WILTON — Leading by only six points over Norwalk, the Wilton Warriors, led by Drew Connolly, broke the game wide open as Wilton won 76-53.

Connolly, a junior, scored nine of his game-high 21 points and made plays all over the court to kick-start a 23-5 run from the middle of the third quarter to the end.

“He carried us by himself,” Wilton head coach Joel Geriak said. “He just carried our team through the whole third quarter and into the fourth quarter.”

With Wilton leading by four, Connolly knocked down a 3-pointer.

After an AJ Jerome basket for Norwalk, Connolly responded with a basket of his own and two free throws to give Wilton a nine-point lead.

Connolly then blocked a Norwalk shot, came up with the ball and made a pretty one bounce pass to teammate Matt Kronenberg for an easy layup putting Wilton up double digits.

“Last game he showed what he can do against Westhill when he had 23 (points),” Geriak said. “He’s coming into his own now.”

After another fastbreak assist to Kronenberg, Connolly went back to the free-throw line and knocked down both free throws putting up Wilton comfortably, 50-34, in the third quarter.

“We talked at halftime — we knew we could get out on the fastbreak so we started pushing tempo a little bit more — that’s what we did last game against Westhill as well and that’s when we broke it open,” Connolly said. “Getting fastbreak layups and easy buckets.”

With teammates Jack Williams and Matt Kronenberg defended well by the Bears, it was Connolly’s time to step up and he knew it.

“We know that there are not a lot of teams in the league, if any, that can cover all three of us at the same time. When one of us is feeling it, that’s who we get the ball to and we feed off of each other,” Connolly said. “Jack was hitting his shots from the outside, Kron and I were doing a good job getting to the paint and setting up some shooters and that’s usually how it goes with one of us behind the 3-point line, spotting up there, and the others are attacking the hoop trying to create something.”

Senior James Maloney, Williams and Kyle Shifrin each scored consecutively to extend the Warriors’ run to 20-2 towards the end of the third quarter.

Norwalk’s Zach White then drained a 3-pointer for the Bears with four seconds left, the Warriors then inbounded the ball quickly and got it to Williams as he launched a three-fourths court shot.

Nothing but net as the buzzer sounded giving the Warriors a 59-37 lead heading in the final quarter.

“We didn’t play any defense, that’s been our problem all year,” said Norwalk head coach Tom Keyes about the third quarter. “We turned the ball over quite a few times and they turned them into easy baskets.”

The fourth quarter saw the Warriors extend their lead to 70-48 before both teams cleared the benches.

“For one, play defense that helps. At halftime I was not happy with them. That was probably the second worst half we have played all year. We missed I think 13 layups we had on our stat sheet, can’t have that,” Geriak said. “I ripped into them a little bit saying ‘you can’t let teams stick around with you because a team that will stick around will beat you.’ The third quarter they put their foot on the gas and luckily in the fourth quarter they didn’t take it off.”

The Bears stuck close with the Warriors right from the beginning, trailing only by five, 17-12, after the first quarter.

Norwalk got points from five different players in the first quarter while Wilton’s Kronenberg led the Warriors with 10 points.

The Warriors struggled at the beginning of the second quarter as the Bears took a 21-20 lead after Deandre Russell scored on a layup midway through the second frame.

Connolly would give the Warriors the lead right back, but again Russell scored giving it back to the Bears.

A 3-pointer from freshman Nick Kronenberg gave the Warriors a two-point lead, which they would not give back, as Connolly’s hot start started and he scored the final four points of the half.

“On regular defensive possessions we didn’t really play any (defense). It’s disappointing because we were in the game,” Keyes said. “I thought we played a pretty decent first half but if you don’t play four quarters you’re not going to beat a team like Wilton.

“They’re a good team, they’re well-coached and they know how to win and good luck to them and everyone else in the playoffs,” he added.

For Norwalk, its season ends at 4-16 (3-13 FCIAC) as they failed to qualify for the FCIAC Tournament and the Class LL Tournament.

“I would have liked to send them out with a win,” Keyes said. “A lot of good kids in this senior group that deserved a little better wins-and-losses wise compared to what we did.

“Overall not a great season, wins-and-losses wise, but we do have a lot of positives, a lot of nice kids and a lot of good memories with this group as well,” he added.

Wilton (13-7, 10-6) is the No. 5 seed in the FCIAC Tournament and will play No. 4 Fairfield Warde (12-8 10-6) on Saturday in the quarterfinals at Fairfield Ludlowe at 5 p.m.

“I do feel confident, we have nothing to lose to be honest with you. Nobody at the beginning of the year gave us a chance to get there,” Geriak said. “The kids know that, they fought through it, they proved they belong in the top part of the FCIAC and now we have our chance to prove it on Saturday.”