St. Bernard squeaks by Ellis Tech

Joey Cyr may play for the St. Bernard boys basketball team, but he probably has more in common with the team his Saints met Monday in the first round of the Class M tournament.
Cyr lives just about five miles from Ellis Tech in Danielson and grew up playing basketball with some of the Eagles players.
It added just a little more fuel to Cyr’s fire, not that he needed much more in the way of motivation. After all, this was a state tournament game and the St. Bernard senior knew it would be his last in a Saints uniform if they lost.
He helped make sure that didn’t happen, netting 18 points to help St. Bernard (14-8) slip by the upset-minded Eagles, 46-45, and into the next round.
“(Ellis Tech junior) Sean (Haythe) was on my team for three or four years in rec. league, so it was fun to play him,” Cyr said. “Beating Killingly before and then beating Ellis twice this year, it’s definitely bragging rights in northeastern Connecticut.”
Cyr put the Eagles behind in the first half after he outscored their team, 13-8, in the second quarter. Ellis Tech had sliced an early seven-point deficit to just two at the beginning of the second quarter when Andre Curiel (10 points, seven rebounds) hit a free throw, the only St. Bernard point in the quarter that was not scored by Cyr.
After Ellis Tech missed five consecutive shots, Cyr laid down the first of two 3-pointers within 25 seconds of one another. A free throw by Joe Guilmette for the Eagles did little to cool Cyr’s fire as he followed with a traditional three-point play and then added four more free throws to push the Saints’ lead to 24-14 at the half.
“Wow, I didn’t notice that,” St. Bernard coach Tim Payne said with a laugh about Cyr’s second-quarter barrage. “Did I take him out?”
Ellis Tech coach Dan Piccione, meanwhile, couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His Eagles made just 5-of-28 shots from the floor in the first half and followed that with a 5-of-18 performance in the third quarter.
Lay-ups, 3-pointers, put-backs — nothing was falling, which led Piccione at one point to turn to his assistant coach, Josh Dinerman, and exclaim, “I give up.”
“(It was) really frustrating. It’s lucky that we were even in the game,” Piccione said. “When you can’t make a shot, it’s tough.”
But the Eagles still trailed by only nine entering the fourth quarter, and a pair of 3-pointers by brothers Jon and Josh Arraje brought Ellis back to life, closing the gap to three points. Three minutes later, Jaymie Cellucci’s only basket of the night cut it to one with 2:08 left.
“They’re a good team, they played hard,” Cyr said. “We kind of overlooked them a little when we got the lead and just started coasting.”
Cyr, who had been quiet since the second quarter with the exception of two free throws in the fourth, made three of four from the line. Dylan Delacruz added one from the charity stripe and Josh Bowyer sealed the deal with a pair with 12 seconds left to make it 46-42.
Jon Arraje (16 points) hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left to cut the deficit to one, but Ellis Tech (11-12) was out of time-outs.
“It’s a shame, but there was nothing we could do about it,” Jon Arraje said. “If it happens, it happens. Game’s over.”
The Eagles are still seeking the first state tournament victory in program history.
“We’re just going to have to wait, hopefully until next year,” Piccione said. “It seems like we’re cursed.”
The Saints get another Constitution State Conference team next as they travel to Danbury to take on that league’s champ, Abbott Tech, on Wednesday.