NEWINGTON - Basketball is a simple game. You want to make more shots than you miss and sometimes you simply can’t miss. Both were the case for the Newington boys basketball team when they played host to Rocky Hill last Tuesday night.

       The Indians offensive lit up the scoreboard, en route to a 102-45 victory over the outmanned Terriers at Richard Rogalski Gymnasium. The productive team reached the rarified air of surpassing the 100-point mark, helping chalk up its 11th win in as many games.

       Newington offensive was unstoppable all night and led by 19 points at the half, but officially broke the game open in the second half, outscoring Rocky Hill 30-14 in the third quarter.

       â€�"For the season, the third quarter has been our quarter,” said Newington guard Connor Buckley. â€�"We’ve been coming out and putting it on teams. We know what we have to do after halftime.”

       Nick Guadarrama was held scoreless in the first half, but ignited for 13 points in the decisive quarter. The junior forward finished with 17 points and hauled down eight rebounds.

       Fellow junior Jared Simmons scored a team-high 18, including eight in the third. The prolific point guard added 10 assists, including a perfectly timed alley-oop pass to Guadarrama, who finished with a thunderous dunk, ballooning the lead to 61-33 midway through the quarter.

       The conference tilt marked the first time the teams had met since 2013. Simmons recalled the game and remembered losing to Rocky Hill during his first season at Newington.

       â€�"My freshman year we lost to them. It was a heartbreaker and I thought we should have beat them,” said Simmons. â€�"So beating them by this much was a big win for us.”

       The final score was lopsided, but early in the contest Rocky Hill matched Newington shot-for-shot. There were a half-dozen lead changes over the first four minutes of the game and the visitors briefly held a 7-6 advantage following a layup from senior James Sekorski.

       â€�"We had to pick up the defensive intensity,” Simmons remarked about the slow start. â€�"We had to stop them from getting into the lane and getting easy lay-ups.”

       Newington shut down the driving lanes and closed the opening quarter on a 15-6 run, sparked by Buckley, who canned two three pointers. The sharp-shooting senior added another trifecta midway through the second quarter, which was part of a 12-point run by the home team.

       â€�"It felt good tonight,” Buckley said about his shot. â€�"My shot has been off a little lately, so I worked on it. I got a little more arc to it and it just fell for me tonight.”

       Guadarrama, Simmons and Buckley rested for a majority of the fourth quarter, as did fellow starters Brett Frank (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Pablo Ortiz (11 points). The five gave way to the bench, who outscored Rocky Hill’s reserves 26-4 in the final quarter. Matthew McKinnon took full advantage of the playing time, scoring 10 points off the pine, including six straight during a 13-0 run midway through the quarter.

       Besides Simmons-to-Guadarrama’s highlight reel alley-oop, the loudest cheers of the night came when sophomore James Holley Jr. banked in a shot, breaking the 100-point barrier with less than a minute to play.

       Newington’s student section, decked out in beach attire for the Hawaiian-theme night, erupted following Holley’s shot. Newington’s 102 points is even more impressive when you consider that a high school basketball game is only 32 minutes in length, meaning the Indians scored over three points per minute of game-play.

       Sometimes NBA teams give away free tacos or other goodies when the home team breaks the 100-point barrier, but it’s so rare in high school basketball that the attending fans left only with the memory of the tremendous offensive exhibition.

       â€�"There was a huge buzz in the crowd, as we’ve never seen our team score 100 before,” said Newington soccer star and student-section spectator Joey Terranova. â€�"Everyone was getting anxious for it to happen, especially against a crosstown rival like Rocky Hill.”

       Following the tough loss, Rocky Hill head coach Josh Dinerman was complimentary of undefeated Indians.

       â€�"They’re an exceptional team and are very well-coached. They’re disciplined and have a lot of talent,” said Dinerman. â€�"They are one of the top teams in the state and they really showed it. They took it to us. You make one simple mistake and then it’s a snowball effect. They pushed us around tonight.”

       The loss dropped the Terriers to 2-7, but despite the slow start, Dinerman and his boys have reason to believe the final month of the season will be different.

       â€�"We’ve had a lot of four- and six-point games. We’ve worked on those situations, like executing at the end of the game. We’ve got to be more mentally tough and we just have to be stronger with the ball. We’ve got to limit our mistakes and capitalize,” added Dinerman. â€�"Also we have to get some guys healthy. We’ve been a second-half team the last three years, so hopefully we can turn it around.”

       The Terriers have a solid lineup, led by marksman Nick Casiano, who leads the team in scoring this season. The junior scored a team-high 18 points in the loss at Newington and was the only Terrier to score in double-figures. Senior Dylan Chasse added nine points, all from behind the arc.

       The shorthanded team’s brutal schedule got tougher a few nights later when they traveled to Middletown, losing 67-42 last Friday night. It was the Terriers’ fourth consecutive loss and marked the ninth win in a row for the Blue Dragons.

       Newington improved to 12-0 that same night, winning an epic 73-71 double-overtime thriller in Wethersfield. Simmons again paced the team with 25 points and 10 dimes.

       The unblemished team is enjoying beating their rivals, but they realize that their ultimate goal is only obtainable if they are victorious in March.

       â€�"Of course that our long-term goal,” Buckley said of an eventual shot at the state championship. â€�"But it’s one game at a time for now.”

       â€�"We have to take every game like it’s our first and come out with the same intensity every game,” added Simmons.

       Newington’s next challenge is this Thursday when take a short bus ride to Berlin High School to battle the Redcoats. Game tips at 7 p.m.

       Rocky Hill returns to the court that same night at Ellis Tech High School in Danielson for a 7 p.m. tip.

      

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