Basketball: Rally fails to turn tide in Indians’ first game

The Shelter Island varsity boys basketball team outshot their opponent in the fourth quarter of their first league game of the season on Friday, December 16 in Southold but it wasn’t enough to make up for poor results shooting from the foul line and two players benched for academic ineligibility. The Indians lost to the Settlers 70-52.

“We were five for 21 from the foul line,” said Coach Mike Mundy. “That’s 16 points right there. If we’d had 10 out of those 16, we would have had a real game on our hands,” he said.

The final score would have been 70-49 but Matthew BeltCappellino sunk a 60-footer at the buzzer. He also scored 3 points at the buzzer at the end of the first half. He was the highest scorer for the Indians with 14 points, followed by Wyatt Brigham with 11. “He came on real strong and took up the slack for the ineligibles,” Coach Mundy said.

Jim Read and Hunter Starzee each scored 8; Nathan Mundy scored 6 and Miles Clark 5.

The Indians play next at Mercy in a non-league game on Wednesday, December 28. The next game after that isn’t until January 6. Coach Mundy said it was team policy that any player failing a course was ineligible.

The Indians played their traditional non-league season starter on December 11 when East Rockaway came east  and won 62-22. Coach Mundy said the city team was “out of our league” but its coach likes to bring out his players for a positive experience “and for us it’s a chance to see a real good program” in a small school. With only one game played in League 8, Southold, Ross, Stony Brook and Pierson top the standings with one win and no losses while Shelter Island, Greenport and Bridgehampton trail with one loss and no wins each.