Staples edges Darien’s Boys Basketball in a 53-47 victory

By Ryan Filippone

On Friday, January 25, Darien Boys Basketball recorded a loss at home against a strong Staples team.  Darien got off to a quick start, winning the opening tip and scoring on its second possession with a basket by senior captain Kyle Green.  Darien was scoring on offense, up 4-0 early, and falling back into a 2-3 zone on defense. After making its free throws, Staples finally got on the board with 2:46 left in the first quarter.  After the Blue Wave’s hot start Staples switched to a 1-3-1 zone, which seemed to be effective.  The Blue Wave cooled down and Staples ended the first quarter up 12-6.

In the second quarter, Darien switched to man defense and Staples bailed them out with many missed opportunities.  Green’s low post presence for Darien on offense forced Staples to switch into man-to-man defense with two and a half minutes left.  Staples point guard, senior captain James Frusciante, was the star for Staples, creating shots for his teammates as well as himself.  Heading into halftime Darien was up 21-19. 

In the third quarter, Staples came out strong on defense and rotated well in its 2-3 zone. The pressure led to many steals and scoring opportunities. However, Staples struggled to finish easy layups.  The Wreckers went on an 11-1 run since the half, forcing Coach Kyle Marian to call a timeout with four minutes left in the quarter.  For Darien, good ball movement and scoring by junior Ames Murray and senior Kyle Green kept Darien in the game. The third quarter ended 35-31 in favor of Staples. 

Heading into the fourth, Darien knew they had to win the quarter, which has been a goal for the team this season.  They started off strong with a steal because of great rotation and active hands, and in the first two minutes they had two layups.  For Staples it was all Frusciante, who was orchestrating the offense and creating opportunities for Staples.  Staples started to move the ball effectively, finding holes in the defense.  Senior captain Liam Naughton caught fire with two 3s in a row, improving the score to 48-42.  With 1:51 left in the game, Darien was down 49-42 and had to revert to fouling and depending on Staples to miss. Staples hit 5 out of 10 and Darien couldn’t make up any ground, so they lost the game 47-53.

Green led all scorers with 12 points. Murray contributed eleven off the bench. Naughton ended with 9 for the night, all scored at far range. 

When asked for his reaction to the game and how the team needs to improve, Murray made a few on-court observations: “We need to play four quarters of basketball with no mental lapses and when they go on runs we need to step up and end them before they get out of hand.”

Darien’s next game is January 29^th at 7 pm at DHS.  Hopefully the Blue Wave makes these improvements and string together some wins.  They need to win six of eight to make states, with five of them at home.