Staples Wreckers Led To FCIAC Tournament Final By Sam Clachko’s Career High 40 Points!
On Tuesday night in Wilton High School The Wreckers boys basketball team faced the Ridgefield Tigers, ranked #2 in the state, ranked #1 and undefeated in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference, with only one loss this season. The Tigers were the favorite on paper but the Wreckers didn’t get that memo. Certainly sophomore stand-out Sam Clachko missed it, as evidenced by his career-high 40 points, half of which were the result of his seven 3-pointers and his 11 out of 12 foul tries, and 4 field goals.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
The game started badly for Staples as they missed both outside shooting and on lay-ups while Ridgefield was able to score both out of in in the paint. When the first quarter buzzer sounded the Tigers held a 15-7 lead, which they extended to 8 points with 3 minutes remaining the second period. Only two minutes later the Wreckers cut that lead to two points, and tied the game shortly thereafter. When the third period began with the score 27-25 Ridgefield, the Wreckers started hitting their shots and at the same time, limiting Ridgefield’s strong offense. Ridgefield took a 5 point lead briefly at the three minute mark, but by the buzzer Staples was back on top with a two point lead.
The fourth period was a whole new game behind Clachko’s red-hot shooting bolstered by Adam Udell who finished with 13 points and the Wreckers went into overdrive and by one minute into the fourth quarter they were up by 8 points. The Tigers mounted a comeback attempt cutting the lead three minutes later to four points. The Wreckers dominated the rest of the final stanza convincingly holding an 11 point lead with three minutes remaining. The final minute seemed to take an hour with Ridgefield immediately fouling following the inbound pass to try to slow the Wreckers, but several of those fouls were on Clachko and he was finding the net each time, missing only one foul try in 12 attempts.
Nick Sikorsky scored 6 points and Caleb Smith added 5.
The Wreckers scored a big 15 point victory over one the state’s best basketball teams and will face the Trumbull Eagles at 7:00 PM on Thursday night at neutral site Wilton High again for the FCIAC championship, in which the Trumbull coach has yet to be victorious.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
After the game, Clachko told WestportLocalPress the team was anxious to face Trumbull who had defeated them in the regular season. Clack added, “We watched all the film, we knew we were the better team and we showed it to them.” Clachko, when asked about the flat first quarter said the Coach Goldshore “blew us up on it”, no doubt inspiring the team to reach their potential for the remainder of the game.
Goldshore, when asked about the poor showing in the first quarter strongly praised their opponents, telling WestportLocal, “They are good, they are really good and they take you out of your stuff” adding “their energy and their discipline and their commitment to what they do is really special. They didn’t lose a game in the conference all year.
Above: Sam Clachko shoots a final foul shot in the last few seconds of the game. Wreckers fans celebrate a big win and surround the team at the buzzer.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Staples Cheerleaders Rally The Wrecker Faithful In FCIAC Semi-Final
The Ridgefield Tigers fans were cheering loudly, especially in the first quarter when their team controlled the game convincingly, the the Wrecker Cheerleaders were not to be outdone in keeping the Wrecker fans energy up. The performed several times showing off their training and athletic prowess with multiple moves including awesome pyramids and seemingly endless backflips, charging up the crowd and convincingly reminding the team that they were supported and they were loved.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com. Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
Photos and Story By J.C. Martin For WestportLocalPress.com. Click on an image to enlarge and open gallery.
