Northport boy’s basketball earns first league win
By Steven Zaitz
The Northport Boys Basketball team earned their first league win on Thursday, Dec. 12, on the road against North Babylon — but it certainly wasn’t easy.
Down by as many as 12 points to the Bulldogs, Northport came storming back with a dominant 17-9 4th quarter. But after a free throw by North Babylon guard Kameron Quinn, the Tigers were down by one point with 20 seconds remaining in the game.
Northport elected not to take a timeout and guard Shamus Burke rushed the ball up court and gave it to big man Sean Cogan in the corner. Double-teamed, Cogan handed it off to senior guard Patrick Gimpel, who drove diagonally through the lane and threw up a right-handed scooping layup that evaded the outstretched block attempt by North Babylon’s Logan Artherly. It gave Northport a 49-48 win and stopped the Tigers three -game losing streak.
Gimpel scored all 11 of his points in the second half — obviously none bigger than his last-second game winner. Senior forward Owen Boylan led the Tigers with 13 and Cogan had 10. Brody Gozzo had 9 and Burke 8.
Northport began its comeback when they scored 7 straight points midway through the third quarter. Boylan hit a short jumper in the lane and Gimpel spun out of a pick and roll and scored on a nice feed from Cogan, as North Babylon committed three turnovers in a two-minute span in that third quarter which allowed Northport to sneak back in.
The final ten minutes were hotly contested before Gimpel scored the final bucket of the game.
Northport moved to 2-3 overall on the year and 1-1 in the newly configured Suffolk County League 3. They play league contests against Copiague and Huntington this week.
- Photos by Steven Zaitz
