Junior Indians rebound

Lennon Sarfati takes it to the hoop in Monday’s game.

It was a roller-coaster ride for fans and players alike as thejunior varsity boys basketball team converted what started off as ablowout loss into their first victory of the season.

During the first quarter, Southold took advantage of theIndians’ press defense. They repeatedly chucked passes downcourtright away to quick Southold players, who racked up fast breakpoints. By the end of the first quarter, the Indians were down12-2, and just 2 minutes into the second quarter it was 17-2.

“But they never hung their heads, said Coach Jay Card. Once theboys kept a man downcourt to protect against the fast break, theyslowed Southold’s momentum and began to regain their composure.Jimmy Read crushed a Southold shot attempt at 5:22 in the secondquarter, slapping the ball into the wall. Just 10 seconds later hesank a jump shot from the corner – nothing but net. It showed theboys still had some life in them and the crowd went wild.

The Indians went on a scoring spree, sinking another 16 pointsin the second quarter. They showed a lot more confidence than inthe past, said Coach Card: “Today, Chandler [Olinkiewicz] got theball and went to the basket more than he’s ever done. It started toclick for him. He scored a team-high 18 points.

Lennon Sarfati scored 12 points this game, but moreencouragingly, started to take far more shots than in the past.”They don’t trust themselves and tend to play on the safe side, butI want to get them out of that comfort zone and get them more onthe aggressive side.

The notable increase in shots on net shows that the boys aremoving in the right direction. “I would be upset if they didn’thave good looks at the basket, said Card, “but they’re having goodlooks at the basket ¦ and if they can get the ball inthe basket and finish, there will be more success.

The boys kept their momentum, and even though Southold took thelead again for much of the third quarter, Shelter Island keptfighting until the final buzzer, putting up 21 points in the lastquarter.

In the end, it was some skillful foul shots that finally icedthe match in the fourth quarter: “Alex [Graffagnino], Jimmy [Read]and Olinkiewicz all hit big free throws at the end – that’s whatreally won us the game.

The result of Wednesday’s game against Greenport wasn’tavailable when the Reporter went to press. Their next game is atPierson on Tuesday, January 19 at 4:30 p.m.