handful of role players have found their niche as the season has progressed.

Junior James Holley has been clutch during the second half of the season and pitched in with 10 points off the bench in the win over Wethersfield, including a pair of three-pointers.    

Andres Ithier-Vincente has been a great facilitator on the offensive end and Timmy Rivera and Nate Alleyne have helped McKinnon down low.  

“Obviously Jared and McKinnon have been very solid for us all season, but now the other guys have been stepping up in the second half of the season,” added the veteran coach.

The key to the team’s success is a stout, disciplined defense and an unselfish attitude offensively. Four or five players touched the ball on many of their possessions Tuesday night.

“That’s how we want to attack them, but we want that unselfishness every game. We want to make sure we move the ball and make that extra pass so we can get the best shot possible,” added Wenzel, “You saw that all night tonight. I’m very proud of how we played tonight.”

The victory allowed Newington to host an opening-round game to start the CCC tournament last Thursday. The Indians fell to Windsor 82-68, despite 25 points from McKinnon.

Wethersfield traveled to East Hartford to open the tourney, losing 85-79.

The team’s now turn their attention to Connecticut’s version of March Madness.

Newington’s coach and floor general agree that the key to success in the state tourney will come down to the team’s ability to play mistake free.

“I’d like to see us eliminate some of these turnovers,” stated Wenzel, “It limits your touches and it limits your opportunities to put points on the board. We have to do a better job at that, especially at the end of quarters and at the end of halves.”

“The past couple of games we’ve had dumb turnovers that are giving teams run and making games closer than they should be,” added Simmons.

Both Newington and Wethersfield will be back in action on Tuesday, March 7 when the opening-round of the Class L tourney tips.

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