Super Saturday of FCIAC Basketball

Warde's Brendan O'Hara plays defense against Trumbull (My photo)

It was Super Saturday in high school boys basketball, also known as the FCIAC boys basketball quarterfinals. 

Eight teams, four games, all at Fairfield Warde. Always a fun, long, crazy day. 

The schedule and matchups were as follows: 

No. 3 Danbury vs. No. 6 Stamford, Noon

No. 2 Warde vs. No. 7 Trumbull, 2 p.m.

No. 4 Staples vs. No. 5 Wilton, 5 p.m.

No. 1 Ridgefield vs. No. 8 New Canaan, 7 p.m.

Danbury and Stamford was back and forth throughout the game. A good battle. The Hatters did enough late to come away with an 11-point victory, 52-41, but the game was closer to the score. 

Danbury was led by Christian Jeffers 24 points, including nine points from the foul line. 

Game number two featured Warde, on their home floor, taking on Trumbull. The Mustangs took a 17-10 lead after one quarter and built a double-digit lead in the second quarter. At halftime, Warde led by 10 in a high-scoring affair, 40-30. 

Trumbull cut Warde's lead to four late in the third, before Jack Plesser's buzzer-beating three-pointer put the Mustangs up seven, 54-47 after three quarters.

No. 3 Danbury vs. No. 6 Stamford, Noon No. 2 Warde vs. No. 7 Trumbull, 2 p.m. No. 4 Staples vs. No. 5 Wilton, 5 p.m. No. 1 Ridgefield vs. No. 8 New Canaan, 7 p.m.

Video of Jack Plesser’s third quarter buzzer beater. (Video posted earlier accidentally got deleted) #ctbb pic.twitter.com/qinNlPUYCO

— Shawn Sailer (@ShawnSailer) February 26, 2023

Warde held a 62-54 lead with 4:47 to play before Trumbull began to chip away. With 1:58 left, Trumbull took a one-point lead, 65-64. 

Warde tied the game at 65 with 1:30 left and the game would remain that was through the end of regulation. Both teams has a chance to win in the closing seconds, but turnovers hurt both teams. 

Overtime was a free-throw contest, as only one basket was made, but Trumbull hit more free throws to come away with a 76-70 victory. 

Luca Antonio and Brandon Fowler each had 18 points for Trumbull, while Sean Racette added 12. Jack Plesser had 33 points for Warde in the loss, which was the high for all scorers across the four games. 

To the nightcap portion of the day. 

Staples and Wilton were up next. This was a good battle between two good, similar teams. Both teams can shoot and and are also physical. Staples kept a lead throughout much of the game and came away with a 10 point victory, 53-43. 

Samson Clachko led Staples with 14 points, while Chris Zajac and Cody Sale each had 13 for the Wreckers in the victory. 

The final game of the night was the top seeded Ridgefield Tigers taking on the New Canaan Rams. Two teams that play great defense, slow the game down and run good offensive sets. 

This often means low-scoring games. 

This was the case with this game. 

Ridgefield held a 9-7 lead after one thanks to a buzzer-beating floater in the lane by Evan Kozedba. 

End one: Ridgefield 9 New Canaan 7. Evan Kozdeba floater beats the buzzer. #ctbb pic.twitter.com/dx6zwO46hv

— Shawn Sailer (@ShawnSailer) February 26, 2023 

At the break, Ridgefield led by three 21-18. 

The Tigers tried to pull away in the third as the built up a seven point lead, 33-24 with two minutes left in the quarter, and were getting New Canaan into foul trouble, with seven team fouls in the first six minutes of the half. 

After three, Ridgefield led 35-27. 

Ridgefield just extended their lead in the fourth to pull away for the double-digit victory 47-33.  

Ridgefield was led by Sean Sosa's 10 points. He was the only Tiger is double-figures as they got very balanced scoring across the board. Jack Hladick led New Canaan with nine points. 

Danbury will face Trumbull in the first game of the FCIAC semifinals on Tuesday at 5:30pm at Wilton High School and Staples and Ridgefield will follow. The winners will meet in the FCIAC Championship on Thursday.*

*The dates are subject to change with possible snow this week. Visit FCIAC.net for updates/changes. 

It was interesting to see no media at the games. Normally, there are reporters from multiple outlets and often multiple reporters from the same outlet doing different things at these games. Also, we need professional, qualified broadcasters on these games. It's disappointing as the student-athletes and teams deserve the coverage.