Hand Beats East Catholic 61-60 In CIAC Tournament Thriller!! Add Your Photos And Videos For A Chance To Win!

Editor's Note: It's time again for the Daniel Hand Tigers Fanzilla Photofest! Upload your photos and videos of fans or players from the game. Then, to officially enter, email pem.mcnerney@patch.com with "Fanzilla!" in the subject line and you will be entered in a random drawing to win a $25 gift certificate to the Madison restaurant of your choice!

March Madness came to Madison last night when the Daniel Hand basketball team edged East Catholic 61-60 in the second round of the CIAC Class L tournament on a shot by senior Jordan Barnaby with four seconds to play.

In an exciting game that bounced back and forth in the last minutes, Barnaby took a pass from fellow senior Riley Kirsh and drove to the hoop for the winning score. He was fouled on the play but missed the free throw. East Catholic rushed up court and missed a desperation shot at the buzzer.

The Eagles had taken a 60-59 lead with :46 to play when point guard Winston Morgan hit two free throws. The Tigers brought the ball down court, looked for a shot and called time out with :13 to play.

“We drew up the winning play,” Tigers Coach Frank Rossi said. “Riley and Jordan have been our leaders for the last two years and we put their careers and this season on the line. Riley has made great decisions all season long. In this case it was tremendous to find Jordan and that’s what we tried to do.”

The win sends the Tigers to a quarter finals match against New London on Monday. New London beat Wilby 76-73 last night to advance.

The Tigers beat Masuk 69-49 on Tuesday to reach last night’s game and East Catholic beat Stratford 68-65. Hand was the higher seed, with a 10-10 regular season record compared with the Eagles 8-12, so it got the home court.

An enthusiastic crowd cheered wildly for the winning shot, which ended a game that had been close throughout. A basket by East Catholic at the beginning of the second half gave the Eagles a 36-28 lead that was the largest margin of the game but Hand bounced back and took its first lead of the second half 41-40, when Barnaby hit two free throws with 3:25 to play in the third quarter.

It was a game of runs with Hand scoring the first seven points of the second quarter to take a 22-17 lead and the Eagles following with their own 7-0 run.

Barnaby lead the Tigers with 22 points, Kirsh had 18 and Rick Spencer had eight. Tyler Veretto led the Eagles with 27, Rohan Brown scored 15 and Austin Calling had 11.

Brown and Calling were the Eagles bigs who dominated the game from inside. “We haven’t seen that all season,” Coach Rossi said. “We’ve seen a lot of size but our size has typically been better. Coach Riley is one of the best coaches I’ve had to prepare against and they really tested us.”

East Catholic led by six at halftime and the Tigers regrouped. “In the first half I didn’t think we played with the energy and passion we’re capable of. When we play with that energy we’re tough to beat and they proved that in the second half,” Coach Rossi said. “We rebounded better in the second half and we were more aggressive to the ball.”

The teams traded leads in the final minutes until Hand was able to escape with the one point win. “This is the state tournament, survive and advance,” Coach Rossi said. “It’s a great feeling.”