Effort There in Pierson Boys Basketball Team’s Close Loss to Mt. Sinai

This Pierson boys basketball team is consistently buying into and executing its game plan, and that was evident despite a 52-49 nonleague home loss to Mt. Sinai December 28.

The Whalers (4-1 in League V, 4-4 overall) erased a nine-point halftime deficit to stay within or under four points the rest of the way, and much of that can be credited to the way the team made the necessary adjustments coming out of halftime. The offensive efforts of brothers Luke (13 points) and Kyle Seltzer (14 points) also kept Pierson in it.

“They played hard,” head coach Will Fujita said. “I think good teams make adjustments at halftime, and we did that. We’ll watch the film and learn from it, but I’m much happier with the level of effort that’s being put forth. I think if we make defense a priority we’ll be able to compete with a lot of teams.”

Kyle Seltzer, a freshman, dominated the first quarter of play by scoring eight points, while his older brother Luke, a senior, chipped in four.

“I felt ready to play. I was focused going into the game,” Kyle Seltzer said. “I ran the floor a lot. I went in and they fed me the ball. I got some good looks, and tried to finish strongly.”

His brother hit his mark with 58 seconds left to put Pierson out front, 16-15, after eight minutes, but Pierson’s point-scoring came to a halt in the second quarter. Despite breaking Mt. Sinai’s press, the Whalers were held to just two buckets to fall behind by nine points, 29-20, heading into halftime.

“When Mt. Sinai went into a 1-3-1, we weren’t looking to be as aggressive getting downhill,” Fujita said. “It seems we continue to have one quarter where we lose a little bit of our rhythm, and I think after watching the film they’ll see there were opportunities for them to get to the basket, but everyone has bought into being coachable, which I think should make for an interesting second half of the season.”

The Whalers worked through their issues at the break to come out stronger for it. Luke Seltzer finished under the hoop off an offensive rebound and secured possession on a jump ball that led to his brother’s basket on a feed from Keanu King. King grabbed his own rebound and was fouled, swishing both of his free-throw shots to make it a four-point game, with Pierson behind 30-26 at the 5:54 mark. The Whalers defense forced the Mustangs’ fourth and fifth travels of the game, and Kyle Seltzer scored off a pass from his brother, then recorded a three-point play to make it a one-point game, with Mt. Sinai (7-2 overall, 3-0 in League IV) out front 32-31.

“We made the right adjustments and put ourselves in a position where we had a chance to win the game, and I’m proud of the team for that,” Luke Seltzer said. “There was an intimidation factor that shouldn’t have been there in the first place. It was a nonleague game, and we weren’t in the right mindset — which is something we can change going forward — but this really shows our potential.”

Junior Aven Smith muscled his way to the rim for a basket that gave Pierson its first lead since the opening stanza, but Mt. Sinai hit back-to-back shots to regain it. Luke Seltzer’s steal-and-score and offensive rebound that resulted in Dom Mancino’s buzzer-beating three-pointer reclosed things, but again the Mustangs maintained the edge, ahead 39-28, after three.

“We showed sparks of great defense and great offense, and coming out of the half it was a new game, but we need to be more consistent with our shots and our energy needs to be high the whole game,” Kyle Seltzer said. “Still, we’re showing perseverance, and not getting down if something doesn’t go our way.”

The energy off big shots scored also plays a huge part for the Whalers, like when Lance Schroeder lit up the crowd with a three-pointer that took the lead for Pierson, out front 41-39, with 5:50 left to play. The Whalers once again fell behind, but senior Logan Hartstein (eight points) scored from beyond the arc with 19.1 seconds left and at the buzzer to give the game its final score.

“We only had eight today, and I thought that every one of them gave really great effort,” Fujita said. “These nonleague games are really good in terms of playing against some serious competition — Mt. Sinai is at the top of their league — and this was a really good building block for that moving forward.”

Especially as Pierson hosted rival Southampton (2-0 in League V, 6-2 overall) Wednesday, results of which were not available by press time.

“I think it’s important that we play these tough games now and learn to make adjustments so we can do well in the playoffs and go deep into the season,” Luke Seltzer said. “We’re more of a second-half team, but we have to come out ready to take the lead in the first half. We have to come out ready to play every time.”