Tuckers challenge SWR on the hardwood

Before the Tuckers took on undefeated Shoreham-Wading River on Tuesday night, senior Michael Buckley heard some trash talk from his foes.

“The coach, other coaches, were saying how ‘We might run you guys out of the gym,'” Buckley said. “It’s going be like a 20-30-point game. And all the kids are saying that, too. They talked to us. ‘We’re just going to run you guys out of the gym.'”

As it turned out, that was far from the case.

“It makes you play like you want to prove something more,” Buckley said. “I like to prove something. It makes me more angry.”

The Class B Tuckers made the favored Class A Wildcats sweat, held the lead for a good portion of the Suffolk County League VI game, before dropping a 71-60 decision at Mattituck High School.

Despite the loss, head coach Paul Ellwood was happy with the way his team performed, especially after losing by 2 and 20 points in consecutive games at an East Hampton tournament last weekend.

“We were in a really tough tournament,” he said. “I think we may have bit off more than we can chew, but I think it helped us expose some weaknesses that we could talk about and worked on last night. The kids fixed them today in the game. They put it on the court against a very good team, a team that hasn’t lost a game and has beaten some quality opponents.

“We held our own,” Ellwood continued. “Obviously, we could have done some things better. We had probably too many turnovers, and we gave up a few more offensive rebounds than we wanted. But all in all, very happy with the toughness that we had.”

Particularly in the opening quarter.

Led by senior forward Tyler Brown, who scored six of his 12 points, the Tuckers took a 15-6 lead late in the period.

“We came with a with a bit more sense of urgency,” said sophomore Connor Searl, who scored a team-high 24 points. “They brought something out of us.”

“We haven’t been doing that much this season,” said Buckley, who scored four points. “We come out usually a little flat-footed, but today we came out strong, and that’s exactly what we needed. We didn’t finish the game, but I thought we still played an overall good game.”

The Tuckers led by as many as eight points at 34-26, 65 seconds into the third quarter before the Wildcats took control. The visitors went on a 16-0 tear to grab a 40-34 advantage they never relinquished. Max Boerum led the way, registering four of his nine points.

Mattituck turned the ball over seven times in the period and 23 times for the game. Shoreham-Wading River made eight during the contest.

“It’s frustrating, for sure,” Searl said. “I think it shows our youth in a way. But I think as the season goes on and we keep on playing these competitive teams and these competitive games, we will get better.”

The Tuckers chased the game the rest of the way but could not get any closer than 48-44 on Searl’s trey 12 seconds into the fourth period. Sophomore Antonio Sparacio finished with 10 points and senior Trey Hansen added nine. Buckley had four.

Tyler Lievre led the Wildcats with 22 points. Zach Makarewicz contributed 19 and James Cook added 14.

Ellwood gave Shoreham-Wading River credit for its performance.

“They moved the ball and they do a great job finding the mismatch,” he said. “It was hard. We had to go man-to-man in the fourth quarter. My kids did a good job. We challenged the shots of their better players, and they just made tough shots. When they missed the tough shots, they got offensive rebounds. They’re a little bigger, a little stronger. We were working hard. The effort was there for us.”

The Tuckers’ performance gave them confidence they can play against the best and larger Class A schools in the league.

“That shows we can really compete within this league, with how hard it’s going to be,” Searl said.

Mattituck will compete against a school closer to its own size, when it welcomes Class B Port Jefferson on Friday, Dec. 19, at 6:15 p.m. before the holiday break.