Pierson Tops Port Jeff for Suffolk County Class C Championship

The Pierson boys basketball team looked as dominant as it has all season long in the first half of the Suffolk County Class C Championship, leading Port Jefferson by as many as 17 points, at the Danzi Athletic Center at St. Joseph’s University in Patchogue on February 15.

Even when the Royals brought an onslaught of threes during a third-quarter comeback attempt, the Whalers, thanks to now having been in multiple county championships, weathered that storm, finished the quarter strong and kept it going in the fourth to win their second consecutive county title, 58-52.

With the victory, Pierson now stands one win away from matching last year’s run to the New York State Final Four, advancing all the way to the Regional Final against either Section I (Dutchess, Putnam, Rockland, Westchester counties) or Section IX (Orange, Sullivan, Ulster counties) on March 10 at Eastport-South Manor High School at 4 p.m.

Prior to that, though, the Whalers competed in the Section XI Tournament, starting with the C/D qualifier against crosstown rival and county Class D Champion Bridgehampton on Tuesday, results of which occurred too late to appear in this week’s edition. The winner of that game advanced to the B/C/D Qualifier against county Class B Champion Southampton this Saturday, February 25, at East Hampton High School at noon.

Pierson showed why in the first half of last week’s county championship it earned the top seed in the county, scoring at will at times thanks to some crisp passing, grabbing just about every rebound and playing some stifling defense, holding the Royals to just six points, a pair of three pointers, through the first quarter and minutes into the second. But Port Jeff, led by former Hampton Bays coach Pete Meehan, started the second half on a 9-0 run that forced Pierson head coach Will Fujita to call a timeout just over two minutes in, and the Royals didn’t stop from there.

Of their seven field goals in the third quarter, the Royals nailed four three-pointers, three of which came from junior Conor Daily, who finished with a team-high 23 points. His three with 1:45 left in the third brought Port Jeff all the way back to within one of Pierson’s lead, 40-39. But as time was winding down in the frame, Pierson junior Dom Mancino made a nice read on a pass and stole the ball, bringing it all the way down the court for a layup. Then fellow junior Luke Seltzer’s rebound and putback gave Pierson some much needed breathing room at 44-39 going into the fourth quarter.

Pierson junior Charlie McLean, who led all scorers with 24 points, scored the first five points of the fourth quarter, thanks to some strong passing from fellow junior Keanu King. Mancino’s three, off a nice set pick from junior captain Aven Smith, put the final nail in the coffin, making it a nine-point game at 58-49 with 1:37 remaining in the game.

“We knew that it was going to be a hard game. Like we spoke about, it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season,” Fujita said. “Having been in this situation before with the Southold game in 2020 and then the Greenport game last year, third quarter is always the quarter where a team that’s down is always going to make a push. They were firing and I think it kind of took us out of our rhythm offensively. But we settled down, made the adjustments we needed to make, started finding the [ball] inside.

“It’s hard when a team is taking a lot of threes,” he continued. “You kind of want to fall into that, too, but I was really proud of the way we kind of stayed disciplined and tried to keep getting to the basket with the clear height advantage that we had.”

McLean admitted that seeing Port Jeff go on its run in the third quarter was a bit nerve-wracking.

“I feel like we were able to shake it off quick,” he said. “We were kind of stunned, shocked during the beginning of that, but we shook it off quick and were able to put a stop to it.”

Fujita has made it a point with his team this season to get even distribution offensively, which has led to about five different players who can lead the team in scoring on any given night. Last week, it happened to be McLean, who to his credit, worked on adding a three-point shot to his repertoire, and with already being 6 foot 6 inches, it adds another dynamic to his game.

“I definitely added that shot this year,” he said. “During preseason, we were working before school, coach and the team and I. We were just shooting, and definitely I’ve built that up.

“It feels great,” to win another county title, he added. “We’re really putting in the work in practices. We’re becoming just a better team overall and it just feels great.”

McLean is part of that group of a half dozen players that were a part of last year’s run to the state Final Four. Luke Seltzer was not a part of that run. He and his younger brother Kyle, a freshman, are originally from Sag Harbor, but spent the past few years in Ireland where their mother is originally from. Luke, who could very well be one of the Whalers’ leading scorers on any given night, said after last week’s county final win that he did check in on his old mates from time to time last season during their run, and he’s glad to be a part of the team this year.

“The chemistry is there,” he said. “We’ve grown up together, so we’re familiar with how we play. We have to become way more consistent. The effort in practice is definitely getting there compared to what it was in the beginning of the season, but we need to level it out. Have to have high energy in all of our practices instead of some days where we feel like practicing with energy, sometimes we don’t.”

On the verge of reaching another state Final Four, both Fujita and his players are sticking to their one-game-at-a-time approach, but admit that having the Regional Final about an hour away in Manorville as opposed to last year when they had to travel about three hours to Yorktown High School, is exciting.

“I’m just really grateful to be able to play basketball in March,” Fujita said. “It’s such a privilege, and for us to be able to have that regional game close to home, we’re just going to take these next two, three, four weeks and kick it into gear to get ready for whoever that team is. Really excited for the opportunity to be able to play that game.”