The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1946-03-05
FACE HILL House
THURSDAY after
$3.50 VICTORY.
BY JOHN A. CLUNEY

New Haven, March 5-Eeaven-
worth High OF Waterbury, given
scant consideration by pre-tourna.
ment experts insofar as q state
basketball championship Is concern
ed, has, at least, won semi-final
place in the "a" division and q
chance to beat the defending New
England and state champions from
Hillhouse High Of New Haven;
ranked no better than tenth before
playdowns began o week ago. Leavr
enworth- Hillhouse meets Thursday,
Q p. m. NJ !.
BY eliminating Torrington High
here tonight, $3.50, the Brass City
Tech Tigers Come through against
q handicapped team that had ale
ready defeated them twice during
the season, once BY O single point
In @ Waterbury game. When Tor
rington center Ray Sweykossi, In
jured In the, Torrington win over
Manchester was sent on the floor
for only half the game, In the Sec
ond and fourth periods, there was
little left for Torrington but some
amazing third quarter speed and the
old never say die" spirit that has
won many game for Torrington
teams since the turn Of the GEN.
fury.
Good Try
At that, Torrington put up O great
battle for the game, but Leaven.
worth had to much height for them
and Jimmy Piersall, leading scorer
Of the Naugatuck Valley league,
whose work under the hoops for
Tech tonight, just about marked The
difference between victory by five
points and possible defeat. At the
end OF the third quarter, TOrrlng-
ton had cut down q hak-time ten
point Leavenworth bulge, 20s1O TO
q slim four point margin ,2S-24,
eliminating O third quarter, drive
that was apparently calculated 10
run Leavenworth into the boards,
put Sweykowski back for the last
period and hope that he could make
q hoop or two from the bucket"
and perhaps win the game. However,
Tech had just little too much for
Torrington In the final period drive,
but had to 60 "all out" TO win when
It's ''key" player, center Connie
Santagotta was lost to the LeaYepr
worth cause with less than four
minutes Of play remaining.
Coach Connie Donahue OF Tor
rington decided not TO start his
only "big" boy, Sweykoski, which
gave Tech an immediate advantage
as the Waterbury center, Santagotta
is q right good hand under The
hoops as Is Piersall and Ray Kor-
busieski, which gave the eventual
winners control Of the ball on 1nost
Of the rebounds, and in the first
eight minutes, Leavenworth had q
1914 lead; and looked like a 20 point
winner. It was 20-lO at half time,
because Sweykosld, tried out in the
second quarter to see III his leg
would stand up" could do little more
than hobble around, try an occas-
ional shot, none Of which scored.
Third period play proved to be the
Torrington do or die" attempty for
the Donahue- turned on & burst
Va SPCSA AIM cSOAAk1H bAlAG CtAOpkSCu
the Leavenworth lead down to three
points; after which Tech got back
z point edge; then was cut to
three again as the period ended g.
"a.
SantagOtta Out
For part Of the fourth and final
quarter, Torrington, was in the ball
game, but with the referees auto
matte time-out on a 4 minutes to
play signal; Tech was still points
to the good; Torrington needing 8
points to win and but minutes to
get them. Sweykowski tried his best.
but was in pain; while Piersall
scored consistently near the boards;
Santagotta netting II points before
going to the bench on a fifth per-
sonal foul. Sherwill's defensive play
was very good Messup having hard
luck on his shots; while three
Techers equalled the total Torring-
ton score. For the losers, Krulicki
and Fedorowicz were effective on
little Frank Russo turning
in great floor" game and 6 points,
four OF them free-throws for his
club
Score:
LEAVENwoRIH TORRINGTON