CENTER MORICHES, NY - When the first quarter began you could tell the Red Devils had a big height advantage over Hills East, but Head Coach Peter Basil had his team prepared. They began fronting and doubling the post while trapping around the perimeter to speed up Center Moriches’ offense. The Thunderbirds came out with more energy to start the game grabbing loose balls and several offensive rebounds.
After the first three minutes Hills East called a timeout to make some adjustments despite leading 8-6. The Thunderbirds then got red hot and forced a couple turnovers creating a 9-2 run forcing a timeout by Head Coach Nick Thomas. Coach Thomas pleading with his team to wake up seem to inspire 6” Senior point guard Dayrien Franklin who stole the ball and converted on back-to-back possessions. Center Moriches was able to finish the quarter on a huge 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 1.
Leading 19-18 Hills East continued to push the pace create turnovers and get contributions from their entire rotation. While the height may have benefited the Red Devils 6”2 Junior Louis Mathurin of Hills East was a man amongst boys finishing inside and grabbing every rebound his team needed. The only response Center Moriches had was in 6”6 Senior Jaden Kealey who should be an all-Long Island selection and showed exactly why. Kealey was terrific inside demanding a double team every possession and still was able to play well and convert a big and1 to help keep the Red Devils in the game. The half ended
39-33 in favor of the Thunderbirds with Kealey leading all scorers with 11.
The theme of the first half for Hills East was their whole team was contributing and in the third quarter 5”8 Junior point guard Xavier Lewis keep that going. Lewis had nice, contested layup followed by a floater in the lane which helped spark an 8-3 run causing a Red Devil timeout. This seemed to be the turning point for Center Moriches until Kealey was able to score 8 straight points trying to will his team to a lead. They then decided to press and trap to speed up Hills East which seemed to be working as they climbed back into the game at 59-54 to end the third quarter.
Kealey continued to stay hot as he grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back with defenders all around him. Hills East struggling to answer got two big free throws from Mathurin and Lewis to help keep the lead. The Thunderbirds up 5 gave up back-to-back hoops to Kealey cutting the score to 61-60 in favor of Hills East. Coach Basel seemed confident despite blowing a double-digit lead after the timeout and got a bucket from 5”10 Junior Derek Varlack. Varlack answered again as he attacked the basket and finished for a huge bucket for Hills East late in the game to give them a 65-63 under 3 minutes.
After trading empty possessions, the Red Devils got a great look at a 3 to take the lead but was an air ball. Lewis was able to sneak by his defender forcing the Red Devils to foul him before getting a layup. He would know both stretching the lead to four when Center Moriches was fouled going to the basket and only able to convert 1.
Now down 3 Center Moriches decided to play out the possession but a lack of communication lead to another Varlack clutch basket giving Hills East a 69-64 lead. Kealey was able to score a basket quickly to cut it to 3 but with time running out had to foul and hope they missed free throws. The Thunderbirds broke the press killed some time got fouled and sent Xavier Lewis to the line to finish the game needed only one free throw to seal the deal.
Lewis missed the first then jiggled the second one in and out but as everyone watched Mathurin was there to secure the rebound and go back to the line. Mathurin may have missed both free throws mostly to exhaustion shaved enough time to force a heave at the buzzer which Center Moriches missed. Lewis had a team high 14 points, Varlack chipped in 13 and Mathurin finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Have to give Kealey a ton of credit as he led all scorers with 29 points 13 rebounds and Franklin had 13 points.
