Blue Wave Boys Basketball Falls to Rams

Four things were working against the Blue Wave Wednesday night:

1. They have endured significant injuries and missed a lot of practice time
2. Coach Tom O'Donnell is in the midst of implementing an entirely new system that even the seniors are still adjusting to
3. A majority of the roster is made up of underclassmen
4. Ram senior Connor House

House took it to the Blue Wave in the season opener, scoring 26 points and grabbing six rebounds. The Rams won 79-55.

"I really wasn't expecting to have that kind of game," House said of his effort. "I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates. They found me with a lot of great passes."

The Blue Wave were able to keep it close in the first minutes of their regular season opener, but New Canaan pulled away quickly. With the score knotted up at 2-2, the Rams went on  a 9-0 run and never looked back. The key to that early run was senior point guard Michael Freyre. He picked up two of his six assists on the run, including a no look pass underneath to Chris Rama to put the Rams up 11-2, and forced coach O'Donnell to call a timeout. 

"You never expect a run like that to start off a game," O'Donnell said. "We went in expecting to do well, but New Canaan has a very veteran team and it showed."

Darien clawed back throughout the first quarter making some small runs of their own, but New Canaan kept them at arms length. The same held true in the second quarter, with the Blue Wave never coming closer than eight.

 "We outran them, got some easy shots and easy layups, and that was pretty much the game," said New Canaan head coach Jeffrey Bussey.

Darien also had a very difficult time containing Rama. He had his way underneath the basket, controlling the glass at both ends of the floor. He finished with 12 points and a game high 16 rebounds.

"House and Rama are very good players," O'Donnell said. "They were finishing off a lot of fast breaks and we weren't giving them the kind of resistance we wanted to."

Starting the second half with a 36-25 lead, the Rams really turned on the heat. House came out on fire, playing solid defense and seemingly scoring at will. His highlight play came late in the third quarter, where he cut off the passing lane, stole the rock and took it down the floor for a dunk to put the Rams up 48-27. 

"House was just flying all over the place out there," Bussey said. "You can't defend him, he's so darn quick."

New Canaan dominated the second half, outscoring the Blue Wave 41 to 30 with most of Darien's points coming after the outcome was already decided. Philip Stueber lead the way statistically for the Wave, scoring 17 points and pulling down 8 rebounds. Anthony Donato also put in a solid effort, with 12 points and five boards. Wes Blummer led the team with three assists.

Final score: 79-55, Rams win.

Looking forward to Friday night, O'Donnell said his team will need to focus on better ball handling and better front-court containment if they hope to compete against the intense Harding press.

"We need to give up less transition baskets, and commit less turnovers," he said. "If we can hit those two points it will go a long way to making us more competitive."