Bridgehampton Gets Over the Regional Final Hump, Propels Itself to State Final Four

Consider the proverbial hump smashed.

Since winning its ninth New York State Class D Championship in 2015, the Bridgehampton boys basketball team has reached the Regional Final multiple times since then but has failed to break through to reach the state Final Four. For junior standouts Alex Davis and Jai Feaster, Saturday afternoon’s game at Center Moriches High School against Eldred (Section IX-Orange, Sullivan, Ulster) marked the third time they’ve been to the game, and it was clear from the opening tip-off that they weren’t going to let another opportunity fall through their fingertips.

The Killer Bees defeated Eldred, 71-41, to punch their tickets to the state semifinals, which will begin Friday, March 21, when they take on Loudonville Christian (Section II-Capital District) in the first game of the day at 10 a.m. at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton. The winner of that game advances to the finals the next day at 6 p.m.

Feaster, who led all scorers with 25 points on Saturday, said it felt good to finally get over that hump.

“It’s definitely a relaxer for me, for sure,” he said, as he clutched the Regional Final plaque to his chest. “Me and Alex have been here three times already so to win this time it means a lot, it feels good.

“But we want more at this point,” he continued. “Maybe when we were in eighth, ninth grade, Regionals is what we were shooting for, but we want states. This feels good, but we’re looking for more.”

New York State Hall of Fame coach Carl Johnson said after the game that it’s been his goal since he came out of retirement two years ago to bring a state title back to Bridgehampton, and his team is now two wins away from achieving that.

“It’s been 10 years so this feels really great,” he said. “And this will be my first time in Binghamton so it’ll be something new,” he added, being that the Final Four had been played in Glens Falls in years past. “I’m very, very happy and proud of the boys. It’s been a decade so hopefully we can bring back another.”

Feaster got things going on Saturday right away with a three in the corner that sparked a 14-0 run for the Bees. A stifling Bridgehampton defense didn’t allow Eldred’s first basket until 3:35 left in the first quarter. After a little lull early on in the second quarter, the Bees picked things up once again, which led to a 36-16 halftime lead.

Feaster led another strong run in the third, scoring 11 of his team’s 14 points, and Eldred — which coincidentally is named the Yellowjackets — had no answer for the Killer Bees’ defensive or offensive prowess. Davis scored 16 points while fellow starters Xavier Johnson and Jordan Harding, both sophomores, and senior Jaylen Harding each scored eight points. And while offensive rebounds weren’t officially tallied, the Bridgies owned that stat as well leading to second-, third- and sometimes even fourth-chance opportunities and put backs.

“We’ve just been preparing all week. Actually, we’ve had two weeks, which is a long time,” Davis said. “Every day has been straight work and what we need to focus on, and today we just came out and worked on that and swept through them.”

“They really executed the game plan, almost to perfection,” Coach Johnson said. “We said we were going to play man-to-man pressure on them, pick up 94 feet. At one point we went asleep a little bit when we started to settle for the threes, which is not our game. But our defense turned them over and over and over again so we were able to get easy buckets, and that was the difference.”

Trai Kaufmann and Koen McGill each scored 12 points for Eldred which, in another coincidence, James Deyermond, who is the grandson of longtime Sag Harbor residents Ed and Bethany Deyermond, was a starter for the Yellowjackets.

Feaster’s performance is nothing new for him as he’s become a real focal point on the team. Becoming the team’s point guard, Coach Johnson said, is what has led him to become a leader.

“When I have a good point guard we can go a long way, we’re very successful,” Coach Johnson said. “Jai has taken that on, and even though sometimes we clash, which I expect — I liked to be challenged, he likes to be challenged — the point guard is a very important position. Whether he’s steering the defense, the offense, I gave him a challenge — you take number one — and Jai accepted the challenge.”

The Bees’ game plan is always predicated on defense, though, and that was at the forefront of Saturday’s game. Eldred, like so many of the Bees’ opponents before them, had a hard time just getting the ball passed halfcourt.

“Defense has been our staple all year,” Coach Johnson. “We give up, like, 45 points a game. We held them to 41 so we’re right where we needed to be.

“Since day one of practice we’ve preached defense,” he added. “Those five guys are interchangeable. They can move, they can guard one through five on anyone’s team, and it’s been a blessing. But that’s all we preach. The first 45 minutes of practice every day, when you hear ‘zigzag ’em,’ that’s what we do every day.”

And that’s really what has fueled Bridgehampton’s quest for its 10th state title. The coaches and players are confident in their ability on both sides of the ball, and they don’t think there’s a team in Class D that can match them. Whether or not that’s true will be proven this weekend.

“I think we have a great chance, I really do,” Coach Johnson said. “I don’t think anybody has seen five guys that can get out there and play defense the way that we do. I haven’t seen anybody that can prove that yet in our classification, so I think we have a great shot at going all the way to the championship and actually win it.”

“I think we’re the favorite to win it all,” Jaylen Harding said. “We’re the team that they have to beat. Every team is probably going to play zone against our offense, but we’re all really coming together and really starting to work together as whole.”

“We don’t fear any team,” Feaster said. “It’s all about how we work together, that’s going to decide if we win or not, that’s how we feel. If we played a bad game then we lost ourselves. We really don’t feel like any team can beat us. It comes down to how we play.”