Settlers boys basketball ready to make another run

The Southold High School boys basketball team is hungry. Hungry to return to the Suffolk County Class C final.

Junior forward Kyan Olsen is optimistic.

“I think it’s going to be a fun season,” he said. “Got a lot of guys back from last year. We were young last year. I think we’re going to make a splash this year, win a lot of games.”

Junior guard-forward Brandon Moran certainly hoped so.

“I’m looking forward to it a lot. After losing in the soccer county championship,” he said, referring to the 3-0 defeat to Port Jefferson, “I’m looking to win one with basketball.”

There are reasons why they’re hopeful after making the finals two years ago but missing last season’s playoffs by one game (9-10, 8-9).

Will Fujita, in his second year as head coach at his alma mater, has liked what he has seen. Last spring, many players played together on an AAU squad based in Brentwood and coached by Fujita. Southold also competed in the Brookhaven Summer League.

“We’re going to try to improve upon everything that we worked on this off-season,” Fujita said. “We had a good turnout of guys who played AAU with us. Had a pretty successful summer. A lot of guys put time individually in the weight room, trying to get in shape. We have a really respectful group of young men. Their attitudes have been awesome since the end of last season.”

Fujita is expecting much from Olsen and Moran.

“As juniors, they’re going to be given a lot of responsibility,” he said. “They both started every game as sophomores. I’d like them to be vocal leaders. They both lead. So, it’s good for the younger kids to see that you don’t have to be a senior to be a leader. You know you can do it, just conduct yourself, both physically and emotionally.”

The 6-foot-3 Olsen is coming off a stellar sophomore season in which he averaged 16.6 points a game, off some deft outside shooting (47 treys).

“My personal goals are just to make the team better,” he said. “Obviously, stats will come with preparation. Just want to win more games than last year. Just keep impacting the game on defense.”

Moran, who averaged 6.1 points per game, is a 5-11 defensive specialist.

“I want to be the best defender on the team,” he said. “Better defense leads to better offense.”

And that’s not to forget senior forward Travis Sepenoski, who was forced to sit out the soccer final with an illness but is expected to play a vital role.

“Travis is going to start again,” Fujita said. “He’s a workhorse defensively on the floor.”

Junior Nico Califano will be the starting point guard.

“He got a little bit of varsity experience at the end of last year. He put a ton of work in this offseason,” Fujita said.

The Settlers’ roster might have only 11 players, but Fujita saw quality over quantity.

“I’m looking for all the rest of the team to fill in the gaps,” he said. “We have a really deep team. We have 11 guys, which is the shortest roster that I’ve had as a coach. But all 11 guys serve a purpose. They are playing into their roles this year, which is really nice, because when something isn’t working, we should have a solution to the problem.”

In League VII, the Settlers will have plenty of rivals for Class C supremacy.

One is Greenport, located fewer than 5 miles away. The Settlers host the Porters in their annual Dylan Newman game on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 6 p.m. The two will meet again at Greenport on Saturday, Jan. 17, at 11:45 a.m.

Their other rival is Pierson, located on the South Fork. Fujita coached at the school for seven years — four on the varsity, three on the JV — and is quite familiar with the Whalers’ players.

“I’m super grateful for the time that I was able to coach there. It’s a great community,” he said. “A lot of kids that are on the varsity team were kids that I was working with when they were in fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade. A couple of them play AAU with us. I’m really excited for the opportunity to be able to go back there and then have them come over here, and hopefully we’re competitive.”