Coach Recounts 'Cinderella' Story As Newtown HS Basketball Team Pulls Out Upset
NEWTOWN, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Newtown High School's boys' basketball team has given the grieving Connecticut town something to cheer about.
The team, ranked last in the state Class LL basketball tournament, pulled out a major upset over heavily favored Crosby High School of Waterbury on Monday night, 61-58.
Crosby, the second-ranked team in the state, had lost just one game all season.
"It's been a tough three months for everybody here in Newtown and as much as we want to win for ourselves, we want to win for the town itself," Newtown boys basketball coach Tim Tallcouch told WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau on Tuesday.
Coach Recounts 'Cinderella' Story As Newtown HS Basketball Team Pulls Out Upset
Tallcouch said he gave his team a halftime pep talk to rally them to the upset victory.
"The kids took the game plan, went up to Crosby High School last night, executed to perfection. We slowed them down and we came away with a well-earned victory," he told Schneidau.
The coach said the first-round upset was the win of the year.
"Last night, we felt like Cinderella. Hopefully, it doesn't strike midnight anytime soon," Tallcouch told Schneidau.
Newtown High School is located just a mile from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 first graders and six educators on Dec. 14 in one of the worst school shooting rampages in U.S. history.
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