FIRST SETTLERS 44, PORTERS 39
Southold remains unbeaten, steps closer toward league title
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Trevor Perry registered eight points and seven rebounds for Southold in its win over Greenport.
It was only the last high school boys basketball season when the Southold First Settlers were absorbing nightly beatings in Suffolk County League VII while, at the same time, the Greenport Porters were untouchable in League VIII as they made their way toward the New York State Class D final.
How things have changed. Vastly improved Southold is now the untouchable one in League VIII, with Greenport nipping at its heels.
Greenport's Dantr Langhorne made this dunk after stealing the ball, cutting Southold's lead to 24-23 with a little more than four minutes left in the third quarter.
Southold marched on with a 74-37 defeat of the Smithtown Christian Crusaders on Tuesday night. That left the First Settlers with a 15-0 record, 11-0 in league play. They hold a two-game lead over their nearest challengers, The Stony Brook School Bears (9-2, 9-2). Defending league champion Greenport (9-6, 8-3) is in third place.
The victory over Greenport gave Southold control over its own destiny. "It definitely puts it in our own hands," Southold guard Kevin Parma said of the prospect of winning a league title. "If we keep playing the way we are and win the rest of our games, there's no doubt that we're going to take it."
Southold's airborne Jon Cepelak split Greenport defenders Tristan Mangham, left, and Dantr Langhorne on his way to the basket.
A three-pointer by Myles Waters gave Greenport a four-point lead early in the fourth quarter of Friday's game. Undaunted, Southold scored the next 10 points to go up, 38-32, with 2 minutes 13 seconds remaining. The First Settlers made 8 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter to hold the Greenporters at bay.
When Parma converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way, making the score 41-34 with 1:11 to go, the disappointed Greenport fans could sense that the game was lost.
"I think we're both pretty good, but I guess everything was going their way, so they came out with the win," said Greenport forward/center Tremayne Hansen.
Cepelak led Southold with 14 points, 10 of which came in the first half. Trevor Perry added eight points and seven rebounds. Parma provided seven fourth-quarter points.
Dantré Langhorne did not start the game because of what Greenport Coach Al Edwards called a violation of team rules.
"We have rules already set, and then when I remind you of that rule and you just neglect to abide by what I'm asking you not to do, then I have to take some kind of action," said Edwards.
Langhorne, who roused the Greenport fans with his steal and dunk almost four minutes into the third quarter, registered a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Tristan Mangham chipped in with 11 points, and the 6-foot-5 Hansen grabbed 16 rebounds for the Porters, who saw a six-game win streak come to an end.
"We just couldn't get it done," said Edwards.
Greenport scored the first 11 points of the third quarter to go up, 27-24. It was a quarter in which Southold shot only 1 of 4 from the field, but the First Settlers managed to come back in the fourth quarter. The team that went 3-16 last season has learned how to win and has the personnel to make it happen.
"I think we're deep," Ellis said. "We have different options. When things aren't working, we have other people that we can go to."
That sort of depth should be helpful for Southold, which would clinch at least share of the league title with one more win. It has regular-season games remaining against the Shelter Island Indians (4-10, 4-7), The Ross School Ravens (4-10, 4-7) and The Stony Brook School Bears.
Said Ellis, "Without putting the jinx on us, we're in the driver's seat, that's for sure."
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