Boys Basketball: Swann, Anderson power Porters to 2-0 start

Despite an early three-point barrage by Port Jefferson, Greenport shut down the Royals’ offense in the third quarter led by Jude Swann’s attack from the paint and Ahkee Anderson’s scrappy defense Friday night to hand the Royals an 80-63 defeat.

Port Jefferson was able to stay within striking distance through two quarters and trailed the Porters by eight points at the half. The Porters surged ahead 45-32 with just over six minutes left in the third and from there the Royals could not answer.

The Porters leaned on Swann, feeding the big man down low who elbowed his way to the rim time after time as the 6-foot-3 junior led his team with 29 points on the night.

“I didn’t think they were going play the way they did, I thought we would come out and stop them but they kept getting threes,” Swann said. “Our strength was that we moved the ball creating shots and getting back on defense.”

Anderson followed with 28 points, which was a potent combination that the Royals couldn’t handle.

“They came out with a lot more energy than I expected but we were missing one of our best players tonight so we all had to pick up the slack,” Anderson said. “The difference was our effort on both ends of the court.”

The Porters stood on the gas and didn’t look back, out-scoring the Royal 24-15 in the last eight minutes of play to put the game away. The Royals sank eight three-pointers, led by four from Grant Calendrille. He scored a team-high 25 points.

“I wasn’t happy they got so many three’s off early in the game and that I had to get out of man-to-man [defense] as early as we did but we’re relentless,” said Greenport head coach Ev Corwin. “We wore them down and got them to make a lot of mistakes. Swann helped us down low and he’s come a long way and he passes well out of there he’s a pleasure to coach and he’s a dominating force.”

The Porters win comes on the heels of an 86-31 blowout against Mercy last week and the Porters will look to build on that momentum when they host Stony Brook at home Wednesday. The game tips off at 6:15 p.m.

Photo caption: Jude Swann muscles his way to the rim against Port Jefferson Friday night. (Credit: Bill Landon)