CorePlus Credit
Union honored
NORWICH — CorePlus Credit Union was named the second-place recipient of the Credit Union League of Connecticut’s (CULCT) Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Community Service Award.
This award acknowledges credit unions for their exceptional commitment to social responsibility and community service.
CorePlus Credit Union was honored for its participation in The Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Tag Program during the 2022 holiday season.
This remarkable initiative brought joy and hope to 55 children in Norwich, by providing them with new toys and clothing.
“We are thrilled to receive this esteemed recognition,” said Meg Martellotta, vice-president of Operations at CorePlus Credit Union. “This award highlights our mission to promote social responsibility and community involvement. We are committed to continuing our support for initiatives that enrich the lives of the communities we serve.”
CorePlus Credit Union expresses its deepest gratitude to The Salvation Army for providing such a meaningful program and to CULCT for acknowledging their contributions. The credit union is looking forward to partnering again with the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Tag Program again this year to make the holidays a little brighter for our community.

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At the end of the day, Mekhi Conner knew he was wanted. Sacred Heart coaches weren’t just sending text messages or making phone calls to tell the Putnam Science point guard they wanted him.
“From the head coach coming to watch me do bear crawls out on the field at 6 a.m. workouts to then the assistants being here to watch open gyms, they showed it,” Conner said. “They made me a priority, made it clear they wanted me.”
That connection between player and staff led Conner to make the decision early last week that he would sign his National Letter of Intent to play at the New Haven-based school that is moving from the NEC to the MAAC next year.
Conner is from New Haven, which means family and friends will be able to see him play regularly. But his decision ultimately came down to the relationship he built and the way he believes he can fit in right-away next year.
“I went on two visits and saw what it’s like, saw how (head coach Anthony Latina) coaches,” Conner said. “I see myself just coming in a doing what I do, being a pass-first guy and having scorers around me, I think it will work perfectly.”
Things worked perfectly for Conner and PSA last week, winning all three of its games. He had five points and three assists in 17 minutes of a 112-83 win over Springfield Commonwealth Wednesday; nine points, six rebounds, eight assists, and four steals (27 minutes) in an 80-71 victory over Massanutten (Va.) Friday; and he had five rebounds in three assists in 21 minutes of a 72-50 blowout of Hargrave (Va.) Saturday. For the season, he’s averaging 5.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.6 steals in about 18 minutes per game. He was moved this week into the starting lineup after coming off the bench in the first six.
“Mekhi is a great kid, such a humble kid, and we are all really happy for him that he’s going to Sacred Heart,” PSA coach Tom Espinosa said. “He’s been great for us, the prototypical point guard. He’s got great court vision, he’s got a high basketball IQ. He’s a big piece of what we’re hoping to do this year.”
Wednesday, Ben Ahmed finished with a career-high 29 points to go along with 11 rebounds to lead PSA to a needed win after losing twice the previous week.
“We had been playing soft,” Ahmed said. “We haven’t been playing like the real Putnam team is supposed to play. Coming back from a loss, I felt like we had to get a win to get back some of that energy. This win was so important.”
Que Duncan added 16 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Fallou Gueye, playing his first extended minutes of the season, had 12 points, four rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals, Justin Johnson finished with 12 points, six assists, and four rebounds, and Amdy Ndiaye was active in the paint making 4-of-his-6 shots, grabbing five rebounds, and blocking two shots.
Friday, it was Conner’s all-around game and another double-double from Ahmed (15 points, 17 rebounds) that led the way. Justin Johnson had a game-high 21 points, Ndiaye added nine points and eight rebounds, and Duncan chipped in 11 points.
And it was more of the same Saturday as PSA played its best game of the season, dominating play from start to finish. Ahmed (15 points, 14 boards) and Ndiaye (11 and 7) led the way, while Duncan, Gueye, and Cris McElveen were among those who defended well in a game in which PSA (7-2) got something out of everybody.
