Sepenoski leads Southold’s comeback win over Ross School

When the going got tough for the Southold High boys basketball team Tuesday night, the toughest kid on the court got going.

And then some.

In one of the more remarkable late-game North Fork performances in recent years, senior forward Travis Sepenoski scored 13 of his game-high 25 points over the final four minutes and 22 seconds to spearhead the Settlers’ 49-41 comeback victory over the Ross School in Suffolk County League VII action.

Sepenoski played a major role in turning around a 39-34 deficit as Southold (9-5, 9-3) moved within a win of clinching a Class C tournament berth.

“The other day at Greenport [a 58-52 victory on Saturday], he had a great finish, too,” said junior forward Kyan Olsen, who finished with 12 points. “He’s really coming into his final form as a senior. I’ve noticed he’s gotten a lot better, getting aggressive at the right times. Organizing us as a group has been super helpful.”

Head coach Will Fujita knew that as well.

“He is becoming very coachable. He’s making adjustments on the fly. He’s not trying to venture too far outside of his comfort zone. I know the way that Travis plays,” Fujita said. “You have to take some of the bad with the good. But any type of mistake he’s making is usually because he’s trying to create for other people. When you have a leader like that, it’s easy to use him as an example for guys moving forward. I think that the younger guys are learning a ton from him.

“It’s the way that he plays,” the coach added. “He’s had games where he won’t score as many points, but he’ll have 11 steals or 10 assists or 15 rebounds. He’s just trying to affect the game in whatever way he can.”

The 6-foot-1 Sepenoski, who averages 15.1 points a game, is an unlikely candidate to break his arm while patting himself on the back.

“I just do whatever helps the team the most,” he said. “I don’t really care whether it’s a million points or a couple of rebounds, whatever helps the team the most. That’s the most important thing to me. I guess it just happened to be points tonight down the stretch.”

Points were hard to come by in the early going.

One team couldn’t hold onto the ball, while the other could not shoot straight. Despite making nine of its 26 turnovers in the opening quarter, Southold managed to take an 8-2 lead over Ross, which shot 1-for-15 from the field.

“We turned the ball over a lot,” Sepenoski said. “That’s on me. It’s on everybody. We got to protect the ball a little bit.”

Added Fujita: “When we were going through that stretch, we did a good job keeping our heads down and getting stops. For us to be able to not allow the turnovers to affect the defensive side of the ball, I was pretty happy with that.”

Both teams found their rhythm in the second quarter. The Settlers enjoyed a 30-20 advantage with 1:54 remaining in the third before Ross (3-10, 3-9) stormed back behind a 19-4 tear, as Gabe Kazcmarek and Raphael Amit had four points apiece during that surge. That set the stage for Sepenoski’s heroics.

He converted a driving shot and a foul shot to slice the deficit to 39-37. After Olsen put away a five-footer to tie it, Sepenoski canned two free throws to give the Settlers a 41-39 lead they never relinquished with 3:09 left.

Sepenoski’s foul shooting was impressive. He was a perfect 7-for-7 down the stretch and 12-of-14 for the game.

“It’s customary in basketball to do the same routine for free throws,” he said. “It is the easiest shot I can take. I’m not the best shooter.”

Sepenoski stood out on both ends of the court. With Southold holding a 45-41 lead with 32.4 seconds left, he took the ball out of Amit’s hands and was fouled. He canned both free throws and put a bow on the game with two foul shots with 17.8 seconds remaining.

“He’s put a lot of time into getting in a routine because he attacks the hoop the way he does, he’s going to end up there a lot,” Fujita said. “So might as well take advantage of being there, right?”

The Settlers played without defensive specialist and junior guard Brandon Moran, who suffered a dislocated and fractured foot. He might return if they make a late playoff run. While only four players scored for Southold — CJ Bailey (10 points) and Emmett Tramontana (two) were the others — Fujita said that many players made other vital contributions.

“Since we lost Brandon, everybody played a key part,” he said, noting that Colin Cornell performed well on defense, that Yiannis Gavlas and Tramontana controlled the boards when asked to, and that Nico Califano and Bailey contributed during key moments.

“It’s a really fun group to be able to coach,” he added.