Yesterday the boys’ basketball team earned a fourth straight Class C County Championship at the expense of Pierson. Here is the recap from Gavin Menu of SagHarborOnline.com.
Whalers Fall to Stony Brook
The names have changed, but the story remains the same. A group of gritty Sag Harbor boys raised on hard work and basketball make their way to the Suffolk County championship game, only to find the undisputed kings of Class C waiting. For Pierson, the season ends and a handful of Whalers have their careers come to a close.
Playing for the county title at Suffolk Community College in Selden on Saturday, the Stony Brook Bears built on a growing legacy of excellence and beat Pierson, 51-44, for the fourth time in as many years on the way to winning their fourth consecutive county championship.
The Bears advanced in the state tournament and will play East Rockaway, the only Class C team from Nassau County, in Selden on March 1. They will also face Bridgehampton in the C/D game in the overall Suffolk County tournament on Tuesday, February 16, at Suffolk Community in Brentwood.
Stony Brook is a private school, with an international student body, competing against similarly small public schools in Suffolk County. On Saturday it was Chester Kayonga, a native of Rwanda, who scored 12 points in the second half to lead the Bears to victory on the offensive end. On defense it was Jyles Etienne, the Bears’ 6-foot-6-inch behemoth from the Bahamas, who dominated the post and finished with eight blocked shots and 16 rebounds.
The leading scorer for the Whalers was Sean Sloane, a 5-foot-9-inch junior guard who finished with 23 points amid a mountain of frustration. Sloane had three first half fouls, limiting his playing time, and was met at the rim early and often by the outstretched arms of Etienne.
“I was raised that you can only control what you are and what you do, but I’m starting to get frustrated for my kids,” said Dan White, who is in his seventh year as head coach at Pierson. “Our JV team maybe lost one game to Stony Brook in the last seven years and I’m 4-14 against them. The base of kids they can choose from is the world and mine is Sag Harbor.”
To be clear, Stony Brook plays under the rules of Section XI, Suffolk’s governing body of athletics, and is not the only private institution to compete against public schools on Long Island. The Ross School and Smithtown Christian are also small private schools, but they have never had the athletic success enjoyed by the Stony Brook boys’ basketball team.
“Mike [Hickey] is probably the best coach in the league. I don’t think they recruit, I don’t think he’s taking a trip to the Bahamas, or taking a trip to Rwanda, but it’s clear they have an unfair advantage,” White said. “They’re spectacular. They’re long, they’re disciplined, they have shooters, and they make the appropriate plays for how they’re being defended.”
Mike [Hickey] is probably the best coach in the league… [The Bears] are spectacular. They’re long, they’re disciplined, they have shooters, and they make the appropriate plays for how they’re being defended.
Pierson coach, Dan White
The Whalers came out strong in the first half with Sloane playing at hyper-speed, which led to his 12 first half points. The game was tied at 23-23 going into halftime, and a three from senior Stephen Musnicki put Pierson up 30-27 with 3:36 remaining in the third quarter.
What followed was a nearly eight-minute scoring drought for the Whalers during which Stony Brook rattled off 13 straight points to put the game away and end the careers of Pierson seniors Stephen Musnicki, Jack Schleicher, Andrew James, Rojuan Patterson, Baxter Charles, and Andrew Roberts.
“What a special group that was,” White said on Monday. “They were sixth-graders my first year here, and they did everything. They did SYS, travel spring and summer, they worked after school. For a group of kids that aren’t physically intimidating, they turned into one hell of a basketball team.”
stonybrookbears.org 