Settlers bring and beat the heat in summer league

Southold High School forward Travis Sepenoski typified just about every teammate’s condition and energy they had expended on Tuesday night.

Sepenoski was sweating so much that he walked over to one of the portable fans in the corner of the Albert G. Prodell Middle School gymnasium in Shoreham to cool off a bit after a 38-30 loss to Sayville High in the Town of Brookhaven Summer League.

“It was hot,” he said. “It’s good though. I mean, winter tends to be a lot colder. If you can play in this, you can play in just about anything.”

The Settlers, who are a Suffolk County Class C school, played hard and made the Class A Golden Flash sweat in more than one way as it had to work for every point.

In the long run, an eight-point loss to a larger school certainly wasn’t the end of the world. In fact, it gave Southold players confidence that they can play with more formidable foes. “We played Center Moriches the other day. We’re playing Sayville. We have Eastport/South Manor on Thursday,” head coach Will Fujita said. “You go A, A, AA, and that is only going to help you when it comes time to playing the league schedule.”

Forward Kyan Olsen, who paced the Settlers with 14 points, agreed. “They had four or five kids that are [6-foot-3] and above, and we fought with them,” he said. “We were playing hard defense, and we held them to 38 points.”

Olsen’s fourth trey boosted Southold into a 30-30 tie with 9:51 remaining before Sayville pulled away, scoring the final eight points. “It’s really good progress. Last year, I think coach said we were down 18 at half against Sayville,” said Olsen, an incoming junior this fall. “The more we play together, it’s going to click more.”

The Settlers are a scrappy team. They worked very hard, particularly on defense, and secured many rebounds against a taller opponent.

“My philosophy is defense and rebounds,” said Sepenoski, who will be a senior this fall. “We did a pretty good job of that tonight, and we got some good buckets. I was proud of how we did tonight. It’s always great to play a team that’s a larger school. It’s good for the whole team.”

The summer league allows newcomers to the varsity level to get a taste of how much faster and more physical the varsity level is than JV or junior high basketball.

Games are scheduled on Tuesdays and Thursdays and are played at various schools throughout Brookhaven. There are a pair of 22-minute running halves, with only coaches’ timeouts stopping action. In the final two minutes, referees will stop the clock on foul shots and out-of-bounds plays.

Between summer jobs, family vacations and other commitments, not every player can show up for every contest.

Fujita had seven players, so he substituted freely to give everyone plenty of playing time and rest from the heat.

“I love the group of guys that showed up today,” he said. “I can plug in and play anybody. We can rotate and adjust to who’s on the floor. There are certain guys that are better on-ball defenders, certain guys that are better off-ball defenders. There are certain guys that are better at crashing the glass.”

During the spring, the Settlers played in three tournaments, winning the last one.

“All these guys are starting to learn how to play together well, and so I don’t even have to say anything,” Fujita said.

Last summer, Sepenoski had double duty. He played with the Mattituck soccer team as a goalkeeper on Mondays and Wednesday and with his Southold basketball teammates on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This year, Southold did not field a summer soccer team again and the Mattituck roster was filled up. “It stinks,” he said, before looking at the bright side. “This gives us more time as individuals to work on themselves during the summer.”

And that includes coaches as well.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for me to continue to develop as a coach,” Fujita said of the summer league. “You get so many different game scenarios that you don’t always see in a regular season game, so that’s always a positive.”