Mens Basketball Fights Hard But Falls Short Against Trinity

By: Colin Sullivan

            On Tuesday, January 22, the Darien Mens Basketball Team was defeated by Trinity Catholic High School with a final score of 54 to 47.

            Going into the game, Darien was without 3 key players: junior point guard Matt Staubi, junior center Chima Azuonwu, and junior center Ames Murray. Staubi is out for one week with an injured knee and ankle, Azuonwu is out for two weeks with an injured knee, and Murray will return from his head injury this Friday.

            Trinity, with one of the best records in the FCIAC and with a point guard who is going to play at a Division-One school next year, came into the gym like they had already won the game. Darien came out throwing the first punches, surprising the overconfident Trinity team with a strong intensity.

 After Trinity scored six points to start the game, junior Bobby Fitzpatrick got DHS on the board early with a jump shot in the paint. From here until the end, the game stayed extremely close at about a four point throughout. At the end of the first quarter, the score was Darien 8 to Trinity 12. At the end of the first half, Darien trailed Trinity 24 to 29.

            Darien got on the board first in the second half, turning it into a three-point game. With about two minutes left in the third quarter, the game was tied at 36. By the end of the third quarter, Trinity led 41 to 38.

            With four minutes left in the fourth quarter, the score was Trinity 41, Darien 40. Darien continued to battle for the remainder of the quarter, however Trinity ended up wining with a final score of 54 to 47.

            After the game, junior Ames Murray said, “It was a game where we had nothing as a team, we were missing three players to our squad and people were expecting us to get blown out of the gym. We all pulled together as a team and played our style of basketball. Even though we lost I think that it was a great game for us as a team to know that we can hold our own against one of the premier teams in not only the FCIAC but also the state.”

            Darien’s next game is this Friday, January 25 against Staples at 7:00 p.m. at Darien. Come and support the Blue Wave!

 Caption: The team getting up to cheer during a timeout (Stamford Advocate).