On This Day in History | 1997

The 1996-97 boys’ basketball team

On this day 21 years ago, the boys’ basketball team held off rival Southold, 44-43, thanks to some late heroics.

The Bears held a 14-point lead with two minutes left in the third quarter when the Settlers unleashed a 9-0 run to close the gap. Southold carved their deficit back to a point late in the fourth quarter, but eighth-grader Nathaniel Howell stole the ball and took it all the way in for a layup to put the Bears up 44-41 with 1:49 left. The Settlers connected on a jumper with 17 seconds left, but could not complete their comeback, missing two layups in the waning seconds.

Charlie Hanchett scored a team-high 14 points while Marc Gitto added 8, Howell 7, Matt Doran 6, and Liam Banks 5.

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