On their return this week from the holiday break, the East Hampton, Pierson (Sag Harbor), and Bridgehampton High School boys basketball teams seem to have the playoffs in their sights.
Bridgehampton, at 5-0 in league competition, with wins over its Class D opponents, Greenport, Shelter Island, Ross, and Smithtown Christian (twice), was listed atop Division V as of Monday, Pierson was 4-1 league-wise in that same league, and East Hampton was 3-0 in Division IV, though battles loomed with Comsewogue and Mount Sinai, which also were undefeated.
As for the Killer Bees, “We’re coming along, definitely,” their coach, Ron White, said when asked Sunday for an update. “The guys are playing a little more relaxed. We’re trying to get back to Killer Bee basketball with an in-your-face defense. We’ll always be the smaller team, so we’ve got to step up, we can’t play slow-down basketball.”
White’s team, whose roster includes Mikhail and Kai Feaster, Alex Davis, the Vinski twins, Kris and Scott, and Dylan Fitzgerald, was to have played at Shelter Island Tuesday, and is to play at Pierson on Friday, Jan. 13.
East Hampton, which has league wins over Westhampton Beach, Rocky Point, and Sayville, was to have faced off against 4-0 Comsewogue here Tuesday, and is to play at Shoreham-Wading River today.
Pierson, whose last win was by 1 point over Babylon on Dec. 19, was to have played host to Southampton yesterday, and is to play at Smithtown Christian today. Shelter Island is to play at the Sag Harbor school on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Other Sports
In other high school sports action over the break, Yani Cuesta, who coaches East Hampton High’s girls winter track team, reported that Ryleigh O’Donnell broke the school record in the indoor 400-meter race at the Ocean Breeze Holiday Festival on Dec. 27 — a record that Lillie Minskoff, who ran the distance in 71.62 seconds in 2019, had held. Finishing 16th among 22 entrants, O’Donnell was clocked at 64.06.
Ben Turnbull, who coaches East Hampton’s boys winter track team, said in an email that 16 were on his squad. The distance runners are Brayan Rivera, Diego Rojas, Benson Edman, Anthony Castillo, Max Bellenoue, Nathan Feyh, and Matt Mattina. Jonathan Aranzazu, Judah D’Andrea, Luis Duran, Marlon Garces, Carlos Quintana, Kevin Quito, Chase Siska, Idel Villar, and Isaac Rodriguez are his sprinters. Aranzazu, D’Andrea, Duran, and Quintana also put the shot. Rodriguez triple-jumps, and Aranzazu, D’Andrea, Rodriguez, and Villar comprise the 4-by-200 relay team.
Craig Brierley, who coaches the boys swimming team, reported on Christmas Eve that while the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter “pool has not been available to us in the past two weeks, we have made some strength and conditioning gains, and, on Dec. 20, defeated Lindenhurst 47-33 in its four-lane pool that had no blocks to dive off of.”
The win improved the team’s record to 2-1 in league competition and to 4-2 over all.
Brierley said the captains had named Wyatt Smith, a sophomore, as swimmer-of-the-meet. “In the 200 freestyle relay he narrowed a large gap, which gave the anchor swimmer an opportunity to out-touch his man for the win. Wyatt also swam the freestyle leg for the A team in the medley relay, and took second in the 100 free. This is his first season with the team and he has shown that he is a natural in the water.”
Brierley added that Jack Zeimer, in the 50 and 500 free, Abe Stillman, in the 50 free and 200 free, and Daniel Rossano, in the 50 free, had set personal records at Lindenhurst.
