The Suffolk County Class AA championship final pitted Half Hollow Hills East (No. 2 seed) against top-seeded Smithtown West at Longwood High School March 2 for the right to advance to the Long Island championship round. It was a close game of give-and-take where one point separated the teams at the halftime break, with West leading 21-20.
Hills East surged ahead in the third quarter to break out to an eight-point advantage at 36-28, but the Bulls battled back to tie the game at 39 all with just under three minutes left in regulation.
Hills East was able to stave off the late-game surge, thanks in part to hitting a 3-pointer in the final minute of the game, to earn a 43-40 victory over the Bulls.
Michael Cascione, a sophomore, topped the scoring chart for the Bulls with 13 points and senior Jack Melore netted nine.
Smithtown West concluded their 2023-24 campaign with an impressive 21-2 record.
Hills East advances to the Long Island championship round to face Elmont Saturday, March 9, at SUNY Farmingdale. Game time is slated for 3 p.m.
Smithtown East was hoping three times would be the charm when they faced their crosstown rival Smithtown West in the Class AA semifinal round at Longwood High School Feb. 27. East fell to West by 14 points in January, then nine points Feb. 5, and was hoping to upset the No. 1 seed when the score was 14 all at the end of eight minutes of play. Smithtown West showed why they’re the top seed as they stretched their legs the rest of the way running away to win the game 74-47 and, with it, punched their ticket to the county final round.
Ben Rappa along with Michael Cascione topped the scoring chart for Smithtown West netting 16 points apiece, Jack Melore added 14 and Matt Bannell netted 12.
Craig O’Neill led Smithtown East in scoring with 11 points, Ben Haug netted nine and Tom Fanning added eight.
Smithtown West (No.1) returns to Longwood High School Saturday, March 2, where they will face Half Hollow Hills East (No. 2) in the county championship title round. Game time is slated for 2:30 p.m.
Led by senior guard Benjamin Haug’s 24 points, the Smithtown East boys basketball team beat their rivals to the south, the Hauppauge Eagles, 65-49 on Feb. 24 in the first round of the Suffolk County, Class AA playoffs.
The Bulls, the fourth seed, improve to 16-5 and gotthe opportunity to face an even fiercer rival – the number one seed Smithtown West Bulls.
In their win over the Eagles, Smithtown East rode a 19-3 second period to establish a commanding lead after a close first quarter. They took a 37-18 lead into halftime as Haug boasted 11 points and senior big man James Burton had 9 at the break.
Hauppauge junior guard Cole Wood hit three three-pointers in the second half and the fifth-seeded Eagles cut the lead to 11 late in the third quarter, but they never got any closer.Wood finished with 17 points.
Breaking news
Smithtown West handily defeated Smithtown East in the semi-finals on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 74-47 and will face Half Hollow Hills East for the Class AA championship on March 2.
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 Rappahad 15 points and six assists, and his brother Ben Rappa chipped in nine points.
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.
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.”
Senior guard Chris Crespo was the catalyst for Smithtown West in a 57-42 victory over Newfield Jan. 23. He had 16 points on the night, scoring seven of the Bulls’ 19 first-quarter points.
Newfield head coach Anthony Agostino said Crespo made solid plays for his team all game.
“He makes everybody else around him better,” Agostino said. “He sacrifices his own individual points to get the ball where it needs to be. That’s why he’s a scholarship player.”
Crespo said he loves getting everyone involved in the game.
“I’m pretty sure every single one of my points were a layup or a foul shot,” Crespo said. “We hit a lot of threes today. When everyone is involved like that, it makes things a lot easier. It definitely feels good to get the ball moving and everyone scoring.”
Three players scored in double figures for the Bulls. Matt Behrens and Michael Gannon each added 11 points and combined for five 3-pointers. The team made eight triples on the night.
With the win, Smithtown West improves to 8-1 in League III, just behind undefeated Half Hollow Hills East, which outscored the Bulls in the county finals last year.
“It’s really about playing good basketball and us being able to hit our stride toward the playoffs,” said Smithtown West head coach Mike Agostino, Anthony’s brother. “We played well. The core kids who got a lot of playing time played great.”
Senior Paul VonVoight contributed for nearly half of Newfield’s points. He led all scorers with 20. He got rolling in the fourth quarter, knocking down three 3-pointers to help Newfield outscore the Bulls 16-6, but it wasn’t enough.
Newfield falls to 2-7 in League III play and 4-11 overall. The Wolverines have lost three of their last four games. Despite the loss, Tony Agostino took some positives from the game.
“My guys fought till the very end,” he said. “Our goal was to keep them under 59 points. They scored 57, so we achieved one of our goals.”
Crespo said Newfield sat in their zone defense, which Smithtown West is used to seeing, so his team exploited that.
“Teams tend to struggle when playing us man-to-man,” Crespo said. “We have a lot of weapons. When teams play zone, we like to shoot threes. That’s what I like about us. When you play us, we play defense as hard as we can. We play a team-oriented style of basketball. In Suffolk County, we are a dominant force. That’s why we’ve won back-to-back league titles.”
Newfield is scheduled to play at Huntington (2-7, 3-12) Jan. 26 at 6:30 p.m. Smithtown West will host crosstown rival Smithtown East (3-6, 6-9) the same day at 5:45 p.m.