North Stingington – Almost all players on the Wheeler men’s basketball team are not yet legally allowed to drive.
Wheeler is currently a member of a group of young lions. Everyone who attended Monday night’s game against Norwich Tech was either high school or elementary.
Wheeler’s youth is one of the best starters of the program in just a few seasons. The Lions led the Warriors and won the game almost 57-48.
Second Deondre Bransford: “We are still young. “We expect him to win at least five, six, and then next year will be our year. Now we do not expect to win five or six in a row.
Wheeler is 7-3, one game qualifies for state competition. The Lions were undefeated in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Fourth.
They suffered a major injury (Tyler Burdick). Sophomores Kyle Kessler, Keith Zardies and Bransford started last year in the Wheeler 1-7 season but depth is always an issue at school. Out of 181 CIC schools, only 99 boys are ranked 177th.
“We play AAU together in the spring and summer,” Brenford said. “We know how to play together, and we like to play together. We know how to play in a team spirit.
“They played for most of the game,” said Mohamed Hassan, head coach of Norwich Tech. I thank them very much. They just have a lot of hungry young people. They play without fear.
Bransford gave Willer 15 points and 10 rebounds, while the first Zane Beer had 16 points and seven rebounds.
Zardius scored 11 points, six assists and five steals for Lyon and Kesler, seven points, six assists, five assists and two steals. High school students White Eliot (10 ribbons) and Jason Criswich (seven ribbons) contributed to the victory.
Junior Joshua Hanx had 19 points and seven rebounds for the Warriors (2-3) and his classmate Bradley St. Louis added 14 points and seven rebounds. Senior Cameron Topkin also had four thieves.
Norwich Tech played a few games due to Covid-19.
Hassan said: “It is difficult to measure (the group) because we do not have a complete list. “I think we really pray. After the group, I have high hopes for this.
We had a lot of changes (tonight) and then our transition defense was difficult.
Beer scored seven points in the first quarter, including 3-pointers that kept the Lions 5-3, with 6 minutes and 40 seconds left.
Wheeler went 16-4 in the second quarter. Bransford scored five straight in that race, beer added 6 points, 1 minute, including the Lions’ 33-15 lead.
Wheeler leads the rest of the game with eight or more points.
“These guys are strong,” said Lyon head coach Neil Coblegg. “They have had some success in the youth league. It was hard to try to make them realize that Varsity was a completely different level, but we are getting there. Every day we move one step forward.
“I feel like I trained Javin in my old age because their sof students and new students and everything they bring.”
They are laying the foundation for future success.
“I don’t think they even touched what they could do,” Cobleg said. “We look forward to this.”
n.griffen@theday.com
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