The Pierson (Sag Harbor) High School Whalers once again bested their neighbors, the Killer Bees of Bridgehampton, this time in the county C-D boys basketball game played at Southampton High on Tuesday.
The Bees, who start three freshmen, made a game of it in the first half, which ended up 29-27 in the Whalers' favor. But with Charlie McLean, Pierson's 6-foot-4-inch center, hitting from the inside, and with Aven Smith, who enjoyed a breakthrough night, hitting from the outside, the Sag Harborites swatted the Bees in the third quarter on the way to a 76-53 final.
Ron White, Bridgehampton's coach, was not displeased by the Bees' showing -- they played hard throughout the fray. "We're coming along, but we've got to get into the paint," he said when a reporter remarked that at times he'd been reminded of the Killer Bees of old.
Will Fujita attributed his team's erratic performance in the first two quarters to "jitters," but once the Whalers settled down, the outcome was not in doubt.
It didn't help the Bees' cause that Kris Vinski, a solid left-handed 3-point shooter, was on the bench that evening with his right arm in a sling, the result of a separated shoulder he'd sustained in a recent practice. But even with him in the lineup, the far taller Whalers would have in all likelihood had their way in the end. White said he was hoping, of course, that Vinski would recover in time to play for Bridgehampton in a state Class D regional game in Orange County on March 7. The opponent, White added, might be Chapel Field, which defeated Bridgehampton in the same game last year.
The third quarter of the C-D game began well for Bridgehampton, as Alex Davis, fronting one of Pierson's tall forwards, stole the ball and drew a foul from Pierson's point guard, Dom Mancino, at the other end of the court. He made good on both free throws to tie the score at 29-29. After Pierson's Luke Seltzer replied with a basket of his own, Sae'vion Ward, a promising freshman guard -- as are Davis and Jai Feaster -- drove through traffic to the hoop for 31-31, but that, as it turned out, was to be the Bees' last hurrah.
Soon after, a 3-pointer by Smith, three in-close baskets by McLean, and another 3 by Smith, who was to finish with a career-high 22 points, provided Pierson with ample breathing room. Thereafter it was pretty much all Whalers, who took a 58-41 lead into the fourth period and wound up winning by 23.
An acrobatic steal and drive to the hoop by Jai Feaster in the final minutes undoubtedly reminded fans of the grit and flair with which former Killer Bee teams played, and undoubtedly got them to thinking of what can be, if not this year, then the next.
Pierson's Luke Seltzer finished with a game-high 24 points. McLean had 17.
Jai Feaster led Bridgehampton with 19 points. His fellow freshmen, Ward and Davis, also finished in double figures, with 18 in Ward's case and 14 in Davis's.