WEST HARTFORD – Senior Kehari Walker scored 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter as East Hartford defeated Windsor 69-65 in a thriller for its first CCC tournament championship since 1998 Monday night at University of Hartford.
Zasheem McCoy had 18 points for East Hartford (21-3), which lost to Windsor 80-55 on Dec. 30.
Kehari Walker (left) and Zasheem McCoy hold the CCC championship trophy after East Hartford defeated Windsor in the final at the University of Hartford Monday night. (Photo by Lori Riley)
“It feels great, obviously,” East Hartford coach LeRon Gittens said. “Long overdue. We’ve got a great group of seniors. They started this summer and they committed to staying at East Hartford and they committed to grinding. I’m truly proud of them.”
The game was close throughout. Windsor, which was led by Missoni Brown’s 26 points, led 34-29 at halftime and the score was tied at 44 after three quarters.
Walker tied the score at 59 with a little over two minutes left and McCoy had a putback to give East Hartford a 61-59 lead. Walker hit a dagger 3-pointer with 1:25 left and McCoy had a three-point play with 52 seconds left to boost East Hartford’s lead to 67-61 but Windsor made it close again when Alex Weaver and Charles Lewis hit four straight free throws. Deondre Storey, who had 11 points, had the last basket for the final score.
Weaver had 20 points for Windsor and Lewis added 13.