“That was Putnam basketball right there,” Espinosa said. “We just played with energy, we moved the ball and were unselfish. The defense is what I’m most excited about. We just brought it defensively. And we can be really good defensively. We have the talent to be, and we don’t even have Oswin (Erhunmwunse) back yet. It’s not a typical Hargrave team but that was a statement win for us.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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Andrew Robinson, a former PSA Prep basketball player and a member of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame who has played professionally overseas, was pretty nervous before last Wednesday’s varsity basketball game.
It was, after all, his first game as a coach.
“Going from a player to being a coach is a whole different ballgame,” he said. “As a player, you have a control over the outcome of the game, making shots, getting stops. As a coach, you’re just on the sideline watching everything unfold. You just want to make sure you’ve prepared the guys.”
The guys came through for Robinson, as Ilan Da Silva-Alp knocked down five 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 17 points as PSA held on for a 55-54 win over Busche Academy. The Mustangs led 51-41 with six-and-a-half minutes to play after one of those Da Silva-Alp 3’s but Busche closed on a run and had a chance to take the lead in the final seconds.
“I think they did well,” Robinson said afterward. “They executed well and played hard. We still have a long way to go, I have a lot of things I have to improve on as a coach as far as preparing the guys.
“I’ll take all the responsibility on that myself…I have to prepare them better for late-game situations and talking them through what we do when we’re up one with eight seconds on the clock. But I’m glad we get to improve with a win as opposed to a loss.”
Martyn Poliuchovic finished with 13 points and Vlad Vetrov added 10 for PSA.
Game 2 didn’t go as well Friday, as the Mustangs didn’t have enough to matchup with a bigger St. Thomas More team in a 54-39 road loss. Da Silva-Alp finished with 11 points, Vetrov nine, and Poliuchovic seven.
Elite Team
PSA’s Elite basketball team opened its season last week as well, winning two of its three games.
Big man Carter Mungin scored 31 points and pulled down 17 rebounds Monday in a resounding 94-74 win over Commonwealth in its season opener.
Jalen Claude made six of 11 3-point attempts on his way to 24 points, and Tony Williams added 18 points, six assists, five rebounds, and four steals. Octavius Wheeler had a strong all-around game as well, chipping in with six points, seven rebounds, four assists, and a pair of steals.
PSA dismantled Hoosac the next day, as Williams and Claude both scored 17 points in a 102-67 win. The outcome was never in doubt; the Mustangs scored the first nine points of the game, led 30-6 eight minutes in, and held a 65-26 advantage at halftime.
“I think we executed a lot better, and our defensive intensity was up to where we wanted it to be,” coach Andy Lemoine said. “This is a good group of guys, and they play hard and listen. And you see the results of what can happen when we do those things.”
Mungin finished with 16 points while Jude Gonzalez scored 12, and Sebastian Fermin and Javelle Epps both chipped in with nine points.
Mungin had another big game Thursday, finishing with 27 points and 18 rebounds, but PSA’s rally from a big deficit couldn’t quite get over the hump and the team suffered its first loss, 98-90 to Our Savior Lutheran.
PSA trailed 78-65 with a little more than seven minutes to go before mounting a comeback, getting within two points at 83-81 with about four minutes to play, but that was as close as they could get. Williams had 20 points, eight assists, and five rebounds, Epps finished with 18 points and six boards, and Claude chipped in 16 points.
Girls’ Team
The girls’ team returned to the court after two weeks without a game. The first game back was a struggle offensively, and despite losses in both games, coach Greg Canzater liked what he saw in the second game.
One night after the Mustangs scored just 23 points in a road loss at Hoosac, Carlota Lopez had 10 points in a 39-34 home loss to St. George’s.
“I feel like we’re close,” Canzater said after his team fell to 0-3. “Not just to winning a game but in a lot of the things that we’ve been working on since we got here in August, really. I think defensively we made one of our biggest strides. I thought we were all over the place, intense, we got more vocal in the second half. That’s what kept us in the mix.
“We struggled to make baskets…how many times did it rim out? But keep shooting. Allowing players to feel through some of their mistakes, there are some things that we need to figure out, and some of our main players can do that over the course of the game.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy

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