Sports

Boys Basketball: Porters honor Dibble, rally past Shelter Island

Tyshie Williams drives to the basket against Shelter Island Friday night. (Credit: Garret Meade)
Tyshie Williams drives to the basket against Shelter Island Friday night. (Credit: Garret Meade)

PORTERS 65, INDIANS 62

Late heroics by Willy Riggins and Tyshie Williams averted a possible controversial result and pushed the Greenport boys basketball team to victory over Shelter Island on Friday night.

Riggins and Williams scored baskets in the final 62 seconds to lift the Porters from a one-point deficit to a 65-62 win in a Suffolk County League VIII game as the Porters avenged a defeat in last year’s Class D county final.

With the Porters (2-1, 1-1) leading 55-53 during a time out with 4:45 remaining in the game, the referees, after consulting with both teams’ scorers, determined that the Indians (0-1, 0-1) were missing two points on the scoreboard. The score was “corrected” to 55-55.

This reporters’ copious notes, however, did not agree with the game officials’ decision.

Shelter Island eventually grabbed a 62-61 lead as Tristan Wissemann (26 points) sank two foul shots with 1:27 left in the game. But Greenport would not wilt. Riggins sank a one-hander with 62 seconds remaining before Williams extended the advantage to three points with a driving layup with 34.8 seconds to go.

The visitors missed two shots down the stretch and the Porters rebounded successfully to close out the game.

Greenport enjoyed as much as a 12-point lead at 41-29 with 4:33 remaining in the third quarter before Shelter Island rallied.

The Porters’ Tim Stevens scored 14 of his team-high 21 points in the opening half. Angel Colon contributed 11 points and Darius Bolling added 10.

For Shelter Island, Sawyer Clark finished with 12 points and Bill Boeklen and Johnny Sturges scored nine points apiece.

Prior to the game, Greenport honored former standout Gavin Dibble, who scored his 1,000th career point on his last shot as a high school player in a 73-66 loss to Shelter Island in the Class D final. Because it was an elimination game and the final contest of the season, Dibble’s feat could not be commemorated. On Friday, the University of New England freshman received a basketball from the school with the words 1,000 points written on it.

Dibble was home during the school’s Christmas break.

Greenport's Gavin Dibble, a freshman at the University of New Hampshire, was honored before Friday's game for scoring 1,000 career points. Varsity coach Ev Corwin (left) and former coach Al Edwards presented Dibble with a basketball. (Credit: Garret Meade)
Greenport’s Gavin Dibble, a freshman at the University of New England, was honored before Friday’s game for scoring 1,000 career points. Varsity coach Ev Corwin (left) and former coach Al Edwards presented Dibble with a basketball. (Credit: Garret Meade)