Chronicle Staff Reports
STORRS — It will be a special night at E.O. Smith High School.
At halftime of tonight’s non-conference boys basketball game between Bolton and E.O. Smith, Ron Pires will be recognized for his 43 seasons as head basketball coach for the Panthers.
E.O. Smith principal Dr. Lou DeLoretto will open with remarks at halftime before Pires will have an opportunity to address those in attendance.
During his tenure at E.O. Smith, Pires coached teams to 29 CIAC state tournament appearances, 10 conference championships, six league tournament titles and back-to-back state finals appearances against St. Thomas Aquinas (Class M, 1993) and Middletown (Class L, 1994).
Pires was named Coach of the Year by the Connecticut High School Coaches Association in 2015 and was inducted into the CHSCA Hall of Fame in 2022.
No cash sales for tonight’s game will be sold at the door. Tickets must be purchased on-line with a limit of two per purchase.
Links to purchase tickets can be found on the Athletics page under ‘News and Information’ on the E.O. Smith website - eosmith.org.
Tickets also can be purchased through the GOFAN website - gofan.co
HOCKEY
Braiden George scored the game-winning goal in overtime for the second consecutive game as E.O. Smith/Tolland edged Enfield/Stafford/East Granby, 2-1, in a Central Connecticut Conference South Division game Wednesday at Enfield Twin Rinks.
George scored both goals for the Bucks (6-11, 5-8). Declan Bayne and Eric Lemieux assisted on his first goal - on the power play in the first period and Luke Ruchalski provided the assist on the game-winner - 7:26 into overtime - after George came out of the penalty box to pick up a clearing pass for the game winner.
Tegan Mabrysmith made 37 saves in the win.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Trey Lindsey had 29 points and 12 rebounds for Windham Tech, which had its 11-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday night in a 81-65 non-conference loss to Windsor Locks.
Dezmen Gaston and Brady Marsh each had 11 points for the Mighty Tigers (14-4).
Noah Cordone scored 20 points for E.O. Smith (1-15) in a 55-42 CCC inter-division loss to Glastonbury on Tuesday in Storrs.
The win by the Guardians (13-4) was career victory No. 300 for head coach Jim Vaughn.