Bonac Scuttles Buccaneers

The East Hampton High School boys basketball team prevailed 52-47 over sixth-seeded Islip in a tumultuous first-round Class A playoff game at the high school Tuesday night, setting up a game Friday at second-seeded Harborfields, which on Tuesday handily defeated Amityville.

Should the Bonackers win Friday, they would play for the county Class A championship on Tuesday at Walt Whitman High School in Huntington Station at 8 p.m. Bayport-Blue Point, with which third-seeded East Hampton split in the regular season, is the top-seeded A team.

Islip, as had Bayport, played the 3-point-shooting Bonackers man-for-man, though the guards, Kevin Fee, Brandon Kennedy-Gay, and Kyle McKee, each of whom drove to the hoop when opportunities arose, were by no means Johnny-one-notes. But it was East Hampton's defense that most impressed the team's coach, Bill McKee.

The visitors pretty much had their way with McKee's charges' 1-3-1 zone in the first half. But, with Fee and, at times, McKee shadowing the county's second-leading scorer, Frankie Basile (25 points per game) in the second, the tide began to turn.

The Buccaneers held a 10-point lead early in the third, by the end of which it had been cut to 7. A strong fourth quarter, during which Fee, the sophomore guard, who was unstoppable, scored 9 of his 15 points, clinched the heady win. A 3-pointer by Fee, who had been fed by McKee, and a subsequent floater by Fee in the lane, which gave East Hampton a 47-46 lead, its first since early in the first quarter, had the gym in an uproar. Moments later, a 3 by Kennedy-Gay, which put East Hampton up 50-47 with less than two minutes remaining, effectively nailed down the lid.

"Islip only had 2 points in the fourth, both on foul shots," Coach McKee said as he looked at the scorebook afterward. "We played fantastic defense."

Kennedy-Gay finished with 17 points, Fee, as aforesaid, with 15, and McKee with 11. Brandon Johnson, the inside man, playing the game of his life to date, had 11 rebounds and was, said the elder McKee, "one of the reasons our defense worked so well. Every time Basile looked to drive, Brandon was there."