Basketball: JV kicks off season with win over East Rockaway

The boys junior varsity basketball team kicked off the season on Sunday, December 11 at home with a thrilling and solid win over a strong East Rockaway team, 35-31.

The game started out with good intensity from both teams. Drew Garrison hit two 3-pointers and the score was tied at the end of the first quarter.

The boys played a nice aggressive defense that they switched up almost every trip down the floor. That helped them take a 4-point lead into the locker room at the half.

They came out a little flat for the third quarter and allowed their opponents to cut the lead to 1 at the start of the fourth quarter. At 1:57 remaining in the game, the lead was gone and the Indians were down by 2.

The Rockers had foul trouble and Sawyer Clark and co-captains Matthew Dunning and Drew Garrison hit big foul shots going down the stretch.

Drew led all scorers with 14 points, including two foul shots with 15 seconds left to break a tie score.

The Indians then came out with good defense and forced a turnover with seven seconds left. The next inbounds play resulted in a easy breakaway basket by Drew to seal the game as a last-second shot from half court by East Rockaway fell short.

The Indian bench play was strong. Starter Matthew Dunning got into early foul trouble but exchange student Bac Tran and Matthew Murphy played some very aggressive defense.

Johnny Sturges came off the bench and played solid under the boards. It was nice to watch our bench players contribute. They didn’t score but figured prominently into the game.

The team’s defensive intensity was high. They communicated well on both offense and defense. Riley Willumsen handled the point well and did a nice job getting open shots for the team.

Carter Brigham also made some nice buckets and ended with 5 points. Sawyer Clark had 8 points with three of them important foul shots. The next game is away at Southold on Friday.