On this day six years ago, the boys’ basketball team registered one of coach Mike Hickey’s 10 favorite victories with a 59-34 win over Greenport. The Friday night clash in Swanson Gymnasium was slated to be one of the games of the year in League VIII. Both teams were undefeated in league play at 5-0, but it remained to be seen if the Bears could match-up with the fast-breaking Porters. The result was something no one, not even coach Hickey, could have anticipated.

With starting point guard Matt Rooney absent, the Bears destroyed their east end rivals and the highly-touted Ryan Creighton, the future second-leading scorer on New York State’s all-time scoring list. Freshman Mitch Singer connected from anywhere and everywhere on the floor while twin towers Jason Webster and Isom Chapelle anchored a stingy defense. Mike Hickey had the shot of the night, drilling a 60-footer at the first quarter buzzer. Mike Hickey, a captain on that team, remembered the night:

Greenport had beaten some big schools in non-league play and were putting up numbers in the 70s and 80s. Creighton was averaging over 25 as an 8th-grader. We knew that they loved to play up-tempo run-and-gun ball. We knew our Xs and Os could beat them. So we just played.

Rooney was out with poison-ivy and I had to run the point for the first time in my life. I was nervous, but after the first quarter, I just settled down and played smart. Mitch went off in the first quarter. I think he had 21 in the game and 11 were in the first. He made his first four shots I think. Isom played lockdown defense on Creighton the whole game limiting him to 7 which is probably a career-low.

At the end of the first we were up 22-3 and then, yes, I had a half-court shot at the end to make it 25-3 after all the hype Newsday gave Greenport. I forget the halftime score, but we were still up by 20 I think. They never caught up and Mitch continued his dominance in the fourth with three runners in the lane and the 3-pointer as time expired just to stick it to the kids who were talking smack.

It was probably the most fun I had on the basketball court, taking it to a team who talks a lot, but couldn't back it up.  It definitely established us as the team to beat in the league that year and when Greenport needed to beat us at their place later that year to try for a share of the league, we beat them in OT to claim our part of the title that we later won outright.

---