Photo left: Kareem Abouzeid dunks the ball in the Staples boys basketball win over Westhill on Tuesday night. At right, Chris Zajac competes for the Wreckers in their win over Westhill. / Photos by Mark Sikorski

By Andy Hutchison

The Staples High boys basketball team split a pair of home games with Stamford and Westhill of Stamford over the last week, falling 63-60 to Stamford last Friday and bouncing back Tuesday to topple Westhill 60-41 to improve to 8-2 overall.

In the loss to Stamford, it was a back-and-forth start with Stamford claiming a 19-14 lead after one quarter and the Wreckers limited Stamford to just four points in the second quarter on the way to a 33-23 halftime lead. Stamford was within 47-43 going to the fourth and completed the second-half comeback with 20 points in each of the last two stanzas.

Sam Clachko, making his first varsity start in the absence of the injured Gavin Rothenberg, scored 12 points and Chris Zajac dropped in 10 to lead a balanced scoring attack. Zajac had a double-double with 11 rebounds, eight of which came on the defensive end, and added five assists and two blocks. Ethan Cukier, Charlie Honig and Cody Sale all had eight points. Cukier grabbed seven rebounds.

Sam Clachko lofts a long-range shot against Stamford last Friday. Clachko got the start and scored a dozen points in a 63-60 loss.

Caleb Smith and Will Holleman both scored six. Smith and Adam Udell both had four assists. Smith and Cukier each had a pair of steals.

Recovering from Friday’s loss, Staples erupted for 21 points in the first quarter and cruised to victory over Westhill on Tuesday night.

Zajac led the way with 18 points, cooking up a baker’s dozen in the opening stanza.

Clachko scored 11 with nine of those coming on a trio of 3-pointers. Smith had eight, Sale six on a pair of shots from downtown, Ty Levine had five, Holleman had four, Kareem Abouzeid had three, Cukier and Mason Tobias each contributed two and Ryland Noorily tacked on one.

The Wreckers will visit Wright Tech at 6 p.m. today (Wednesday, Jan. 25) and will host Fairfield Ludlowe at 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27.

Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories in Fairfield County, since the 1990s. Learn more about us here.