Greenport’s winning season ends with loss in boys hoops state tourney

No one on the Greenport High boys basketball team thought their season would end this way.

Well before the season started, the Porters had visions of reaching the final in the Class C state tournament in Binghamton. But a talented Tuckahoe squad had other ideas and proved a major roadblock, recording a 56-39 victory in the Southeast Regionals at Center Moriches High on Saturday afternoon.

“It’s tough. We expected to win,” senior guard Kal-El Marine said. “We had 35 days without a game. We were working hard every day at practice and, not saying all the work was for nothing, but it doesn’t feel nice right now to not come out on top.”

Head coach Justin Moore said that the loss was “definitely emotional.”

“This group of kids I had my whole head coaching career for the last three years,” Moore said. “For us to go out in the fashion that we did is tough. I’m proud of the kids. We were against the odds, having 35 days off, trying to stay motivated throughout the whole time. The kids worked hard. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Through no fault of their own, the Porters (17-4) were forced to endure an unprecedented 35-day layoff between their regular season finale and Saturday’s encounter. There was no other Class C opponent that finished above .500 to qualify for the Suffolk County final and no equivalent Nassau County team to vie for the Long Island crown.

There is no textbook on how to deal with a five-week hiatus. Moore did the best he could, scheduling five scrimmages against tournament-bound teams from other classifications and putting together innovative practices.

The players did not use the break as an excuse for their slow start Saturday, but it was part of the equation. 

“Sort of, but I feel like it was more like team overall,” said senior forward Taiquan Brumsey, who finished with a team-high 14 points. “We knew that we would have nerves coming in. We needed to settle down, but we settled down too late.” 

In the early going, Greenport forced its shots and had several untimely turnovers as Tuckahoe (17-6) rolled to a 13-5 first-quarter advantage on the strength of three treys — two in row by Ryan Gentry, his only two baskets of the game, and one by Rocco Briante, who finished with a game-high 20 points).

After the Tigers grabbed a 23-5 lead with 2:50 remaining in the second period, Greenport found its game, going on a 9-0 tear over a 46-second span to whittle the deficit to 23-14. They trailed 29-17 at halftime.

“We started getting to the basket, and defensively, we’re aggressive, pressing the ball,” Brumsey said. “Once we started our press. We had multiple turnovers and got points off that.”

“We’ve got guys who just don’t give up, no matter,” Marine added. “Whether we’re down 30, up 30, it doesn’t matter. We just don’t give up and we fight until the last buzzer.”

Senior guard Nelson Shedrick led another surge by scoring nine of his 13 points in the third quarter, cutting the lead to 37-34 with 2:56 remaining.

“That lead that they had in the beginning, it was very hard to chip off,” Shedrick said. “I was just trying to get them in foul trouble. But it just wasn’t enough in the end. They started picking on us with their size.”

That pressure came mostly from 6-foot-7 sophomore center Jack Bamford, who scored seven of his 13 points in the third for a 46-37 margin entering the fourth quarter. Bamford also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

“It was a little upsetting, because we would get them scrambled, and then they would go just play regular basketball,” Brumsey said. “They used their size to their advantage. They got back on track. We just tried to throw them off the game by speeding them up.”

Briante scored 14 points in the second half, including seven fourth-quarter free throws that helped hold the Porters at bay.

A season-ending loss certainly is disappointing, but it doesn’t define a season for a team that recorded 17 wins.

“Everything, from coaches to players,” Brumsey, who’s heading to the University of West Virginia with Shedrick next fall, said of his memories from the season. “These kids have been my best friends since I was a little kid, so I always be friends with them. Just the best season I’ve had being here.”