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Centereach Cougars girls basketball nip Bulls East

by Bill Landon - January 19, 2024

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WJL_2951 — Centereach forward Meghan Ippoliti boxes out in a home game against Smithtown East. Photo by Bill Landon

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By Bill Landon

With 2 seconds left on the clock Centereach sophomore Hayley Torres went to the free throw line with the score tied 64-64. Torres composed herself and sank her second shot to put the Cougars ahead by one. With 0:02 left in regulation, Smithtown East Inbounded the ball and threw the Hail Mary shot from midcourt to no avail as Centereach erupted in celebration at their own home court, winning the game 65-64 in the League III matchup Jan 12.

Smithtown East freshman Juliana Gandarillas stood atop the scoreboard for the Bulls with 18 points. Meredith Brennan sank four 3-pointers and a pair of field goals for 16 points, while Jules Nestor and Isabella Moragiemos banked nine points apiece.

Madelyn Madrigal led the way for Centereach with 18 points, Meaghan Greico banked 16 and Torres finished with 13.

The win lifts the Cougars to 5-6 on the season while the loss takes the Bulls to 6-6.

— Photos by Bill Landon

Ward Melville wrestlers shine in Warrior Duals tournament

by Bill Landon - January 18, 2024

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By Bill Landon

Wrestling took center stage at Comsewogue High School in the Warrior Duals tournament in a multischool invitational that featured three mats of action-packed wrestling Saturday, Jan. 13.

Ward Melville’s Jaden Baron pinned his Brentwood challenger at 108lbs in the opening round, and teammate Zachary Rothenberg pinned his opponent in just 51 seconds at 116lbs. Ward Melville’s Kyle Yannucciello defeated Kevin Rivas at 101lbs, and A.J. Lollo in the top weight class (285lbs) pinned his opponent.

The Patriots are back on the mats Jan. 17 with a road trip to Bay Shore with the first bout slated for 6:30 p.m.

— Photos by Bill Landon

SBU Sports: Men’s basketball defeats William & Mary 63-59

by Press Release - January 17, 2024

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SBU Sports men's basketball — Photo fro Stony Brook Athletics

The Stony Brook University men’s basketball team defeated William & Mary, 63-59, on Jan. 13 at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg, Virginia. Dean Noll paced the offense for a second straight contest, scoring a season-high 19 points.

Stony Brook’s defense was stout to begin the contest, limiting William & Mary to just one point and holding the Tribe without a made field goal over the opening five minutes. The Tribe’s second made basket came with 6:55 remaining in the opening half, trimming Stony Brook’s lead to 15-9. A 5-0 run by the Seawolves extended the lead back to double figures.

The lead for the Seawolves grew as large as 13 points down the stretch in the first half, though William & Mary connected on five-of-nine field goal attempts over the final five minutes to trim Stony Brook’s lead to nine points, 32-23, entering the half. Stony Brook held William & Mary to a 2-for-16 mark from the floor before that point.

The Seawolves maintained a comfortable advantage until midway through the second half when William & Mary pulled within three points after Caleb Dorsey began to heat up. It was a one-possession contest with 9:40 to play before a 6-0 run by Stony Brook. The Seawolves held the Tribe without a point for more than four minutes to pad their lead to nine points with five minutes to play.

Stony Brook went ice cold though, going without a field goal made for more than seven minutes and seeing the Tribe turn their nine-point deficit into a one-point lead with less than two minutes to play. A Tyler Stephenson-Moore floater put the Seawolves back in front momentarily, but William & Mary regained the advantage with 42 seconds remaining.

Despite struggling offensively most of the afternoon, Aaron Clarke came up clutch for Stony Brook in the final moments. The graduate guard buried a long three from the wing in front of the Seawolves’ bench, giving Stony Brook a lead that it would not relinquish again.

Stephenson-Moore sealed the victory with a wide-open dunk following a full-court inbound pass from Noll, sending the Seawolves home with their second road victory of conference play.

“Big win for us. Really hard schedule to start, by far the hardest in league with four of our five on the road and an overwhelming favorite at home,” head coach Geno Ford noted postgame. “We played well on both ends against two good opponents. I thought a lot of guys showed the toughness and physicality we will need in a major grind of a game today. William & Mary had an awesome crowd with no students and made it a very tough place to play today.”

