Holy Cross’ Nyzair Rountree, right, and Kennedy’s Ty Sands go after a loose ball during their NVL matchup in Waterbury on Friday. Cross won, 69-66. Christopher Massa Republican-American
By JOE PALLADINO
WATERBURY — Holy Cross got the bounce-back game it needed, and the bounce came just in time.
Trailing Kennedy High by 11 points in the fourth quarter, the Crusaders went on an 11-point burst and held the Eagles without a field goal for 3 minutes and 30 seconds to rally for a 69-66 victory on the road Friday night at the Jack Taglia Gymnasium.
Cross (5-1) came off a poor outing earlier in the week in a defeat at home to Sacred Heart, and needed a late push against the Eagles (4-1) to avoid a city sweep.
“We had to bounce back from that other game,” said Nyzair Rountree, who scored a game-high 22 points, with 10 rebounds and six assists. “We worked really hard, (Ryan Olsen) talked to us, and we got the W.”
The key, Rountree said, was that Cross “didn’t rush, we didn’t get frustrated, we took our time, and the coach was telling me to get more rebounds and stop leaking out.”
The balance was there in the fourth as well, as Jack Potter and Keron Etienne hit key 3-point hoops, and Jack Greene scored an inside bucket, his only field goal of the game, but it came with 2:42 to play and gave Cross the lead for good. After that, DeAndre Wallace, who added 15 points, with 12 boards and three blocks, threw down an impressive dunk that helped Cross pull away.
Defense did it too. Etienne, who scored 17, with three assists and four steals, nabbed two of those steals late.
“I wasn’t playing my game,” Etienne said. “Coach told me to step up my game, and I had to step up.”
The Eagles were in control most of the evening, though, obviously, not complete control. Jeremy Acosta hit a rainbow 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter to get the Kennedy lead to 11, and then it unraveled from there.
“Five or six minutes of the fourth quarter was just awful,” said Kennedy coach Ryan Sullivan. “We made some horrendous decisions. We were playing like we were down. We rushed shots.”
Tyvon Stenson led the Eagles with 18 points, five assists, four steals, and his two 3-point field goals in the fourth were the bookends on the offensive drought. Turnovers and bad shots came in droves in that stretch.
LaShawn Smith scored 14 for Kennedy, with 13 boards and three blocks, and Ty Sands also had 14, with 10 rebounds. Chomari Joseph added seven points and five rebounds, and for Cross, Marcellus Gomes had a solid line of seven points, seven rebounds, four steals.
HOLY CROSS 69, KENNEDY 66
Holy Cross (5-1): Nyzair Rountree 9 4 22, DeAndre Wallace 7 1 15, Marcellus Gomes 3 1 7, Jack Potter 2 0 6, Kerson Etienne 5 5 17, Jack Greene 1 0 2, Warren Morrison 0 0 0, Anthony Muchiri 0 0 0, Alex Ward 0 0 0. Totals: 27 11 69.
Kennedy (4-1): Tyairus Sands 5 3 14, Lashawn Smith 6 1 14, Alex Bruno 1 0 2, Jeremy Acosta 1 1 4, Tyvon Stenson 7 0 18, William Spears 0 0 0, Chomari Joseph 3 1 7, Jaquane Jones 2 0 5, Kasim Brown 0 0 0, Mike Shehu 1 0 2, Evel Pacheco 0 0 0. Totals: 26 6 66.
Holy Cross 16 12 18 23 — 69
Kennedy 16 19 19 12 — 66
3-point goals: HC — Potter 2, Etienne 2; K — Sands 1, Smith 1, Acosta 1, Stenson 4, Jones 1.