By Kim J. Harmon

It was like the hardest test in the world … with no answer for the toughest question.

That’s what the 12th-seeded Rockets were faced with last Saturday at the Reed Intermediate School in a Junior Boys semifinal contest against the first-seeded Wildcats. And the question for which they had no answer – how do we contain Jake DeVellis?

They couldn’t.

DeVellis – who helped lead the Newtown Middle School boys’ basketball team to an undefeated season this past winter – scored 32 points, lifted the Wildcats to a 53-41 win over the Rockets, and sent his team to the championship game against the Huskies.

The ‘Cats got on a roll quickly, opening the game on a 16-2 run fueled by 12 points (eight in a row) by DeVellis. DeVellis scored the first two buckets before Brendan Blawie canned a bucket to get the Rockets on the board. But after Mike Lago answered back for the ‘Cats, DeVellis scored the next eight points before Lago finished off the run with another bucket on the fly.

Then the Rockets began to generate a little offense.

It started with a bucket from Josh Baron in the low blocks. Baron added another basket later in the period after his teammate, Pete Wlasuk, popped in a bucket in post but when the first eight minutes of the game was over the ‘Cats had a comfortable 19-8 lead.

That lead quickly grew in the second period as DeVellis scored the first six points, all on the break. When Keith Reszoly popped in a shot of his own, the ‘Cats had taken a 27-8 lead and were threatening the blow the Rockets out of the gym.

But the Rockets fought back. Josh Jowdy canned a pair of baskets and Wlasuk hit 1-of-2 free throws to bring the Rockets back within 14 points, 27-13. David Hutchinson and Lago scored for the ‘Cats to close out the half while Baron and Wlasuk did the same for the Rockets.

And it was the same story in the third period as Ben Miles of the Rockets scored to open the proceedings before the ‘Cats notched the next seven points (two baskets and a free throw from DeVellis; one basket from Lago) to take a 38-19 lead. Dan Spencer broke the run with his first points of the game and later on Baron hit back-to-back shots to spark the Rockets, but the ‘Cats closed out the period with a 44-25 lead.

The deficit seemed much too large, but the Rockets were intent on cutting it down to size and did it by opening up the perimeter and dropping four three-pointers in the final eight minutes of the game. Kevin Carney hit the first trey to open the fourth quarter before Ryan Goodridge followed with two treys and Baron added a trey with 1.6 seconds left on the clock.

But DeVellis scored seven points in that final period for the ‘Cats and the Rockets could only get as close as 12.

In the other Junior Boys semifinal (played last Friday night), the Huskies rode a 24-point effort by Joe Cappiello and defeated the Jaspers, 49-47. Zach Brazo scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as Ryan Daly, Zach Dlouhy and Mike Mouchantat played well. For the Jaspers, Steven Musco scored 19 points and Jason Kostecki added 15 more as Joe Scarpelli sparked the defense.

WILDCATS (53) – Jake DeVellis 32, Mike Lago 10, CJ Portolese 5, Keith Reszoly 2, David Hutchinson 2. ROCKETS (41) – Josh Baron 13, Pete Wlasuk 7, Ryan Goodridge 6, Josh Jowdy 4, Ben Miles 4, Kevin Carney 3, Brendan Blawie 2, Dan Spencer 2.