New Canaan 5th Grade Reds Beat Weston

Felix Belgrove’s 5th Grade Red team (4-6, 3-5 FCBL) has turned its season around after an 0-5 start, winning four of its last five games, including a dramatic overtime victory over Weston on Sunday.

In one of the most exciting games of the season, New Canaan overcame a 10-0 Weston run at the end of regulation that forced overtime, eventually prevailing to win its third consecutive contest.

It appeared that New Canaan was on its way to a win as Jerome Roscoe opened the fourth quarter with a steal and layup to give the Red 5’s a 33-25 lead, their biggest of the game. Tremendous rebounding from Cooper Dinan and Chris McLallen helped New Canaan extend to what seemed to be a safe 37-27 lead with just over 4 minutes left.

But Weston reeled off 10 straight points and getting a chance to end the game in regulation with a foul shot and no time left. The front end of a one-and-one conversion failed, and the two teams went into overtime tied at 37.

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After Weston pulled ahead 40-37, New Canaan chipped away. A Connelly free throw and a McLallen layup tied it at 40 with 2:19 left. Salmini then gave New Canaan a 42-40 lead, extended to 44-40 after a hoop from Morris. Weston answered with a three-pointer to make it 44-43 with 1:50 left, but Morris put the game away with a layup just a minute later to give New Canaan a thrilling 46-43 win.

O’Donnell led the Red 5’s with 15 points with Connelly finishing with 7. Morris had 6 points, including 4 big ones in OT.

Contributed photo: NC Red 5th Grader Will Larson fights for a rebound.