JEWETT CITY - The scheduling of Norwich Tech and Griswold in a non-league boys' basketball game is a win-win for both teams.
For Norwich Tech, coach Jeff Brown believes competing against an athletic public school program prepares his team for the speed of what the Warriors might see in the state tournament.
For Griswold, the game is local and saves on a trip out of the area to play a non-league game.
It was a win-win literally for Norwich Tech last year as the Warriors recorded a rare upset of an ECC school, beating Griswold. This year, form held serve as Griswold dominated en route to a 67-35 victory to improve to 6-2.
"Don't remind me about the game last year," Griswold coach Rob Mileski said. "They ran a box and one and we did not do well in any area, offense defense or coaching. I give Jeff Brown all the credit."
Mileski coached Brown in the '90s when he was NFA jayvee coach. The two remain friendly adversaries and have started a non-league home-and-home non-league rivalry.
"I told my kids to keep their head up," Brown said. "I'm not going to schedule a game against a winless team across the state when I can play a good team here. We've played Griswold, Killingly, Plainfield and Stonington so far. We play them to get ready for the better teams in our league and for the states and for the speed of what what we'll see there."
Norwich Tech (2-6) took a 4-2 lead on Giovanni Young's three-point basket and Brandon Mayerson's free throw two minutes into the game. After that, it was all Griswold, literally.
The Wolverines deluged the Warriors with a downpour of threes (seven) and tightened their halfcourt defense to go on a 34-3 run to lead 36-7. Evan Wagner, who led Tech with seven points, hit a three with 4:27 left in the second quarter to close the gap to 36-10. It marked Norwich Tech's second field goal of the game.
Max Gregory (11 points), Bryce Mileski (14 points) and Pharoah Curtis 12 points) each made a pair of threes in the run, which saw Griswold lead 23-7 after one quarter. The Wolverines, who played 11 in the first half, scored the first 13 points of the second quarter.
Mileski never ordered a press and pulled his starters with five minutes left in the third quarter with Griswold up, 49-18.
The Wolverines hit seven threes in the first half, giving them 21 in the last two wins - they hit 14 against Wheeler.
"We can't rely only on the threes," Mileski said. "We have to get things going inside. We play Windham (Friday) and we'll need more balance."