Dinunzio leads surging Lewis Mills, who have won five of last six

Lewis Mills center Tommy Dinunzio, left, is guarded closely by Conard’s Aidan Sawyers during Thursday night’s game in Burlington. (Photo courtesy Steve Barlow)

By STEVE BARLOW
Special to The Collinsville Press
BURLINGTON, Feb. 12, 2026 – Unless you want to burn your fingers, don’t touch the Lewis Mills High School boys basketball team. It may be the dead of winter, but the Spartans are sizzling hot.

The same team that stumbled out of the gate, losing five of its first six, has now won five of its last six games after dismantling Conard, 62-42, on Thursday night at the Thunderdome behind a season-high 28 points from Tommy Dinunzio.

“In my years here, we’ve never gotten off to a super hot start,” said Dinunzio, a junior center who also grabbed eight rebounds. “But I think Lewis Mills basketball is defined by resiliency and persevering players. Going from 1-5 to 9-9 speaks volumes about who we are.”

Both teams entered the Central Connecticut Conference game with an 8-9 record, but Mills came out with more energy and a scorching shooting touch from Dinunzio. He scored 10 points in the opening five minutes, draining a series of turnaround, fallaway jumpers over outstretched defenders’ hands

“I don’t know where I got (the fallaway) from – kind of a Dirk Nowitzki move,” said Dinunzio. “I’ve only had it about a year. A lot of great coaches have helped me in the offseason to craft the game. I’ve been building the confidence to shoot it.”

“Tommy’s always adding something to his bag of tricks,” said Mills coach Ryan Raponey. “He’s not satisfied with where he’s at as a player. He’s a leader by example in practice every day. He plays so hard, and that sets the tone for the entire team.”

Dinunzio’s last basket of the first period gave the Spartans a 12-4 lead with three minutes to go. Marcos Muniz’s 3-pointer at the buzzer put Mills up, 19-10.

In the second quarter, the Spartans held Conard to five points while building a 32-15 halftime lead. The Red Wolves never got closer than 13 points the rest of the way.

Logan Carrano added 10 points and three rebounds for Mills, which outrebounded Conard, 21-14.

The Spartans have two regular-season games left, Tuesday at home against Hall on Senior Night and Friday, Feb. 20, at Northwest Catholic. They have already clinched a spot in the CIAC Division III state tournament.

“Every season, our goal is getting into the tournament,” said Raponey. “But how do you do that, right? You’ve got to improve every single day. These guys show up every day to practice. They put in the time and effort. They prepare for opponents every time.”

According to Dinunzio, there’s one other factor in Mills’ late-season revival.

“I think something we might take for granted is Coach Rap spends so much time, maybe a little too much time, looking at videos and highlights to give us the breakdown on every team,” he said.

Lewis Mills 62, Conard 42
At Burlington
Conard (42): James O’Sullivan 0 1 1, Ryan Peabody 2 1 7, Amir Hughes 0 0 0, Shane Morris 8 1 18, Cory Brown 3 1 8, Spencer Davis 0 0 0, Aidan Sawyers 4 0 8, Onell Pike 0 0 0. Totals 17 4 42.
Lewis Mills (62): Marcos Muniz 3 0 7, Owen Filipiak 1 0 3, Lucas Day 0 0 0, Anthony D’Iorio 3 0 7, Will Green 2 0 4, Logan Carrano 3 3 10, Tommy Dinunzio 11 4 28, Gage Kosak 1 0 2, Gavis Gustas 0 0 0, Ian Mayes 0 0 0, Alec Zeller 0 0 0, Curtis Gilbert 0 0 0, Sam Carder 0 0 0, Shawn Tessier 0 0 0. Totals 23 7 62.
Conard (8-10)                10    5  19  8  — 42
Lewis Mills (9-9)           19  13  15  15  — 62
Three-point goals: C – Peabody 2, Morris 1, Brown 1. LM – Muniz 1, Filipiak 1, D’Iorio 1, Carrano 1, Dinunzio 2.