Big games this week in NVL, BL courts

By JOE PALLADINO The games are afoot, and basketball fans are the lucky ones.
It is still only January, but a big step toward a championship can be taken this week in the Berkshire League. Gas up the car and point it toward Falls Village for a BL beauty on Wednesday night as Housatonic hosts Thomaston in a game with consequences.
The Bears won the first meeting in The Cave by a mere three points. Housy is 10-1 in the BL, and winners of 10 straight. The Bears are 9-1 in the BL, and coming off a shocking loss to Northwestern.
This is what you call big. Dust off the word showdown and attach it to this one.
There are a bunch of NVL girls games that matter, a lot, this week, but the best happen tonight. There are four teams all vying for those final three spots in the NVL tourney, and three more just a modest win streak away from entering the conversation.
Tonight, 6-5 Seymour, the current No. 8 seed, plays at 8-2 Watertown, while 6-4 Woodland hosts 5-5 Wolcott, and all have eyes on the tourney. Sacred Heart is 6-4, and plays at 8-3 Kennedy, while Naugy and Derby, both trying to move up, play a key game Friday in the borough.
There is a shade over three weeks to play before the NVL girls tourney, and no margin for error remains.
Ah, but the big noise tonight belongs to the boys in the city. Kennedy travels to Alumni Hall for a clash with Sacred Heart.
Can you say mmm good?
The Hearts are 9-0, 7-0 in the NVL, and coming off two brilliant games, and victories, against New York City opponents.
On Saturday, the Hearts knocked off South Shore from Brooklyn, 47-45, and there may be only two or three state teams better than South Shore, maybe less. These were impressive wins for a Sacred Heart team just beginning to show its quality.
But the same can be said for 9-1 (8-1 NVL) Kennedy. The Eagles have emerged as a viable NVL contender. In other words, Alumni Hall will be abuzz tonight.
But so will be McDonald Gymnasium as Holy Cross hosts Crosby.
The Crusaders are 9-1 (8-1 NVL), while Crosby, 8-2 in the NVL, must bounce back from recent defeats against the Hearts and Eagles. This game has the delightful matchup of Crosby’s low-post threat in Jeremiah Kendall with the superb Cross front court.
Also tonight, Wilby travels way across town to play at Waterbury Career Academy. The Wildcats are in desperate need of a city win, and so are the Spartans, who are trying to hold on to NVL tourney spot.
There is one heck of an NVL Iron Division game tonight as Naugy visits Torrington, 5:30 p.m. tip, in a game between two 3-0 teams in divisional play, and also teams in need the win for the NVL tourney chase.
The Seymour boys have been making, as they have noted, some thunder in the Valley. At 5-4 and currently sitting in that last tourney spot, Seymour hosts Watertown tonight, and plays at Kennedy on Friday in a big Wildcat week.