NBHS Boys Hoops Wins CCC West
By Matthew Cannata | Sports Correspondent at February 28, 2024 | 8:45 am | Print
The New Britain High School Boys’ Basketball team has concluded their regular season and are the CCC West Champions! The team, which had an overall record of 17-3, will now head to the CCC Playoffs. Before the season started, head coach Todd Stigliano met with his team and they set three major goals – to win the division, the league tournament, and compete for a state title. They have accomplished their first goal and Stigliano said he understands how special it is, especially for this group of players.
“Winning the division is definitely very rewarding and I am proud of the boys for this accomplishment. It is something that this group has never done during their tenure at NBHS and I definitely wanted that for them. It allows this group to be a part of a little bit of history that they can always remember when they walk in the gym,” he said.
The team will now turn their attention to the CCC tournament, which won’t be easy.
“The league tournament is always very tough. The best of the best,” Stigliano said. “Obviously, we love the opportunity to play at home as we have a good student following and it means a little bit more to the seniors.”
Their first game will be on Thursday, Feb. 27 at New Britain High School. If they win, they will play on Saturday, March 1 at Bulkeley High School, which is a neutral site. The semi-finals will be held on Tuesday, March 4 also at Bulkeley High School and the championship game will be held on Thursday, March 6 at CCSU. As of press time, opponents and game times had not been released.
The goal of winning the CCC tournament became a little tougher when Michael Robinson, one of the star players on the team, injured his shoulder in their game against East Hartford. The full extent of the injury is not yet known but coaches don’t believe that he will be able to play in the early stages of the CCC tournament. They are hopeful that he will be ready to go for the state tournament.
Regardless of whether or not they win the CCC tournament, they have already locked up the fifth seed in the CIAC state tournament, which is expected to begin the week of March 10. The Hurricanes will play their first game on Tuesday, March 11. Locking up the fifth seed is important because it guarantees them that they will play the first round here at home and if they win that game, they will play the second round at home as well before heading on the road for the semi-final game. Pairings for the state tournament will be announced by the CIAC on March 5.
The Hurricanes will look to get over the hump that they have been running into the past several years in both tournaments. It will be up to the seniors to take control and push each other for the next few weeks in order to realize their ultimate goal. Stigliano believes that this is the group that can make it happen.
“Obviously scoring wise Curtis Hyman, Annuel Saint Juste, and Craven Johnson have been our big three. All of them averaging double digits! Ronday McCray and Mike Robinson have been solid for us at the guard position and have stepped up when we needed them to,” he said.
While we are all rooting for the Hurricanes to win the CCC tournament and the CIAC state tournament, it’s important to realize that if they fall short, they still had a tremendous season in which they learned many life lessons. Those lessons will remain with them for the rest of their lives as they move onto their next chapter. Stigliano knows that this group of seniors is special and realizes it won’t be easy to replace them.
“Next year will be completely different. We lose every starter and our sixth man. We have a very good group of sophomores and juniors but none of them have good varsity experience,” he said. “It may take us awhile to get going. However, I still feel we can be a competitive team. One thing I do know is that we will look much different the second half of next year compared to the first.”
But first, the seniors will take the stage one last time over the next several weeks in an effort to continue to etch their name into the history books.
