Berkshire League champs

WINSTED — The Northwestern boys basketball team took the Berkshire League championship for the first time in 22 years with a 71-56 win over Litchfield Thursday, March 3.The Highlanders took down the No. 1 seed, Nonnewaug, Tuesday, March 1, in the first round of the Berkshire tournament.The Berkshire League win catapulted Northwestern to the Class M state tournament, where they faced the Ansonia Chargers. The Highlanders went into the tournament in the No. 12 spot, but the No. 21 Ansonia Chargers bounced them out of states with a convincing 82-62 win.The Chargers launched a speedy, effective offense right from the tip-off Monday, March 7. A quick glance over both benches revealed Northwestern’s height advantage throughout their lineup, but it would be Ansonia’s lightning fast offense that made the difference. The Chargers tallied the first points of the game in the opening seconds. Ansonia continued to score from all over the court, sinking most of their chances. Northwestern was able to hang on offensively with some fantastic shooting from the outside, but found a wall of Charger swats and defense around the net. The Chargers held a 25-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.Ansonia picked up their defensive pressure early in the second and forced a series of turnovers that they neatly converted into additional points. Northwestern remained resilient, however. Every time it appeared the Chargers were firmly pulling away, the Highlanders would respond with accurate three-point shooting. The Highlanders were unable to cauterize Ansonia’s offense long enough to cut the gap and found themselves trailing 44-36 heading into the halftime break.The second half mirrored the first as Ansonia continued to command the game while Northwestern just barely kept up. In the final quarter, the Highlanders began to rally off a three-pointer put up by Northwestern’s John Stevens. A quick turnover was sent back to Stevens, who tallied a second three-pointer from the same spot, sending an incredible surge of energy through the building. Northwestern trailed by only 10 points with the majority of the quarter to try and even things up, but Ansonia recovered and began to push hard late in the game to take the 82-62 win.Ansonia was led in scoring by Reggie Finney, who amassed 31 points. Northwestern found good scoring throughout their lineup, with Stevens and Connor Guiheen leading the pack with 12 apiece. Stevens tallied four from the outside while Guiheen sunk two field goals of his own. The Highlanders graduate three seniors this year, including Bobby Lippincott who tallied 12, Drew McCarthy with eight and Brandon Couloutte.