By Andy Hutchison
WESTPORT–Staples boys basketball defeated visiting Westhill of Stamford 68-55 in the FCIAC Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon.
The top-seeded Wreckers pulled away in the second quarter and held off the No. 8 Vikings to advance to the semifinals. Staples will take on No. 4 Fairfield Ludlowe at neutral site Wilton High on Monday; tipoff is at 7 p.m. No. 3 Ridgefield and No. 7 Stamford meet in the other semifinal, also at Wilton, Monday at 5 p.m.
In the win over Westhill, the Wreckers and Vikings went back and forth in the early going. Staples finished the opening quarter on a 6-0 run capped by a Matty Corrigan 3-point play the old fashioned way and a Sam Clachko 3-point shot from behind the arc.
Staples led 21-14 after one and built on its lead in the second., pulling ahead 35-19 and 40-23. Corrigan hit a 3 and Dhilan Lowman drained a pair from downtown in the p
ull away. Westhill finished the half on a 5-0 run and trailed 40-28 going into the break.
The Vikings outscored Staples 17-12 in the third and trailed 52-45 going to the fourth but could not overcome the tough Wrecker offense.
Clachko finished with 21 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and three steals. Mason Tobias scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Lowman had 13 points and five rebounds. Corrigan ended up with 10 points and five rebounds Austin Heyer scored six points.
Andy Hutchison
Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories, since the 1990s. He is the sports editor at the Newtown Bee. He writes for the Monroe Sun. He was director of communications and radio color commentator for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (now Islanders) hockey team. He has won numerous writing awards, including regional and national first-place honors.
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