An Electric Crowd At Basketball Semifinals in New Haven

The atmosphere was electric during Wednesday night’s CIAC semifinal matchup between Maloney and New London. The stands were full and the line was out the door to get into the New Haven Athletic Center.

Music was blaring from the loudspeakers well before the game began. Some of the fans seemed even more excited than the players before the game.

“It’s great to see them play in an environment like this, especially since it’s been a few years since they’ve been here,” said Maloney supporter Nicole Bartone.

As Maloney hit the court for its pregame warm-up, cheers and jeers could be heard from opposite ends of the arena. The Spartan fans were thrilled to see their team on such a big stage, while the New London fans were not as happy to see the Meriden team.

Right before the game began the Maloney players seemed relaxed, laughing and joking with each other during the shoot-around.

After a slow start, the Spartan fans erupted when Gemel McLeod scored the team’s first basket off of a fast break. That was one of the few highlights early on for Maloney as they found themselves down by ten points quickly.

Despite being down 24-13 halfway through the second quarter the Maloney fans could still be heard cheering and chanting for their team, hoping to lead their team to a comeback. When Ryan Belote hit a 3-pointer to trim New London’s lead to 5 the fans seemed to be getting what they wanted.

However it quickly changed when New London scored 4 points in less than 30 seconds to build their lead back up. After that, worried looks began to appear on the faces of the Spartan faithfuls.

Despite the score at least one fan was still enjoying himself at halftime.

“It’s a good crowd, it’s a big crowd. I really like the atmosphere,” said Alex Conaway of New Haven.

After getting down 38-29 with 5:06 left in the third quarter Zach Milslagle’s basket and foul brought Maloney’s crowd back to life. Ryan Belote’s offensive rebound and put back to cut the Spartan’s deficit to 6 had the crowd back on its feet again.

Quickly though, Maloney was down 9 again after letting up back to back layups off of fast breaks. With their team down 50-37 anger and frustration became clear on the Maloney fans’ faces. One fan could even be heard yelling, “Come on guys, you’re better than this.”

Sensing the end of their season approaching, Spartan fans began chanting Coach Howard Hewitt’s name during a time out with 5:06 remaining, to show appreciation for the benchmark season the team had. Hewitt became more animated on the sidelines as his team fell further behind, but there was nothing he could seem to do to bring the Spartans back.

“I love coach Hewitt. He treated my son like his own,” said Steve Belote, Ryan’s father.

As Maloney fell further and further behind their fans’ frustration grew. Fans could be seen grabbing their heads and shaking them in disbelief. Even the Spartan cheerleaders seemed dejected, simply standing there with their arms by their sides.

“We got too many athletes for them,” one New London fan could be heard yelling near the end of the game.

Down 66-49 with 1:55 left in the game, some Maloney fans began heading for the exits as they could not stand to watch any more.

“I’m really sad right now, but they did well. This was only their second loss all year, they fought hard,” said Maloney senior Annie Szarka.

Steve Belote was still happy with how his son’s team performed overall this year.

“I want to say congratulations to the team on a great season, and good luck to next year’s team,” said Steve Belote.

New London won by a final score of 72-56. The Whalers advance to the Class L Finals Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena to face off against Northwest Catholic. Tip-off is at 6:15 PM.