With Bob Vishno, Pierson’s former boys basketball and baseball coach, among those looking on, the Sag Harbor Whalers, after a slow start, wound up cruising to a 70-56 win over Mattituck Saturday. It was the team’s 16th win of the season vis-á-vis one loss.
On the same day, Bridgehampton’s Killer Bees defeated Smithtown Christian 61-53, avenging an earlier-season loss and enabling the Bees, its coach, Ron White, said afterward, to play Smith Chris in the county Class D final at Westhampton Beach High School on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
Kris Vinski’s 25 points led the Bees in the win. Fourteen of those points were scored in the fourth quarter. Others in double figures were Jai Feaster with 14 and Alex Davis with 11. Four Bees wound up in double figures in a win over Shelter Island last Thursday. White said his team was 4-1 against Class D opponents.
Pierson too is playoff bound, though its coach, Will Fujita, said the Class C matchups would not be known until Friday.
As of earlier this week, East Hampton, which has been minus its star shooting guard, Luke Reese, throughout most of the campaign, did not appear to be headed to the playoffs. Since winning back-to-back games over Islip and Sayville on Jan. 24 and 25, the Bonackers lost four straight, to Kings Park, Rocky Point, Amityville, and Half Hollow Hills West, before defeating Islip 62-47 last Thursday. East Hampton was to have ended its season with games at home on Monday and Tuesday with Amityville and Harborfields.
At Pierson’s gym Saturday, the Tuckers jumped out to a 20-11 first-quarter lead. Pierson came back in the second, using a full-court press to help turn things around. About three and a half minutes into the period, a 3-pointer by Dan Labrozzi treated the Whalers to their first lead, at 23-22. Going into the halftime break, they led 32-31.
With Cecil Munshin, who was to finish with 25 points, and Wilson Bennett, who was to end up with 19, leading the way, Will Fujita’s team broke it open in the third, outscoring the visitors 29-6. Benefiting from repeated turnovers, Pierson went on a 12-0 run in the period’s early going and capped it with a 15-2 one. Fujita emptied his bench in the fourth.