Blue Devils Open League Slate with Nifty Win
The Huntington boy’s varsity basketball team continued its winning ways with a 74-62 victory over host Islip in a key Suffolk League V match-up. After taking two-of-three non-league games to open the season, the Blue Devils were anxious to begin the league slate.
Huntington was led by seniors Anthony Brown (25 pts.), Matt Duffy (12 pts. and 12 assts.), Stevens Merilan (12 pts.) and Teddy Calligeros (11 pts.). Freshman center John Patron turned in another fine performance with 14 pts.
In Islip, Huntington faced a foe that dropped its first two league games by a cumulative total of eight points so the Blue Devils weren’t about to take the game lightly.
The first quarter saw the Buccaneer’s bolt to a 7-0 lead, knocking Huntington off-balance. But, the senior laden Blue Devil squad kept its composure, tightened its defense and started executing better on offense. Soon, Brown’s shots were falling and after eight minutes of play, Huntington had narrowed the gap to a single point, 15-14.
An oppressive Blue Devil defense forced numerous Islip turnovers in the opening minutes of the second quarter, leading to some easy Huntington baskets. While the Buccaneers succeeded in pressuring Duffy at the point and held him scoreless in the first half, he was still able to direct the offense and effectively distribute the ball, picking up eight assists in the first 16 minutes of the game.
Duffy’s main beneficiaries were Brown, who finished the half with 19 points and Merilan, who scored eight early points in what was regarded as his best game effort to date. Huntington outscored Islip in the quarter, 25-12, to take a 12-point lead into halftime.
With the Blue Devil defense in high gear, the offense became even more effective as Huntington opened a 19-point lead after Islip employed a man-to-man defense. Duffy took advantage of a mismatch and he joined the scoring frenzy, too. The Buccaneers regrouped during a time-out and then went on a run of their own, helped by Calligeros picking up his fourth foul and being relegated to the bench. In a short span Huntington saw its lead shrink by almost half, dropping down to 10 points.
Sensing a shift in momentum, Islip’s home crowd buoyed the Buccaneers as the fourth quarter got underway and a couple of buckets from beyond the arc cut Huntington’s lead down to six points.
The Blue Devils finally kicked up their intensity a few notches to stop the surge and regain the upper hand. Duffy, who scored all of his 12 points in the second half, controlled the tempo of the final minutes from the point position and when time expired Huntington had itself a nifty victory in the first winter’s first league game.
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