The Innovation boys basketball team won back-to-back games last week by a total of four points.
Even though coach Matt Lance said the Ravens (13-1) didn’t play their best in either game, they still managed to pull out wins.
Innovation, last year’s Division IV champion, is ranked second in Division II this year, behind No. 1 Manchester.
The Ravens beat SMSA 52-51 Friday and Enfield 64-61 Thursday. Their only loss is to Cheney Tech (a rematch of the state championship game last year) by two points on Dec. 21.
“We talked about it at practice on Saturday,” Lance said. “Neither game did we necessarily play our best and I think a lot of credit goes to (coach) Kevin (Zalucki) with Enfield and (coach) Erik (McKay) with SMSA because those are two quality teams that took us out of our comfort zone a little bit.
“I told the guys, ‘We’re going to look at the positives, how we were able to keep ourselves within striking distance in the fourth quarter and then made that late push. We don’t really want to make that a habit.’ But it’s important if you’re not playing your best and other teams are doing things to make you uncomfortable, how can you respond to that. I’ve been telling our guys you’re going to get every team’s best effort when you play them.”
Innovation lost a group of seniors from last year’s state championship team but returns a core group of top players, including senior forward Ibrahim Sidik, who leads the team in scoring (15 ppg) and rebounding (7.8) and senior guard Mohammad Kulaib, who averages 12 points, 5.1 assists and three steals.
“We have four guys scoring in double figures,” Lance said. “Our strength is any given night, we have a couple guys who can be our guy. We don’t have to rely on one player every night.”
Top performances
Jeff Akoff, Bloomfield: Akoff scored his 1,000th point and had 24 points in a win over Hall Monday.
Joey Baker, E.O. Smith: Baker had 28 points and 15 rebounds in a 60-59 loss to Enfield Wednesday.
Missoni Brown, Windsor: Brown put up 25 points in an 89-84 loss to Manchester Wednesday
Eddie Fiske, Old Lyme: Fiske scored 25 points in a 67-58 win over Coginchaug Friday and had 16 in a 65-61 loss to Portland Monday.
Andrew Crayton, Haddam-Killingworth: Crayton scored in 30 points in a 61-44 win over North Branford Tuesday.
Darrell Gratic, Lyman Hall: Gratic had 23 points in a 59-50 win over Platt Tech Thursday and 23 points in an 80-55 loss to Xavier Tuesday.
Brady Marsh, Windham Tech: Marsh poured in 39 points in a 80-67 win over Ellis Tech Tuesday.
Will Oden-Tann, Manchester: Oden-Tann scored 27 points in an 89-84 win over Windsor Wednesday.
Joey Pikiell, Bristol Central: Pikiell scored 28 points in a 67-55 win over Lewis Mills Monday.
Ibrahim Sidik, Innovation: Sidik had a double-double (20 points, 12 rebounds) in a 52-51 win over SMSA Friday and 33 points and nine rebounds in a 64-61 win over Enfield Thursday.
Colin Tozier, Stafford: Tozier posted 25 points in a 50-46 victory over Rockville Tuesday.
Storylines
Manchester (15-1) had another big week, with a 67-61 win over East Catholic Monday, another comeback win, 89-84, over Windsor Wednesday and a 74-53 win Friday over Enfield. Manchester trailed Windsor 51-36 at halftime but outscored Windsor 53-33 in the second half.
Richard Chandler came up big for unbeaten Aerospace (15-0) last week, Chandler had 20 points in a 70-40 win over Suffield Thursday and 23 points in a 58-57 win over Weaver Tuesday
Bristol Central coach Tim Barrette earned his 200th win Wednesday night with a 68-43 victory over Farmington. Barrette, who has coached at Bristol Central since 2008, has a 200-179 record.
Games to watch
Windsor (11-4) at Glastonbury (14-2), Thursday, 6:45 p.m.: Windsor has played a brutal schedule this season and the latest game in that series will be against Glastonbury and high-scoring David Smith, who averages 25 points per game.
Innovation (13-1) at Aerospace (15-0), Friday, 6:15 p.m.: Innovation heads to Aerospace to try to knock the Jets out of the unbeaten ranks.