Saturday's regional Class D high school boys basketball final was a laugher from the start as Bridgehampton's Killer Bees, in stark contrast to their shaky start in the county championship game with St. Pius V the week before, eviscerated Eldred's Yellow Jackets from the get-go, stealing the ball repeatedly and shooting repeatedly as their opponents from Sullivan County looked on slack-jawed.
Eldred didn't even get a shot off until almost four and a half minutes were gone, by which time Carl Johnson's swarming squad led 14-0. Jai Feaster, a junior whom Johnson, a former state-champion point guard himself, has mentored, gave notice right off the bat that he has become comfortable in that position, draining a 3-pointer following the initial tipoff.
Bridgehampton sent up 24 shots from the floor in the first period, at the end of which the Bees led 20-7; Eldred by that time had made good on three of four shots from the field plus one made free throw.
The Bees, who on Friday morning are to face Loudonville Christian, an Albany-area team, in a state Class D semifinal at Binghamton's Veterans Memorial Arena, took a 36-16 lead into the halftime break — by which time Eldred had turned the ball over a dozen times — and, once play resumed, continued coasting on their way to a 71-41 final. They led by 41 at the end of the third.
Johnson, who, should the Bees go all the way at Binghamton, will have won his fifth state championship as a coach (he won three as a player, in 1978, 1979, and 1980), emptied his bench with a little more than two minutes to go, bringing in Eddie Dawson (who had seen periodic action earlier), Amaree Charlton, Engher Suarez, Leo McDonald, and Christian Pinckney, and, with a minute remaining, Miczar Garcia. There were hugs and cheers all around as the starters, including Feaster, Alex Davis, Jaylin Harding, and Xavier Johnson, came out.
Feaster finished with 25 points, including three 3s. Davis, his fellow junior point guard, had 16, Jaylin Harding, Jordan Harding, and Johnson 8 each, Dawson 4, and Tyler Fitzgerald 2. For the Yellow Jackets, Trai Kaufmann (Eldred's junior point guard, who was the only opposing player who approached Bee standards) and Kalob Fisher each had 12 points.
To get to the state Final Four, Loudonville Christian had edged Harrisville 38-36 in a regional game. Asked what that result told him, Johnson, who is in the state's Hall of Fame, said, "They can't score."
In another regional game, Fillmore and Panama, the top two in the New York Sportswriters Association's Class D poll — Bridgehampton being number three — duked it out, with Panama coming out on top. Panama and Sackets Harbor are to play in the other semifinal Friday at 11:45.
Asked what he thought his charges' chances were, Johnson said, without hesitation, "I think our chances are great."
It's been 10 years since Bridgehampton, then led by Charles Manning Jr., last won a state title. That team, which included Elijah Jackson (one of Saturday's spectators), Josh Lamison, and Tylik Furman, overcame Moriah 68-50 in the semifinal round, and, behind Manning's 31-point performance, defeated New York Mills, the defending state champion, 62-49 in the final.
Only Mount Vernon, with 11, has more state championships to its credit than Bridgehampton, which has nine.
