The new face of Greenport basketball is a familiar one
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Dantr Langhorne is the new face of Greenport boys basketball.
What hasn't changed, though, is this: Greenport's belief that it can win.
"They all want to have their own identity," Coach Al Edwards said of his players after a Saturday morning practice at Greenport High School. "We don't want to live in the past. We want to move on and keep a good basketball tradition going."
Langhorne, not surprisingly, figures prominently in those plans. Playing alongside Creighton (New York State's No. 2 all-time leading scorer who is now a starting guard for Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire), Langhorne was an all-state player in his own right and a big reason why the Porters advanced to the state Class D final.
The 6-foot-5 Langhorne, a junior who can play guard or forward, has worked on a higher release point for his jump shot. He has indicated a willingness to accept his new role as the team's central figure. "I can't wait," he said. "I have something to prove."
Edwards said the Porters need Langhorne to be an offensive force every game, which is why Langhorne has been working on his mid-range jumper.
"He likes to handle the ball," the coach continued. "He likes to distribute and he likes to make other people look better."
And, he likes to slam the ball down.
"He's been dunking," said Tristan Mangham, an all-league senior guard. "He doesn't believe in layups any more. He just wants to dunk it, which is fine with me. I just throw it up there and he'll go get it, no problem. I get my assists."
For all the scoring that Creighton brought to Greenport, it is the 11 rebounds per game that he grabbed that the Porters are concerned about replacing.
"We need rebounds, really," Mangham said. "We can score points, but we need people who rebound."
But even in that department things don't look bad. The Porters have a couple of big bodies in Langhorne and the 6-5 Tremayne Hansen crashing the boards. Others like Myles Waters, a sophomore transfer from Georgia, Jalen Shelby, Teddy Stevens and Tyler McNeil have the quickness and athleticism to get to loose balls.
"It's still going to have to be a group effort, as far as that's concerned," Edwards said. "It's just a matter of toughness and position, so I think we can ... be a good rebounding team."
Langhorne is already accustomed to being in the spotlight. Last season the Porters reached the state final four in Glens Falls for a third straight year. Langhorne banked in a three-pointer that forced overtime, and then scored 12 of Greenport's 13 points in the second overtime period to lift the Porters to a 73-68 triumph over the Maple Grove Red Dragons in the semifinals. The Porters, however, were then disappointed with a 47-43 loss to the eventual state champions, the South Kortright Rams, in the final.
Although Creighton and Wally Sorenson graduated from that team, Edwards doesn't expect that opponents will underestimate the new-look Porters.
"As long as we don't force the issue, keep our turnovers down, I think we can be an exciting team," Edwards said. "We still want to be a team we want people to look out for. I don't think anybody will take us lightly."
Teamwork is part of the legacy that Creighton, the consummate team player, left behind.
"I don't think we have any selfish players, so that's a great plus for us," said Edwards, whose team will open the season with a non-league game at Riverhead on Dec. 4. "They have a good person to follow and watch how the game is supposed to be played."
Now, the Porters have to adjust to life without Creighton. Said Mangham, "Without Ryan, now we want to see what we can do."
bliepa@timesreview.com
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