Vinal Tech Falls to Enfield in Class M Tourney

Tre Preston and Hugh Lindo combined for 27 first-half points, enabling  to race to a 38-16 halftime lead en route to a 68-38 victory over Vinal Tech in the second round of the Class M boys' basketball tournament Wednesday.

Enfield (22-3) advances to the quarterfinals on Friday for the second straight year. The Raiders will host Ansonia, which upset Cromwell, 51-39.

Preston scored nine of his game-high 28 points in the first quarter, when he and Lindo combined for all of Enfield's points as the Raiders assumed a 15-5 lead. The duo each scored six points in the second quarter, as did Tony Romano, to open up an insurmountable lead over the Hawks.

"Preston is a really good player, and anytime you've got a guy who can run the floor like that, who's unselfish and can pass the ball up or shoot, he can kill you in many different ways," Vinal Tech coach Dan Belanger said.

A 9-2 run in the third quarter enabled Vinal Tech to close within 16, but Enfield built the lead back to 22 on three-point shots by Paul Lima and Preston, the latter from far beyond the arc as the buzzer sounded. The Raiders kept that momentum in the final period, and stretched the lead to as much as 33 on two occasions before the horn sounded.

"I thought our ball movement tonight was some of the best we've done," Enfield head coach Cory O'Connell said. "They tried pressing and trapping all over the place, but our guys shared the ball very well, worked it inside and got some easy hoops."

Lindo finished with 12 points, all in the first half, while Romano contributed 10. Zach Askew led Vinal Tech (13-10) with 15 points, while Shay Peterson added 10.