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Boys varsity basketball team finding its way; outclassed early in the season

BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO Luke Gilpin driving against a Babylon opponent on December 9 in Shelter Island’s 70-28 home loss.
BEVERLEA WALZ PHOTO
Luke Gilpin driving against a Babylon opponent on December 9 in Shelter Island’s 70-28 home loss.

After four non-league games, it’s become obvious that the young Shelter Island School varsity basketball team has been outmatched by bigger, stronger, older  more talented teams.

After dropping the season opener to Hampton Bays, the Indians lost three straight games last week.

This included a 63-40 loss to The Ross School on their home court. Junior captain Luke Gilpin (10), Freshman Kal Lewis (11), and sophomore Eric Thilberg (10), combined for 31 of the team’s 40 points. The game was close early but Ross played tough defense causing numerous turnovers and out rebounded the Islanders decisively.

Unfortunately, Thilberg suffered a chest injury after a Ross player tried to throw the ball off his chest as the ball was going out of bounds. Thilberg will be out of the line-up until he recovers fully and gets medical clearance.

The Indians then hosted Babylon on December 9, a Class “B” school with a talented basketball team. With 15 fairly tall, husky, more experienced players, the game was never in doubt. The Indians dropped a very lopsided affair, 70-28. Once again, numerous turnovers against the opponents zone press and a lack of rebounding proved to be the major difference.

Gilpin (9) and Lewis (10) combined for 19 of the team’s 28 points. It should be noted that sophomore Nick Young, who came up from the JV team, hit his first two 3-point shots.

It also should be noted that Young hit “the big shot” earlier in the week against Ross as time expired with the score tied. The shot came from the backcourt, about 55 feet from the basket and it gave his team the win. Both the varsity and JV players swarmed Young, and it surely is a shot he will remember for the rest of his life.

On Saturday, December 10, the East Rockaway Rocks made their annual trip to the Island for a non-league game. This year, the Rocks took advantage of their size and quickness and jumped out to a 23-2 first quarter lead. The Indians did not shoot well and once again, committed way too many turnovers. The final score was 67-35 in favor of the visiting team. Lewis (10), Gilpin (8) and Dan Martin (8) combined for 26 points. Gilpin led his team with 13 rebounds, as Martin (5) and Nick Seddio (5) combined for an additional 10 boards.

After just four non-league games, the Indians are shooting just 33 percent from the 2-point area, 22 percent from behind the arc, and only 38 percent from the free throw line. But the biggest problems remain turnovers, averaging 30.5 per game, and a lack of rebounding.

The reality is however, that Coach Jay Card Jr. graduated seven of his nine varsity players in June, including all five starters. Coach Card has been starting two or three freshmen, one or two sophomores, and one junior. The team is young and lacks varsity experience. The coach said he realizes he needs to be patient and maintain focus on one thing — “Improvement.”

Frustrations must be kept in check and hard work has to dominate the players’ efforts in practice. Hopefully, the Island fans will stay supportive and realize that “physicality” comes with age and experience at the varsity level.

The team moves on to play an away game tonight, December 12, against McGann-Mercy.