Maloney boys basketball uses depth to stay perfect in Connecticut

Last season, Maloney (Meriden) boys basketball coach Howie Hewitt had a team with great depth but no real individual standouts. Still, the Spartans went 15-7. This season with a group of many of the same players Maloney is 15-0 and ranked seventh in the state writers' poll.

"This year's team is not much different," Hewitt said. "Last year, we had a couple of kids who were pretty good players. But we returned a lot of guys who have played a lot. I don't mean 32 minutes a game, I just mean during the course of the last two or three years, they've been on the court as a varsity player and those kids are now, it's their second or third year doing it, and it's helping us a lot.

"We've got a lot of guards, which is critical and more big men than we've ever had since I've been here," added Hewitt, who took over as head coach in 1985 and won the Class L championship in 2008. "Ryan Belote is an outstanding player for us, our leading scorer. He's been a varsity guy for all his years at Maloney, but everybody has been a high scorer one game or leading assist guy in another. Everyone is contributing. The sum of our parts is truly greater than the whole."

Senior Belote, an outstanding outside shooter, is averaging 17.3 points at a 51 percent shooting percentage along with 4.7 rebounds a game. Senior Gemel Mcleod, another guard, is the leading assist man at 4.1 a game while averaging three steals and is in double figures in scoring (10.5). Junior Darrius Edwards (2.7 assists, 6.4 points) and Jahlil Askew (9.1 points, 2.1 assists) are also big contributors in the backcourt.



"I don't name our kids any of those (positions, i.e. point guard)," Hewitt said. "If we had to call one of them, Darrius Edwards would be our point guard. Those four guards have worked so well together. I can put any combination of two or three of them on the floor and we have guys who can handle the ball, guys who can shoot it, guys who can pass. It's been a real strength."

Inside, 6-foot-4 senior Zach Zachary Milslagle leads the team in rebounding (7.1) while adding 1.7 blocks and 9.3 points a game.

"Zach is unbelievable, he's 6-4 and jumps out of the gym," Hewitt said. "He can make 3s and he's good around the basket. He's a tough guy to guard."

Hewitt mixes in the press to take advantage of his team's depth and quickness.

"Teams have been ahead of us at the first quarter, some even at the half, we just think that part of our success has been we've been able to keep going with different guys going in and out," Hewitt said. "Where other teams don't have the luxury. We don't know if that's the case, but it seems like it probably is."

Maloney is 10-0 in the Central Connecticut Conference South Division and can wrap up the title with one more victory. They have two division games this week.



"No matter who you're coaching at whatever level, 15-0 is a surprise to anybody," said Hewitt, who became the career coaching victories leader at Maloney in the second game of the season (341-202), passing his former coach Norb Fahey. "Anybody can lose anytime. We don't have that 6-foot-7 inside guy who can bail you out at both ends of the court or a 6-3 guard who can be hard to guard. We don't have anybody like that. We don't have a Division I player on our team. We might not have a Division II player on our team. And that's not a knock on our guys, it just shows that the combined efforts have been as important as having one or two really great players."

STORYLINES
* West Haven's Adam Mink sent a wrist shot past No. 4 Notre Dame (West Haven) goalie Greg Harney with 3:17 left in regulation for the winner in the No. 8 Westies' 3-2 SCC victory.

* No. 5 Hillhouse (New Haven) boys basketball made it a clean sweep of crosstown rival Wilbur Cross (New Haven) in the teams' second meeting of the year as Freddie Wilson scored a game-high 21 points in a 67-58 SCC victory.

* No. 1 New London boys basketball survived a four-point deficit at halftime to Stonington in a slow-down game and rallied for a 52-38 ECC victory behind Kris Dunn's 28 points.

* Lyman Hall (Wallingford) boys basketball clinched the SCC Housatonic Division title with a 42-41 victory over Amity (Woodbridge).

* Old Saybrook swept the boys and girls team titles at the Shoreline Conference Indoor Track Championships. The boys outpointed East Hampton 86-80 and the girls won with 120 points over second-place East Hampton with 91.



TOP PERFORMERS
Indoor Track
* Kellie Davis, Hillhouse (New Haven): The sophomore was a triple winner at the Southern Connecticut Conference Indoor Track Championships with victories in the 1,000 (2:58.77), 1,600 (5:17.21) and 3,200 meters (11:28.67).

* Jake Scinto, Cheshire: The junior won two events at the SCC Indoors, the long jump (21 feet, 9 1/2 inches) and a school record 6-7 in the high jump.

Girls Basketball
* Felicia Ferraro, Lyman Hall (Wallingford): Scored 27 points and had 11 rebounds in a 60-51 SCC Housatonic victory over Amity (Woodbridge).

* Sarah Royals and Alyssa Otis, Torrington: Royals scored 27 points and Otis had 14 points, five steals, five assists and 10 rebounds in a 69-34 Naugatuck Valley League victory over Sacred Heart (Waterbury).

Girls Hockey
* Jordan Ruocco, North Haven: Scored two of her team's three goals in the third period to help secure a 4-3 SCC victory over Hand (Madison).

Boys Basketball
* Timajh Parker, St. Joseph (Trumbull): Scored 28 points and had 14 rebounds and four blocked shots in the seventh-ranked Cadets' 58-52 FCIAC victory over Norwalk.

BRIEFS
Jana Persky, a senior captain for the New Canaan girls hockey team, moved up to second on the state career list in points with 190 after scoring three goals and making two assists in a 6-1 victory over Guilford. ... The CIAC this past week ruled to allow the re-scheduling of games on Sundays for the remainder of the winter season because of the many postponements brought on by weather-related school cancellations. Many teams are facing three- and four-game weeks to complete their regular seasons before conference and state tournaments begin.



Paul Rosano, the former assistant sport editor of The Hartford Courant and sports editor of The New Haven Register, covers Connecticut for MaxPreps.com. He may be reached at pjrosano@cox.net.