The team returns to action on Jan. 18 at Delaware with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Bob Carpenter Center with the contest streaming live on SNY, NBC Sports Philadelphia and FloHoops.

SBU Sports: Women’s basketball tops Delaware 79-67

by Press Release - January 17, 2024

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resize — Photo from Stony Brook Athletics

The Stony Brook women’s basketball team fought back from a 54-52 deficit after the third quarter to beat the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens, 79-67, on Jan. 14 in Newark for their ninth consecutive victory. The Seawolves improved to 4-0 in CAA play and are the last remaining undefeated team in conference play.

In the first quarter, Khari Clark and Gigi Gonzalez both tallied their 1,000th career point as they became the 20th and 21st players, respectively, in program history to reach 1,000 career points.

The Seawolves had four players score in double figures, led by Gigi Gonzalez, who had 20 points, five assists and three steals. Victoria Keenan tacked on 17 points off the bench, going 5-of-10 from behind the arc, and Sherese Pittman chipped in as well with 12 points and five boards.

Clark pulled down four offensive rebounds to pace an offense that racked up second-chance opportunities for Stony Brook, grabbing 14 boards and turning them into eight second-chance points. Shamarla King was also disruptive on the glass, tallying 11 rebounds and also scoring 11 points, notching her second double-double of the season.

Stony Brook did a great job disrupting Delaware shots in the contest, coming away with six blocks. Clark’s four rejections led the way individually for the Seawolves.

After falling behind 10-2, Stony Brook went on a 7-0 run with 5:32 left in the first quarter, culminating in a bucket from Clark, to narrow its deficit to 10-9. Delaware answered back and added to its lead, leaving the Seawolves down 16-14 entering the second quarter.

Delaware kept adding to that lead, building a 32-23 advantage before Stony Brook went on a 7-0 run to narrow its deficit to 32-30. The Seawolves continued to chip away, reducing the Delaware lead to 34-33 heading into the break.

Stony Brook’s deficit continued to grow after halftime, and the Seawolves faced a 54-52 disadvantage heading to the fourth quarter. Stony Brook knocked down three three-pointers in the quarter to account for nine of its 19 total points.

Stony Brook managed to gain control and had a 73-67 lead before going on a 6-0 run to grow the lead to 79-67 with two seconds to go in the contest, a score which would hold for the rest of the game. Stony Brook fired away from deep in the quarter, knocking down four shots to account for 12 of its 27 points.

“I’m most proud of our mental toughness and ability to execute down the stretch,” head coach Ashley Langford said after the game. “It was a total team effort and it’s nice to see different players stepping up when we need them.”

Wildcats girls basketball blows away Center Moriches

by Bill Landon - January 13, 2024

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Just past the halfway point in the season Shoreham-Wading River, the 2023 Suffolk County class A champions, find themselves in the middle of the pack in their division. The Wildcats (5-5), having lost to Mount Sinai three days earlier, were hungry to get back to their winning ways when they hosted Center Moriches (1-8), making short work of the Red Devils winning 58-35 in the League VI matchup Jan 8.

Senior Juliana Mahan led the way for the Wildcats doing what she’s done all season battling in the paint netting eight layups/putbacks for 16 points. Grayce Kitchen, a junior, netted 11 points and Kady Keegan, the sophomore, banked eight. Kitchen had a 3-pointer as did freshman teammate Stamatia Almiroudis.

The Wildcats next two games will be their litmus test with a road game at Elwood-John Glenn on Tuesday, Jan 16, followed by a home game against Hampton Bays Jan. 20. Game times are 5:15 p.m. and noon respectively.

Patriots girls basketball regains winning ways

by Bill Landon - January 13, 2024

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WJL_9468 — Ward Melville senior Grace Balocca banks two for the Patriots. Photo by Bill Landon

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Ward Melville rattled off six wins in a row to open their ’23-’24 season but were tripped up in a nonleague road game against Shoreham-Wading River, falling to the League VI Wildcats, 39-35, Dec. 29.

The Patriots, reeling from that loss, pummeled Central Islip on the road in a league matchup defeating the Musketeers, 58-28, in the Jan. 4 contest.

Ward Melville senior Emma Silverman led the offensive attack with a 3-pointer and four from the floor for 11 points. Senior Grace Balocca netted eight points as did Addison Dellaporta, and teammates Julia Dank, Jaclyn Engel and Kaitlyn McNeil each scored seven points apiece.

