NORWICH - Wrapping up the first half of the basketball season with a 7-4 record, the Norwich Free Academy boys basketball team projects as a bit of a mystery among the Eastern Connecticut Conference heavyweight hierarchy.
The Wildcats built a 6-0 record mostly against an up-and-down, cross-state schedule with the best win coming against East Hartford. Three close losses followed to Wethersfield, No. 6 Holy Cross and New London.
The Wildcats, who fell to surging East Lyme (10-1) on Wednesday, have proven to be a respectable squad built on a tough man-to-man defense, hustle and a deep bench of 11 players. But even their coach Chris Giusti admits the jury is still out on how successful this current NFA squad will be in ECC Division I and the CIAC Division I state tournament.
“I think we are still a work in progress,” Giusti said after NFA posted a workman-like 52-41 win over ECC Division II Bacon Academy earlier in the week. “We are what we are offensively. Do we have a go-to guy? I think we’re a team that has to execute our game plan, dive and hustle all over the floor and play our tough defense.”
NFA’s offense has bogged down recently, topping 55 points just once in the last five games, with the struggles coming to a head in the sluggish win over Bacon and the loss to East Lyme, Giusti has termed the effort, which included scoring just 23 points at halftime against the Bobcats, as “sub-par.”
The Wildcats fired up jump shots instead of penetrating inside against a smallish Bacon team.
“We wrote in big letters on the board before the game “Attack the Basket,” Giusti said. “For a team with nine seniors, it was disappointing they settled for jump shots.”
NFA relies on more balanced scoring than some ECC heavyweights such as East Lyme, which features guard Dev Ostrowski, who had 18 points in the win over the Wildcats; Ledyard, which has 6-5 center Trevor Hutchings (17 points, 15 rebounds a game); and Waterford, which showcases an explosive scoring point guard in Mikey Buscetto.
NFA 6-foot-2 senior swingman Aidan Miller is the closest the Wildcats have to show for a go-to scorer. At times, Miller, who averages 16 points, has taken over games. He scored 26 in a close loss to New London and 21 in a romp over Fitch. He’s shooting well over 50 percent on two-point field goals and nearly 38 percent on threes.
Miller averages a couple of threes per game.
Giusti said he would welcome if Miller, a three-year varsity player, would become more assertive on offense as he is the likeliest candidate to step up to that role. NFA’s 6-foot-5 senior center Bret Wood has established himself as a double-digit scorer (13 points), but as a combo guard, Miller will get the ball in his hands more often.
Giusti says the team’s foundation is its base of nine seniors, who all see playing time.
Miller and Wood join Alec Gomes and Brendan Sholes (8 points) as starters. Senior Brendan Mahar has started several games as a third guard, while classmate Maloyid Perkins has started a handful of games at guard. Senior Tyler Briggs is one of NFA’s top frontcourt subs, and seniors Elijah Sanchez and Evans Sanon also see time.
“I like to play a lot of kids,” Giusti said. “Committing to playing for NFA takes up a lot of their free time. I reward their dedication by getting them in the game.”
The only underclassmen in the rotation are junior swingman Nik Hay, the top scorer off the bench, sophomore guard Xavier Marquez and 6-4 freshman shooting guard Mason Jackson.
Jackson is an intriguing prospect, one who averaged 35 points a game at Sayles School in Sprague and starred at the AAU level. He plays JV and gets into varsity games to see if he can get a hot shooting hand. He’s averaged about three points in his limited action.
“Jackson is going to be good,” Giusti said, “but now he’s getting used to the speed of the varsity game.”
NFA will continue to prepare for the speed of the ECC Division I and CIAC Division I tournaments. In the state’s realignment of post-season tournaments from four to five classes, Division I drew perhaps the state’s best 21 teams, all of whom have qualified for the tourney regardless of their won-lost record.
NFA, despite its strong record at the halfway mark, was seeded just 14th out of 21 teams. Only three of the 21 DI teams had losing records.
“We’re playing Division I states,” Giusti said, “so that’s why we’ve played such a demanding schedule.”
