Wreckers Fall Short in Holiday Tournament Finals

Down by one late in the fourth quarter, the Staples High School boys basketball team was in prime position to capture the lead.

But two turnovers in the final 20 seconds led to a 50-47 loss to Ridgefield Wednesday night. Staples had erased a 13-point deficit to take the lead with one minute remaining before coming up short.

Trailing by five with 3 minutes to play, the Wreckers were awakened after Fenton was fouled hitting a running one hander. His three-point play made it a three point game.

The Wreckers trailed by four with 90 seconds remaining when junior Luke Yeager took over. He hit a 3 and then stole a pass on the ensuing possession that resulted in a layup. Yeager's five points in 7 seconds gave the Wreckers their first lead of the game since early in the first quarter. Ridgefield's Chris Esemplare responded for the Tigers as he hit a jumper to capture the lead for Ridgefield 48-47. Esemplare exploded for a season-high 15 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter.

With 23 seconds left, Staples coach Colin Devine put the ball in the hands of Yeager who dribbled behind his back and had the ball stripped by Esemplare. The junior advanced the ball to captain Doug DelBene, who was called for traveling as he was going up for the layup to ice the game. Given a second opportunity to win the game, the Wreckers once again turned the ball over. This time junior Gabe Seidman floated a pass over the head of Jake Felman ending the game. 

The first half was a different story as the game belonged to Ridgefield. After being tied at the end of the first, 12-12, the Tigers took control of the game as DelBene dropped 15 in the 16 minutes to give Ridgefield a nine-point lead at the half. Staples had its hands full on defense as the Tigers' big three of DelBene, John Tagliaferi and Esemplare combined to score all 30 of Ridgefield's points in the first two periods.

Ridgefield's dominance continued into the third quarter. DelBene hit a jumper with 7 minutes remaining in the period to give his team its largest lead of the game at 13. However, DelBene's bucket was the last points the Tigers scored in the third. The Wreckers' defense shut them out the rest of the period.

The Wreckers slowly chipped away at the lead. Yeager canned a 3, Seidman hit a floater and senior captain Brendan Rankowtiz hit a layup to cut the Tiger lead to six. Staples closed the third on a 7-0 run as Seidman scored six of his nine points in the period to bring his team within two. Strong team defense propelled the Wreckers in the third as two blocks by junior Grant Fenton and two steals by Seidman translated into easy offense for Staples.

Yeager finished the game with a season-high 17 points, and Felman scored a career-high 11 points.

The Wreckers will look to get their second win of the year Tuesday when they head to Stamford to face the Westhill Vikings.