Sports

Boys Basketball: Stony Brook has too many weapons for Porters

DANIEL DE MATO PHOTO | Austin Hooks of Greenport attempting a layup over the off-balanced Andrew Daniel of Stony Brook during Thursday's game.
DANIEL DE MATO PHOTO | Austin Hooks of Greenport attempting a layup over the off-balanced Andrew Daniel of Stony Brook during Thursday’s game.

BEARS 57, PORTERS 36

The Stony Brook School boys basketball team brings a lot of weapons to the court. The Bears have speed, athleticism, length and big bodies under the boards. It’s an awful lot for an opponent to deal with. By the time the Greenport Porters headed home after Thursday’s game in Stony Brook, they may have felt as if they had brought a knife to a gun fight.

Greenport lost to Stony Brook by 5 points in its season-opener last month. Thursday’s rematch, which tipped off the second half of the Suffolk County League VIII season, wasn’t so close. Try 21 points — in Stony Brook’s favor.

The fine play of freshman Chase Audige, coupled with the rebounding prowess of Bryce Jackson and Andrew Daniel, added up to the one-sided 57-36 win by Stony Brook. Audige struck for 18 points and Asaiah Wilson had 13 as Stony Brook (8-1, 7-1), the defending league and Long Island Class C champion, won its fourth straight.

Stony Brook dominated the boards, outrebounding Greenport by 52-36. The 6-foot-5 Jackson and the 6-foot-7 Daniel were a big reason for that. Jackson, an American who had lived in Saudi Arabia and is in his first season in the sport, grabbed 18 rebounds. Daniel pulled down 17 boards to go with his 9 points.

In the first meeting between the teams, Greenport’s sharp-shooting guard, Gavin Dibble, dropped 35 points. This time, though, Stony Brook clamped down on Dibble, who shot 4 of 7 from the field and scored 11 points. He had only two 3-point attempts, making one of them. Austin Hooks also had 11 points to go with 8 rebounds for the Porters (4-5, 4-4), who lost for the fourth time in five games.

Dibble’s game-opening basket gave the Porters their only lead of the day. Stony Brook pulled away from there, charging out to a commanding 22-8 lead and never looking in danger of losing it. Audige accounted for 13 of those 22 points.

Stony Brook’s lead swelled. The Bears were in front by as many as 29 points when a pair of free throws by Daniel made the score 51-22 with 3 minutes 8 seconds left in the third quarter.

With the result all but decided, both teams filled the court with reserve players in the fourth quarter. Stony Brook’s cushion was so large that the Bears were not even hurt by the fact that they missed their last 14 field-goal attempts.

One thing both sides shared were low shooting percentages from the field. Greenport hit on only 26.3 percent of its shots while Stony Brook was not much better at 28.4 percent.

After the game, Greenport coach Ev Corwin was asked for a mid-season report card on his team and he gave the Porters a C. “That’s average,” he said. “I think the best is definitely yet to come.”

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