PLAINVILLE On a night when the Plainville community raised money for Luke Santhouse with Layups for Luke, the Plainville boys basketball team must have been confused.

Instead of layups, the team hit 3-pointers. And hit a lot of them.

The Blue Devils (5-12) drained 12 3-pointers, including eight in the first half, en route to a 72-64 win against the visiting Rocky Hill Terriers (4-13).

Chase Tarca netted 20 points, but surprisingly enough only hit of Plainville's 12 threes. Jalen Gardner and Alex DelRio came off the bench to score 19 and 16 points, respectively. Gardner hit five 3-pointers and DelRio sank four of them in an uncanny display of long-range shooting for the Blue Devils.

Tyler Cirinna led Rocky Hill with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Nick Barron added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists.

With the loss, the Terriers were eliminated from state tournament contention.

But Tuesday night wasn't about just the players on the court. It was about Santhouse, the Plainville sophomore who is fighting Leukemia.

All of the proceeds raised from Tuesday's game concessions, ticket sales and a special bake sale were donated to the Santhouse family to assist with healthcare costs.

On top of that, the Plainville Police department presented Luke's parents, Tom and Pat, with a $500 check prior to the opening tipoff.

Luke's parents were also given supportive cards with gifts from the Plainville cheerleaders, girls basketball team, wrestling team and boys swimming team.

The gym, which was nearly filled, brought Tom Santhouse to tears as he thanked everyone for their support.

It's wonderful, he said of the turnout. The community support ... has been overwhelming. We've had teachers from his elementary school, teachers from the middle school, coaches, the Little League program [all show support].

Plainville also created and sold Lukestrong bracelets, in the mold of Lance Armstrong's Livestrong bracelets. By the end of the game, all of them were sold out.

We're selling Luke bracelets. Our athletic backers club is going to donate everything they make to the family tonight as well, Plainville athletic director John Zadnik said. Plainville's really an amazing town. ... The people are just wonderful.

Though the final total raised was not yet known, Zadnik made a safe estimate.

I know that there's a lot of large bills that are going into that, Zadnik said, pointing to the empty water cooler that was nearly full of donations in the gym. ... I would say easily over $1,000. Easily.

Though Luke, who just finished his second round of chemotherapy, could not be in attendance, his mother said he was listening to the game on the radio.

It's hard for him not to be here, but knowing that the kids are stepping up and some of his good friends are on the team and have been up to the hospital to visit [helps], Pat said. ... He'll be listening on the radio tonight.

This is important for him, from multiple standpoints and just knowing the kids are there for him.

Though Luke's road to recovery is a long one, his prognosis has improved.

All together there's about four or five rounds of chemo, Pat said. We're expecting him to be in and out of the hospital for six to nine months, according to the doctors. And at this point the doctors are not talking about a bone marrow. They were originally, but because he has responded well to the chemo and because he did not have a direct donor match ... that's not in the picture right now, which right now, in our minds is a good thing, as long as the chemo works. So that's what we're hoping.

Pat said it was important for both her and Tom to attend Tuesday's game, as they wanted to show their appreciation for what the community has done.

This was all planned by friends and coach [Marc Wesoly], Pat said. We knew very little of it actually. And we were just overwhelmed again. It wasn't something we really got too involved in. But we had been told about it and we certainly wanted to come and thank people.