On the receiving end of a number of close losses, several of which came in the final minute of play, Greenwich High School’s boys basketball team finally got a tight game to turn out in its favor Friday night against Danbury.

And the Cardinals certainly needed to come out on top in this back-and-forth FCIAC matchup.

Guy Germain made a foul shot with 0.9 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, giving host Greenwich a dramatic 45-44 victory over Danbury before a big, enthusiastic Friday night crowd. The well-earned win, put the brakes on a three-game losing streak for the Cardinals, who lost to Trumbull by nine points on Tuesday night, after trailing by just two points in the fourth quarter and were overtaken by Staples on Jan. 26 by seven points, after again, being involved in a two-point matchup.

“We’ve played three really good teams in a row and we’ve probably played our best three games,” Greenwich coach Todd Trimmer said. “Our focus this week was on competing and my message to them was when you compete, you can make up for some of the little things you do wrong. We competed and at the end we refused to lose.”

Senior point guard/co-captain Connor Parkes scored a team-high 22 points, 10 of which came during the first quarter to lead the Cardinals. Sophomore guard/forward Sandro Scott added nine points, with seven coming in the first half for Greenwich. With the triumph, Greenwich, which led most of the way, improved its record to 4-9 overall and 2-7 in the FCIAC.

“We didn’t play to the best of our ability, we had a 10-point cushion and we let it up, they went up by one,” Parkes said. “Every single day in practice we’ve been competing against each other, so us refusing to lose won us that game, especially Guy knocking down that clutch free throw at the end.”

Cameron Perkins, a dynamic senior forward, scored a game-high 23 points to pace the Hatters. Perkins, a four-season starter, scored the 1,000th point of his career during Friday’s FCIAC game against the Cardinals. Senior forward Chamaz Perkins had eight points, with all eight coming in the opening half for the Hatters, who have a record of 9-4 overall and 6-4 in the FCIAC.

With the score tied at 44-44 with less than 20 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Danbury had the ball and passed it around the perimeter for a final shot. A jump shot was missed in the final seconds, Germain of Greenwich came up with the rebound and was fouled. Danbury was over the foul limit, so Germain went to the foul line for two shots with only 0.9 seconds left to play.

All eyes were on Germain, a junior guard, as he stepped to the free throw line and took the shot. Immediately after his first shot went through the hoop, the crowd, featuring Greenwich’s student section, ‘The Cardinal Crazies,’ erupted.

“As I was shooting the first one, I’m just thinking that it was every normal free throw that I shot,” said Germain, who finished the game with six points. “I thought, ‘I’m in practice.”

Danbury had a final desperation shot at the basket after the ensuing inbounds pass made it to halfcourt, but it was missed and Greenwich had its final-second win.

“We’ve been working all the time in practice on just those final minutes,” Germain noted. “We seem to have lost the past few games, right at the end. We’ve somehow managed to lose those big games, so winning this is the greatest feeling ever.”

GHS held a 26-22 halftime lead on the Hatters, then raised its advantage to 37-29 following the third quarter on a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the third quarter by Parkes. A layup by Parkes against Danbury’s man-to-man defense upped Greenwich’s lead to 39-29 with 7:29 to go in the final quarter.

At the 5:50 mark of the fourth quarter, Cameron Perkins converted a foul shot, bringing Danbury to within 40-33 and giving him 1,000 career points.

“Perkins – he’s a great player and has been a great player in this league for four years,” Trimmer said. “He was a great player when he was a freshman. He’s a great kid, he’s a legit shooter at 6-4.”

Said Parkes: “That’s a great team and Cam’s a really good player. He’s going to get his points every single night, he’s a great player, a great scorer. Congratulations to him.”

Danbury took a 44-43 edge with 1:51 to go in the fourth quarter with a basket. Parkes knotted the score at 44-44 by swishing a free throw at the 1:24 mark.

“We had the ball, so I was confident that either me, or one of my teammates could get into a place where we could score,” Parkes said of the final minutes of action.

Junior guards Ryan Brennan and Alex Gianopoulos added three points apiece, while Blake Martin, also a junior guard, had a basket for two points in the winning effort. Trenton Fraiser, a junior guard had four points for the Hatters.

“There was a stretch where we were working the ball inside, working the ball outside and we were getting good layups,” Germain said. “We were up by 10 at one point. We’re going to keep working on the end game situations.”

Greenwich has been boosted by the recent return of senior guard/co-captain Jonathan Brennan, who was sidelined for numerous games with a foot injury.

“I just hope to keep progressing and at some point make it to full strength,” Jonathan Brennan said. “I was proud of them, this is one of the best teams. I’m so proud of my guys for stepping up and getting the ‘W’. Finally finishing a game and getting a ‘W’ was huge for us.”

Greenwich’s zone defense was solid throughout and though it was convincingly outrebounded by the bigger, taller hatters, it was scrappy in this FCIAC matchup.

“It was a great win, that’s a great team, he’s a great coach,” Trimmer noted. “He had some things for us that we didn’t expect. We made some adjustments at halftime that helped us with that. I think we held them to six points that third quarter – it was a good win.”

“We wanted to make them have to work defensively for long periods of time, so we wanted to use the clock as much as possible and get shots late. We worked the ball a lot and I think it affected them offensively later in the game. They had some open looks at the end and didn’t knock down shots. That’s a size matchup for us, they outrebounded us by I don’t know how many.”

Greenwich hopes to make it two wins in a row when it visits FCIAC opponent Darien Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game.

“This was huge,” Trimmer said. “It’s been a long season when it comes to not being able to finish games out, so this was one we needed.”