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East Hartford celebrates beating Windsor 69-65 during the East Hartford vs Windsor boys basketball CCC finals on Monday, March 2, 2026, at the University of Hartford in West Hartford. (Jim Michaud/Hearst Connecticut Media)
WEST HARTFORD - Go ahead, East Hartford. Party like it's 1998. The prince has become a king. For the first time in 28 years, East Hartford boys basketball reigns in the Central Connecticut Conference.
In a game that was fast, furious, foul-strewn and non-stop intense from wire to wire, No. 2 East Hartford knocked off top-seeded Windsor 69-65 in the CCC boys basketball championship game Monday night at a boisterous and jam-packed Chase Arena at the University of Hartford.
East Hartford senior Kehari Walker caught fire down the stretch, scoring 13 of his team-high 22 points in the fourth quarter. Walker's second-chance 3-pointer, followed by an acrobatic lane drive by senior guard Zasheem McCoy that went for a three-point play, helped the Hornets snap a 59-59 tie and pull ahead to stay in the final two minutes.
McCoy finished with 18 points and Deondre Story added 11 for East Hartford (21-3), which claimed its first CCC crown since winning the league's inaugural tournament in 1998. East Hartford's only other appearance in the CCC final came in 2009 in a loss to Windsor.
Windsor, which has raised more CCC banners than any one else, was looking for title No. 10. Junior swingman Missoni Brown was electric with a game-high 26 points and slinky sophomore guard Alex Weaver collected 20 for the Warriors (22-2), who suffered only their second loss of the season,
Free throws by Walker and Charles Lewis had Windsor within 67-65 with 10 seconds to play, but East Hartford was able to inbound, beat the press and feed Storey for a game-icing layup. Then it was pandemonium for the Black & Gold and their fans behind the west basket.
Windsor, ranked fourth in the GametimeCT Top 10 poll, had carved out a 34-29 halftime lead over No. 9 East Hartford. In this razor of a game, though, edges offered no traction. East Hartford, sparked by a McCoy trey, opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run. After that, the game saw six ties and nine lead changes until McCoy's conversion of a rebound put East Hartford up 61-59 with 1:59 left, and ahead to stay.
This was the CCC's first all-public school final since Weaver beat Windsor in 2015. Windsor and East Hartford set it up by knocking off the conference's perennial parochial powers, East and Northwest Catholic, in Saturday's semifinals at Bristol Central. Windsor took care of Northwest 62-58, while East Hartford followed with a 70-56 verdict over East Catholic.
The Warriors and Hornets met in the regular season, in the CARE Challenge 2 hosted by Windsor over the holidays. Windsor won that game 80-55.
The rematch was ripping from the opening tip in front of full house that had all four sides of the 4,000-seat Chase Arena filled. East Hartford opened up a 12-6 lead five minutes in courtesy of Storey, who popped a corner trey and followed with the finish on a fast break sprung by a McCoy block.
Windsor's Missoni Brown closed the gap with a lane drive, steal and layup, all in a sequence of about five seconds. That set up Weaver's go-ahead corner trey on a kick-out by Ji Gary. It was all part of a 10-1 run that closed the first quarter and gave Windsor an 18-14 edge.
Chaz McElroy drained a second-chance 3 and Zahrion Gilzene cuffed home a break rebound to pull East Hartford even at 20-up early in the second quarter, but Brown's long-range trey put Windsor back on top. Coupled with two fast break finishes from Weaver, the Warriors had a 34-29 edge at the half.
Monday's game could prove to be a preview of the CIAC Division II final. Windsor goes in as the No. 1 seed, East Hartford as the No. 3. Official seeds will be released Tuesday by the CIAC.
Player of the Game
Kehari Walker: The East Hartford senior scored 13 of his team-high 22 points in the fourth quarter, including eight straight.
Quotable
"We decided to start off early with 6 a.m. workouts early on. We kept going from there: 6 a.m. every Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Every day, 6 a.m. It paid off. You see where we're at." - Kehari Walker.
CCC BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP
East Hartford 69, Windsor 65
EAST HARTFORD 14 15 15 25-69
WINDSOR 18 16 10 21-65
East Hartford (21-3)
Kehari Walker 7 1 5-6 22, Zasheem McCoy 5 2 2-5 18, Deondre Story 3 1 2-3 11, Zahrion Gilzene 2 0 2-4 6, Malachi Hymes 0 1 1-4, 4, Jaiden Bolling 1 0 1-2 3, Chaz McElroy 0 1 0-0 3, Anthony 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 19 6 13-24 69.
Windsor (22-2)
Missoni Brown 8 2 4-7 26, Alex Weaver 4 1 9-12 20, Charles Lewis 3 0 7-10 13, Ji Gray 1 0 2-2 4, Myles Rush 0 0 1-4 1, Adam Afolabi 0 0 1-2 1. Totals: 16 3 24-37 65.
3-point field goals:East Hartford-McCoy 2, Walker, Story, Hymes, McElory; Windsor-Brown 2, Weaver.
This article originally published at East Hartford boys basketball out-battles Windsor in epic CCC tournament championship game.
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