This afternoon, the boys’ basketball team earned a must-win victory over the visiting Settlers to improve to 2-3 in the league and bolster their chances of earning a playoff berth for a 17th straight year.

It took overtime against a scrappy Settler squad, but the Bears prevailed, 48-42, with a lineup still feeling from the effects of the flu. In the last two games, at least one starter was out with illness, but the Bears prevailed over East Hampton and Mercy despite missing those key players. Today’s match-up was not always pretty and it was clear that three starters were still not at full strength, but the Bears pulled out a crucial victory thanks to their calling card over the last four championship seasons: defense.

The Settlers, perhaps eager to stem their nine-game losing streak to the Bears, raced out to a 6-1 lead. But at the 5:29 mark, Pat McFarland, Southold’s best player and one of the County’s leading scorers, found himself sidelined with two fouls. In his absence the Bears responded. Mac Bohuny scored on a baseline runner and a coast-to-coast layup, sandwiched between trifectas from Brandon Providence (one a 3-pointer and one a 3-point play) to vault the Bears into an 11-9 lead. After a tough layup through contact by Harry Zhu and a Jyles Etienne hook shot, the Bears’ lead swelled to 15-9. Southold responded with a basket, but Bohuny pushed the advantage back to six with a layup while drawing a foul. A Southold free throw left the visitors down 12-17 after one.

Bohuny scored another layup on the opening possession of the second quarter, but the Settlers followed with eight straight points to take a 20-19 lead. Providence then tied the game with a free throw, the first of four subsequent ties over the final minutes of the half. After a free throw gave the Settlers the lead, Providence scored a difficult double-clutch layup to regain the advantage. Southold grabbed the lead back, but two free throws from Bohuny knotted the game at 26-26. The Settlers regained the lead on the ensuing possession, but Bohuny grabbed a key offensive rebound on the final play of the half, narrowly beating the buzzer with a layup to leave the game tied at 28-28 at the break.

The Bear defense reared its head in the third quarter, holding the Settlers to just five points. Etienne recorded three blocks and a steal in the quarter to spearhead the attack. Unfortunately, the Blue and White offense stalled as well, mustering just seven points of their own. After a bucket and a free throw, Southold held a 31-28 lead. Bohuny tied the game again, this time on a 3-point play, that brought the crowd to its feet. Providence scored on yet another acrobatic layup to give the Bears a brief 33-31 lead, before Southold tied it once again. On the final possession of the quarter, Providence beat the buzzer with a layup to give the Bears a 35-33 edge heading into the fourth.

Seamus Scanlon took over the early minutes of the last frame. He opened the quarter with a bucket, then followed with two steals, the second of which he took all the way to the rim for a 39-37 lead. After Southold tied it with a pair of free throws, Scanlon splashed a 3-pointer to give the Brook a 42-39 lead. Incredibly, those would be the Bears’ final points over the last 4:41 of the quarter. Southold’s McFarland hit his only 3-pointer of the game (he had a combined 14 over his last two games) at the 3:28 mark on a shot that caught every part of the rim before falling through. The Bears got some key stops over the final stretch, including steals from Bohuny and Providence, but could not turn them into points on the opposite end. The Bears had a chance to win it in regulation, but missed a runner at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

In the extra period, the Bears controlled the opening tap and then, after a series of fouls and rebounds, used up the first two minutes of the four-minute overtime on a single possession. Providence capped the lengthy stretch with a jumper to give the Brook a 44-42 lead. After a defensive stop, the Bears misfired on their next shot attempt, but John Eshirow corralled a huge offensive rebound that led to a Bohuny 3-pointer which finally broke Southold’s back with 34.5 seconds left. Providence came up with a steal with 15.5 seconds left to seal the victory.

Bohuny led all scorers with 18 points while Providence, back after missing two games with the flu, scored a valiant 16 on a variety of difficult shots. Scanlon (7 points), Etienne (3), Eshirow (2), and Zhu (2) rounded out the scoring. Though he did not score a single point, Emil Vaughn was huge in the victory, hounding McFarland on defense all night long. Coming into the game, the Southold sharpshooter was averaging 24.1 points per game (8th in Suffolk County), including outbursts of 37 and 35 in his last two games against league leaders Greenport and Bridgehampton. Vaughn helped limit him to just 10 points, his lowest output of the season.

This is the Bears’ 10th straight victory over Southold, dating back to 2011. The Bears are back in action on Friday night in a match-up at Greenport.

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