TRUMBULL BOYS Stingel, Kish lead Champion victory

The pair combined for 45 points in a 61-56 win over Brookfield.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BROOKFIELD -- Champion's Kevin Stingel is "Mr. Outside" and Mark Kish is "Mr. Inside."
The junior tandem combined to score 45 points Friday to lead the Flashes to a 61-56 win over Brookfield at the Warriors gym.
"We think Kevin and Mark are two of the top players in the league," Champion coach Jeff Rasile said. "They need to develop consistency every night so that we have a chance to win."
The duo couldn't be any more consistent against the Warriors and the result was the first Trumbull Athletic Conference win of the year for Champion.
"We've been competitive every single game," Rasile said. "Late in every game, we've either been up or tied and we found a way to win tonight."
Champion (3-4, 1-3) pulled away from a close game when Stingel maneuvered the court in 6.7 seconds and drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Flashes a 38-32 lead heading into the fourth period.
Stingel finished with a game-high 26 points.
The Flashes continued to build that lead to 10 points, 50-40, on a Kish basket with 4:11 remaining, but a young Brookfield team (4-3, 0-3) wouldn't quit.
Led by a pair of juniors also, the Warriors came back to cut the lead to five points, 53-48.
Leading Warriors: Julian Hayes and Ted Swogger each scored 19 points and it was Swogger's two free throws that pulled Brookfield to within five with 1:32 remaining.
Swogger scored 11 of his points in the fourth quarter and nailed five three pointers for the game.
Champion, however, knocked down their free throws down the stretch to put the game away.
"Brookfield's a much improved team," Rasile said. "They run a great offense and they have some talented players. It was a big win to beat them here."
Brookfield showed their explosiveness early as they jumped out to a 15-9 first quarter lead.
The Warriors took advantage of their quickness against Champion's man-to-man defense in that period, but when the Flashes switched to a zone in the second quarter, Brookfield struggled.
Brookfield coach Chris Fahndrich said the strategy enabled Champion to get back in the game.
"We had trouble with their zone in the second period," Fahndrich said. "We couldn't hit any outside shots and that let them get back in the game."
Brookfield was outscored 12-3 in the period and found themselves trailing 21-18 at halftime.
Controls boards: Champion took advantage of a huge height advantage to control the rebounding 42-27.
"They killed us on the boards and we had trouble matching up with Stingel and Kish," Fahndrich said. "The experience of those two guys hurt us."