New London boys crush Crusaders

NEW LONDON - The No. 4 New London boys' basketball team made quick work of SEISC South Division rival Holy Trinity on Tuesday night. The Tigers took out HTC 79-45 to stay undefeated.

The Tigers ripped through the Crusaders early in the game. New London scored the first nine points of the contest and led 20-10 after one quarter. Mason Porter scored a quick five points to lead the way.

Unfortunately for New London, the Tigers did suffer a key injury early in the contest. Grant Swanson attempted an alley-oop dunk off a potential Keontae Luckett assist, but landed awkwardly on the ground and went out of the game with a wrist injury.

Despite being down one starter, the Tigers continued to roll. Darius Whaley dominated the second quarter, putting up 11 points in the period and the Tigers were up 39-22 at the half. Whaley's 12 points at halftime led the Tigers.

Luckett began to dominate in the second half. He scored layup after layup to help the Tigers pull away with the win. Luckett scored 16 points in the second half and New London continued to cruise, moving to 14-0 on the year.

After the game, Tiger coach Bryant Porter said he was pleased with how his team stepped up, especially after coming off a game on Monday night in Mt. Pleasant. 'These guys don't mind playing back-to-backs,” Porter said. 'I tell them to look at the alternative. You could be practicing. Obviously they want to play basketball in a game.”

Porter said he was pleased that the Tigers still brought some energy to the game despite entering as big favorites.

'The energy was there,” Porter said. 'I thought it dwindled down a little bit, but that's where our maturity has got to get better. You've got to handle business, whoever is in front of you.”

Luckett finished the night with 24 points to lead the way. Whaley finished with 16. Mason Porter and Isaac McSorley both had 13.

Demontae Watkins had six points in the win, all coming in the fourth quarter. Jalen Birdsell put up five, and Swanson ended the night with four.

New London is scheduled to play again on Saturday, Jan. 19, against Don Bosco in the Wells Fargo Advisors shootout in Cedar Rapids. That game is up in the air with all the snow coming in this weekend.

The Tigers will have five more conference games, and need to win just three of them to clinch a conference title. Coach Porter says he's focused on making sure the Tigers finish strong to avoid a district tournament upset like last season.

'I didn't like how we ended the season last year, and that still bothers me,” Porter says. 'We're going to try and finish strong, and I've got confidence that they'll do it.”