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Young varsity basketball players giving their all

BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO Captain Luke Gilpin. 23. making a strong move to the basket in Shelter Island’s January 6 home loss to Mattituck.
BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO
Captain Luke Gilpin. 23. making a strong move to the basket in Shelter Island’s January 6 home loss to Mattituck.

After graduating eight seniors from last year’s very successful Shelter Island School boys varsity basketball team, Coach Jay Card Jr. knew this was going to be a challenging season for his young and inexperienced squad.

After weeks of frustration, the team is showing signs of growth and maturity.

The Indians hosted Port Jefferson on January 3, losing 58-32. But the Island boys played a solid opening quarter; both teams scoring 12 points. But the home team was outscored 24-3 in the second quarter, as a result of too many turnovers and poor shooting. The second half scoring was fairly balanced with the Indians outscored 22-17.

Shelter Island was led by Luke Gilpin and Kal Lewis, each scoring 12 points. But the team shot a dismal one for 16 from behind the arc and were out rebounded.

On January 6, the Islanders hosted Mattituck in an exciting contest that kept the crowd into the game for all 32 minutes. But

Mattituck prevailed, 58-47. The game was much closer than the final score indicated. After being outscored 18-10 in the opening period, junior captain Luke Gilpin caught fire, shooting an amazing 10 of 13 from the floor, scoring 20 of his game high 26 points in the first half.

The Indians had outscored their opponents 17-9 in the second quarter and the game was tied at 27 apiece at the half.

Freshman Dan Martin was hot in the third quarter, scoring 7 of his season high 14 points, including two big 3-point shots. The visitors still held on to a slim 1-point lead, 42-41 going, into the final quarter.
Mattituck’s size and strength under the backboards proved to be the difference in the end.

To complicate things, Lewis, Martin and Eric Thilberg fouled out of the game. Mattituck ended up shooting 25 free throws, compared to only two for the Indians.

Nevertheless, there were glimmers of hope. The team shot a season high 50 percent from the floor; Thilberg gathered a season high eight rebounds; Lewis had a season high seven assists, including a behind-the-back pass to Gilpin for an easy lay-up. Gilpin had a season high six blocked shots and the team committed just 16 turnovers.

Coach Card was pleased with his team — “We played with great attitude and effort” — and praised its execution. The coach believes his team is gaining some much needed confidence and experience.

At the junior varsity level, Dan Boeklen (14) and Lucas Quigley Dunning (10) combined for 24 points in a losing effort against Port Jefferson earlier in the week. Coach Ian Kanarvogel is seeing some real growth with his young team as well.