By: Zach Strober ’19

The Wrecker’s boys’ basketball team beat rival Greenwich Cardinals by a score of 51 to 39 in front of a large crowd in the Staples gym on Friday Jan. 19.

The win improved the Wreckers’ record to 2-8, while also snapping their eight game losing streak. The loss dropped the Cardinals to four and six.

With Greenwich focused on stopping the Wreckers’ duo of Luke Murphy ’21 and Max Sussman ’18, Jake Thaw ’20 led the way for Staples, scoring 12 points while adding four assists and two boards in his second game back from injury,

“My minutes were more limited in [my first game back] against Central,” Thaw said. “The big crowd really helped me come into my own.

Down 15-13 to start the second quarter, the Wreckers used a nine to two run to retain the lead and take it into the half.

Greenwich came out fast to start the second half, going on a seven to nothing run. But, the Wreckers responded quickly with Thaw driving on two back to back possessions and dumping the ball to A.J. Konstanty ’20 for two easy layups, putting Staples back up by three.

With 2:08 left in the game, and the Wreckers only leading 40-37, Thaw again rose to the occasion. He got around his guy with a nifty move, drove, and hit an and-1 layup to put the Wreckers up five.

Although he missed the free throw, the Wreckers were able to secure a rebound, and it was the Thaw to Konstanty connection again (with a behind the back pass from Thaw) that resulted in an easy layup, extending the Wreckers’ lead to seven with just under two minutes left.

“A.J. and I have been playing football together for a while,” Thaw said of his chemistry with Konstanty on the court. “He’s a tight end and I’m a quarterback, so I have a lot of experience passing him the ball.”

Ending the game on an eleven to two run, the Wreckers dominated the last two minutes of the game.