East Haven Basketball Clobbered By Hornets

Branford boys' basketball coach Jake Palluzzi knows he has a weapon in Kyle Nolan, and playing against East Haven, he had every intention of using him to his full abilities.

“Obviously we got the ball inside because we wanted to take advantage of Kyle Nolan,” Palluzzi said of the senior center who scored a game-high 21 points in Branford’s 72-38 win over East Haven. “We wanted to wear them down.”

It would appear the plan worked, as Branford jumped out to a quick lead in the first quarter, leading 18-14 by the end of the first, but any hint of a close game was erased in the second quarter as Branford took an 18-1 run over the period, walking into the locker room with a 36-15 lead at the half.

Nolan had already netted 14 points by then, with junior Nick Dummar sinking eight.

“Obviously defensively we’re doing a good job,” Palluzzi said. “Shooting as well, but you have to give credit to our defense, they did a good job.”

East Haven coach Jim Reynolds said the game was simply a matchup of a good team versus a bad team.

“Right now we’re overmatched,” he said. “We’re overmatched in size, we’re overmatched in skill level, and it’s showing.”

Reynolds said his approach coming into the game against the Hornets was to be more physical, but it was not the answer that would solve any problems for the struggling YellowJackets.

“We’re not a physical team by nature, we’re trying to get these kids to be more physical,” Reynolds said. “Nolan does a lot of pushing and shoving and he gets away with it and he’s a good player – probably the most improved player in the league.”

Palluzzi added the key to the game was not only bolstering the Hornets’ offense, but also using defense to shut down the YellowJackets’ key players like Jimmy Gagliardi, who was held to just nine points in the game, as opposed to the 15 he scored in .

“We wanted to work, get the ball out of his hands and try to limit his touches, so we made a little bit of an adjustment there,” Palluzzi said. “But we did a pretty good job last time on him, so we did some similar things, but we made some adjustments.”

At the half, Reynolds said he told his team to “come back strong” and make a better effort in the second half.

“I didn’t think the effort was much there all night,” he said. “They seemed to play okay in stretches, but it’s a 32 minute game.”

Branford didn’t allow much opportunity for the YellowJackets to mount a response, as the Hornets quickly took advantage of turnovers and compiled a 55-35 lead at the end of the third.

Branford came away from the game with a 9-6 record, while East Haven fell to 3-13.