Yellowjacket boys defeat Terryville

WINSTED — The Gilbert School boys varsity basketball team beat Terryville High School, 76-70, on Tuesday, Jan. 6. The Yellowjackets maintained close to a 10-point lead for the entire game and sank almost every foul shot. While Terryville had many foul shots as well, their balls typically bounced off the rim.Yellowjackets Coach Mark Douglass said the team stepped up to the challenge.“I’ve been preaching that our last couple of losses occurred because we had no intensity,” Douglass said. “We were getting outworked and outhustled. Tonight, against a very good Terryville team, we stepped up and the effort was unbelievable. This is the effort we need to give every night. They need to learn that. We can’t just bring it to play against the strong teams, we’ve got to play like that against everybody. Once we began playing as a team, we did a nice job.”Douglass said there are 15 games remaining in the season and he expects his team to improve even more.“We’ve won two and lost three so far this season,” he said. “During this game in particular, we made them work for their points. Everybody stepped up. They listened and stuck to our game plan. Jake Wendel coming off the bench to sink five out of six free throws was huge. Everybody on the team contributed. I couldn’t be more proud of them. I think we can get better, and I’ve been saying that all along. We wouldn’t have lost any games if they’d played with this mentality all along, but the energy level wasn’t there. Tonight, it was back. There was a lot of hard work and paying attention to details. They’re a hardworking team and the best is still ahead.”Yellowjackets team member Paxton Franklin, 17, said his team worked hard and got the win they deserved.“I love how the team never gets down,” Paxton said. “We had a rough start, but we came back and played our hardest. Closing out the game was challenging. You have to finish strong. You have to stay positive. It was a great game.”Yellowjackets team member Anthony Gonzalez, 18, said the team did what they needed to do for the win.“We had a good game, we played our hardest,” Gonzalez said. “We have a good coach, he gives us good direction. We always listen to him. Sometimes we have discussions, but there are no arguments on this team. That’s not how we play.”Gonzalez said he’s enjoyed playing basketball on a team since sixth grade.“Keeping your composure throughout the whole game while trying to stay relaxed and not rushing can be a challenge,“ He said. “I had a feeling we would win tonight. We had the lead the whole game so I thought we could close it up and we did.”