It could be said that Center Moriches stole the Suffolk County Class B boys basketball championship.
Not that the Red Devils didn’t earn every bit of their 88-66 defeat of Mattituck Saturday, from every single one of Micah Snowden’s 34 points to every one of the 19 steals Center Moriches made to every one of the 28 turnovers it forced Mattituck into committing.
It was pilfery at its best. READ
The Mattituck High School boys basketball team might have known what it had in Luke Woods, but on Valentine’s Day 2019, the Tuckers and their fans fell in love with the precocious freshman.
Once again, Woods showed the moment wasn’t too big for him. A playoff game can be a nerve-racking experience for a veteran player, never mind a freshman, but there was Woods, thrust off the bench and facing Southampton’s high-pressure defense in a tight Suffolk County Class B semifinal on the road.
That’s pressure. READ
At the end of Tuesday night’s practice, Mattituck High School boys basketball coach Paul Ellwood had some final business to attend to. He gave the Tuckers’ scorekeeper, senior Dez Whitehurst, a jersey to wear for the team’s final regular-season game the following night.
“I said, ‘This falls in the category of better late than never,’ ” said Ellwood. READ
Mattituck might have looked at its penultimate regular-season boys basketball game as a slam dunk, but Ryan Seifert took things to a different level.
Seifert, who had never dunked in a game before, was presented with a golden opportunity 5 minutes, 26 seconds into Monday night’s Suffolk County League VI game at Port Jefferson High School. Xavier Allen set him up and Seifert took care of the rest. The 6-3 senior slammed down a right-handed dunk. READ
Chris Nicholson looks like an athlete. He looks like a basketball player, and he plays the part particularly well, especially on the defensive side of the court.
Defense is Nicholson’s game. It’s where he’s making his name. READ
Mattituck played a tremendous first quarter, and not a bad first half, for that matter. Overall, it wasn’t a bad showing by the Tuckers at all.
And yet, when Monday night’s Suffolk County League VI boys basketball game ended, Mattituck had a 39-point loss to show for it.
That said more about host Center Moriches, though, than it did about Mattituck. READ
Paul Ellwood dropped his clipboard to the floor in disgust. And if that didn’t get the attention of his players, the Mattituck High School boys basketball coach yelled to make his point to them. He didn’t like what he was seeing.
“We had guys trying to set up the offense who don’t usually do it,” he said. “We were a little chaotic at times. We got away from our normal team play and it got ugly.” READ
X marks the spot.
The spot just happened to be the cylinder of the basket, and Xavier Allen was spot on with his shooting. READ
A basketball team sends five players out onto the court at a time, but needs more than five players to go far in the playoffs, if not even to just reach the postseason.
As far as its first five goes, Greenport may have as good a starting lineup as most high school boys basketball Class C teams in New York State. READ
Sometimes it’s easy for a championship team to forget how difficult it was to become a championship team. That’s one reason why repeat titles aren’t easy to come by.
But Mattituck High School boys golf coach Paul Ellwood didn’t need to tell his players that — their winning tradition aside — they couldn’t take things for granted in 2018.
And they didn’t. READ