The win kept the Patriots atop the League I leaderboard, consolidated by a 43-34 victory against Longwood Jan. 6.

Nine is fine as Smithtown West gets the best of East

by Steven Zaitz - January 12, 2024

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SmithtownBBall1 — Jack Melore, who led the West team with 18 points, splits the Smithtown East triple team. Photo by Steven Zaitz

By Steven Zaitz

It was a wire-to-wire win but with a twist. On Jan. 6, in their annual battle for the key to the city, the Smithtown West Bulls boys basketball team defeated their red-clad Bull brothers to the East, 56-42. With the win, Smithtown West remains undefeated at 9-0 and 6-0 in Suffolk Division III as Smithtown East falls to 6-3 and 3-2 in league play.

Smithtown West’s multisport senior, Jack Melore, led the way with 18 points and eight rebounds. Lorenzo Rappa had 15 points and six assists, and his brother Ben Rappa chipped in nine points.

Lorenzo Rappa goes high against Gjon Lleshaj in Smithtown West’s 56-42 victory over Smithtown East on Jan. 6.

After junior Blue Bull forward, John Giotis, hit a backdoor layup just eleven seconds into the game, Smithtown West had a lead they would never surrender. The team continued to build on their lead, outscoring the red-Bulls, 11-4, at the close of the first quarter. West’s Jack Melore scored seven points in the first quarter and had 14 of his total 18 in the first half.

Despite this, Smithtown East refused to go quietly into the weekend. East senior forward, Will Tufo, hit a long two-pointer to open the second half. Teammate Ben Haug, who led all scorers with 22, bullied his way in the paint to cut a seven-point halftime deficit to only four.

Nevertheless, West clamped down and arm-barred the red team from coming inside the paint. Blocked shots and quick hands by Melore and Ben Rappa stifled East’s offense for a long stretch of the third period. A steal by West senior guard, Max Nicholas, with two seconds left in the third led to a fast break and two free throws. Nicholas sank them both to put the home team up by eight, as the game entered the fourth quarter.

Junior forward John Giotis of Smithtown West goes strong to the rim against Smithtown East center Tom Fanning in West’s 56-42 win on Jan. 6. Photo by Steven Zaitz

The final quarter was dominated by the Rappa brothers of Smithtown West. Ben Rappa fired the opening salvo of the fourth by hitting a corner three, raising the lead to a baker’s dozen, one of the only three-point shots made in the game for either team. The blue-Bulls commanding lead seemed to have made each tick of the clock grow louder for the boys from the East, as only six minutes remain on the game clock.

Lorenzo Rappa slashed diagonally through the lane with two minutes remaining to make the score 50-37. Swingman Michael Cascione made an acrobatic layup to give the white and blue team its final points with under a minute to go. The crowd erupted at the sight of Cascione’s athleticism as the 12-piece pep band’s trumpet section blared ‘The Children of Sanchez’ to celebrate their school’s crosstown victory.

It was West’s ninth straight win over East, dating back to February 2016.

“It always means a little more beating them,” said Melore, who is also one of the finest football players in Suffolk county. “Our team takes great pride and always believes in our defense. The Rappa twins did a great job anchoring it.”

Kingsmen boys basketball loses overtime thriller to Baymen 63-60

by Bill Landon - January 12, 2024

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Kings Park (3-5) squared off against host Hampton Bays (3-4) Saturday night where no decision was made after 32 minutes of play. With both teams deadlocked at 53-53 at the end of regulation, a four-minute overtime period was forced to decide the winner in the League V matchup Jan. 6.

Hampton Bays edged ahead clinging to a four-point lead with 33 seconds left in the overtime period, a lead that shrank to three with eight seconds left. Kings Park senior Thomas Matonti got the call and managed to let a 3-pointer fly that just missed its mark as the final buzzer sounded, with the Kingsmen falling to the Baymen 63-60.

It was the senior core of co-captains that topped the scoring chart for the Kingsmen with Joe Romano’s team high of 23 points, Thomas Matonti did his damage from afar with six triples and a pair of free throws for 20 points and John Flynn added 12.

Having lost to Elwood-John Glenn two days earlier, Kings Park rebounded Tuesday, defeating Islip at home 61-52. The Kingsmen will look to build on that momentum when they retake the court in another league matchup Tuesday, Jan. 16, with a road game against Harborfields. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.

