On Friday night, in the opener of the annual Mariner Holiday Classic held at Southampton HS, the boys’ basketball team earned a gritty 69-58 win over St. Dominic.

School broke for the Christmas holiday on Wednesday, so the Bears had a slimmed-down roster withouth several players who would have seen playing time vs. the Bayhawks. Despite the absences, the Bears looked strong in a physical, fast-paced game against a team that received an honorable mention nod in Class AA on the first New York State Sportswriters Association poll of the season.

Orlando Morris got the scoring started when he grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast for a lefty layup. Following a Fraysser Torres block, Nate Small hit a floater to give The Brook an early 4-0 edge. Six straight points from St. Dom’s gave them a 6-4 lead before Dylan Kopp scored his first points on a hanging layup to knot the game. After the Bayhawks hit a layup to take another lead, Kopp tied the game at 8-8 with a floater over the outstretched hand of a defender. The Bears would not trail again. Kopp followed with a steal and a lefty finish before Torres scored his first of two dunks. Both squads traded baskets in the waning seconds as the Blue & White took a 14-12 lead into the second quarter.

The Bears opened the second frame by forcing a shot clock violation, an early indication of their defensive energy that would limit the Bayhawks to nine points in the frame. A Kopp putback gave The Brook their biggest margin to that point at 20-14. After St. Dom’s hit two free throws, Small drilled a 3-pointer to extend the margin to 23-16. Following a Small steal, Kopp finished a fastbreak layup before Small hit a floater with the shot clock running down to give the Bears their first double-digit lead at 29-18. Small continued his strong quarter when he pump-faked a defender before drilling a mid-range jumper to push the Bear margin to 31-18. But the double-edged sword of the Bears’ frothing defense was their foul total, and St. Dom’s closed the half with five free throws to trail 23-31 at the break.

In a back-and-forth third quarter, the Bears saw their lead grow to as many as 15 points following a pair of Kopp free throws, and shrink to as few as seven before they took a 45-36 edge into the fourth quarter. The Bears opened the half with a deep jumper from Paul Coty and a 3-pointer from Morris before Kopp’s free throws gave The Brook a 38-23 advantage. But the Bayhawks never let up and closed to within seven points twice before the end of the quarter. Each time, the Bears had an answer–the first time with a Torres dunk and the second with a hanging layup from Kopp–to give them a nine-point margin by the end of the quarter.

The Bayhawks opened the fourth with a putback to pull within seven, but Jeremiah Coty answered on the next possession with his first of two 3-pointers in the final frame to push the margin to 10. The Bayhawks followed with a trifecta of their own, but Coty canned another 3-pointer to keep the double-digit margin at 51-41. St. Dom’s followed with four free throws to trim their deficit back to just six, but in a frenetic fourth that saw a combined 46 points scored, the Bears made the winning plays down the stretch. Morris sliced through the lane and dropped in a layup before Kopp hit a layup to push the Bear lead to 57-47, but in a game with the pace of a track meet, St. Dom’s refused to bow out, edging back to within 53-60 following an offensive putback.

From that point on, it was all Bears as Kopp finished a tough layup, then stole the ball and fed Morris for a layup to push the lead to 64-53. Randolph Logan followed with a steal and drew the foul to all but finish off St. Dom’s. The two quick scores finally put the game away, and Kopp’s dunk in the final seconds added an exclamation point.

Kopp finished with a game-high 28 points, scoring key buckets whenever the Bears needed to stem the tide. Morris dropped in 13 and controlled the ball well against the Bayhawks’ length and trapping defense. Small finished with 11 points, and his toughness was key for The Brook. Jeremiah Coty (6), Logan (4), Torres (4), and Paul Coty (3) rounded out the scoring for the Bears. Torres played perhaps his finest game in a Bear uniform, recording 5 blocks and pulling down a number of key rebounds through contact.

A year ago, The Brook fell to the Bayhawks by 10 at home in a game that was close throughout but saw the Bears wilt in the waning moments. This time around was different as the Bears showed tremendous grit and toughness down the stretch, absorbing punches from St. Dom’s and answering with ones of their own all the way until the final horn.

The Bears are back in action in the new year when they host Upper Room in Swanson Gymnasium on January 3.

---