SBU Sports: Men’s basketball falls to Charleston Cougars 93-87

by Press Release - January 12, 2024

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The Stony Brook University men’s basketball team fell to Charleston, 93-87, on Jan. 6 at Island Federal Arena. Tyler Stephenson-Moore scored a game-high 21 points, registering the 1,000th point of his collegiate career in the first half.

Stony Brook started fast on Saturday, jumping out to an early 18-8 lead after the opening eight minutes of action. The Cougars responded with an 8-0 run, trimming the deficit to two points. A basket from Andre Snoddy put the Seawolves back up two possessions before Charleston evened the contest at 20-20.

After Charleston grabbed a 27-25 lead, a 20-3 run by the Seawolves ensued, with a huge windmill dunk from Stephenson-Moore in the middle of it. The slam accounted for the 1,000th point of Stephenson-Moore’s career, an emphatic way to become the program’s 28th 1,000-point scorer.

The Cougars whittled their deficit to seven points entering the half and would battle back to tie the contest, 53-53, five minutes into the second half. The two sides went back-and-forth over the next 10-plus minutes, seeing the lead change hands 10 times without either team holding more than a two-possession lead.

Stony Brook surrendered its lead for the final time with 4:17 remaining in regulation, seeing Charleston shoot nearly 70 percent from the field in the second half and complete the comeback.

“It was a great college ball basketball game. Stinks we lost. We played a great team, we played at a high level, we did a lot of good things. … With a two possession game like that we needed one miss out of them and one more make out of us and we’d be having a whole different vibe in the locker room right now,” said head coach Geno Ford after the game.

“I think we hopefully learned today that we are capable of being a great basketball team ourselves and we’ve got a lot of games and big games yet to come for us down the road here,” he added.

The team hits the road for the first of three games away from home, facing Towson on January 11. Tip-off between the Seawolves and Tigers is scheduled for 7 p.m. at TU Arena with the contest streaming live on FloHoops.

SBU Sports: Women’s basketball moves past UNCW for seventh straight win

by Press Release - January 12, 2024

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SBU Sports women's basketball — Photo courtesy of Stony Brook Athletics

Stony Brook women’s basketball team wrapped up its seventh straight win led by an 18-point, 13-rebound performance from Khari Clark in a 68-55 victory over UNCW at Island Federal Arena on Jan. 7.

Clark was one of three double-figure scorers for the Seawolves with Shamarla King adding 13 points and Gigi Gonzalez helping out with 12. Gonzalez added seven rebounds, a game-high nine assists and four steals on the afternoon.

Stony Brook out-rebounded UNC Wilmington 54-35 in Sunday’s game, paced by Clark’s 13 boards, which marked a career high. The Seawolves also collected 17 offensive rebounds, led by four from King, and scored 14 second chance points.

Stony Brook’s defense held UNCW to only 14.3% shooting from beyond the arc and 29.7% overall from the field. This included limiting the visitors to just 2-for-15 (13.3%) shooting from the field in the fourth quarter.

After falling behind 9-4, Stony Brook went on a 6-0 run with 4:03 left in the first to take a 10-9 lead. The Seawolves maintained the one-point edge at the quarter break with a 12-11 advantage.

Stony Brook extended things to 29-22 before going on a 6-0 run starting at the 2:41 mark in the second period, highlighted by a bucket from Zaida Gonzalez to increase its lead to its largest of the half at 35-22. SBU went into the break up 35-27. Stony Brook dominated in the paint, scoring 16 of its 23 points close to the basket in the quarter.

Up 40-37 in the third, Stony Brook extended the lead with a 12-0 run over 2:55 to grab a 52-37 advantage. UNCW cut the lead to nine at by the end of the quarter, with Stony Brook holding a 54-45 edge. The Seawolves knocked down three three-pointers in the quarter.

The Seahawks got as close as seven in the fourth, but Stony Brook scored seven of the game’s last eight points to put the game away in the final minutes. Kelis Corley scored eight of the Seawolves’ 14 points in the quarter.

The team hits the road next weekend, beginning with a matchup with Towson on Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. Stony Brook split last year’s meetings with the Tigers, as the home teams won both matchups. The event will be streamedlive on FloHoops.

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