Sports
Panthers End Season With Close Playoff Match
A great season by the Babylon boys' varsity basketball team came to an end this weekend when the Panthers lost to Southampton 53-50.
Despite an outstanding effort the Babylon boys’ varsity basketball team fell short in itsquest for postseason glory, losing to Southampton 53-50 in the outbracket game of the Suffolk Class C playoffs.
Junior Nahari Jenkins, much like all season, was a standout for the Panthers (6-6 in League VII, 6-14 overall) leading with 15 points while drawing numerous fouls as Southampton (12-7 overall) keyed in on the dangerous scorer. But like a seasoned pro, Jenkins did his best at the free-throw line to keep Babylon close on the scoreboard, registering a game-high eight successful foul shots during Saturday's game.
Freshman Jacob Carlock, who starred for the Panthers junior varsity star team during the first half of the season before being called up to the varsity in January, was another standout. He scored nine points, just one short of his career-high. All the points came from behind the arc as he connected on a career-best three long range three-point shots.
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Shooting guard Sam Zamet had seven points, with the remainder of the Panthers scoring coming from Mike Mejer (five points), Max Watt (four points), Kyle Dawson (three points), A.J. Sullivan (three points) and Sean Logan (two points).
Babylon took a 12-10 lead over the Mariners after the first quarter and the teams went to the locker room at halftime with the game tied at 21.
Southampton played its best eight minutes of the game in the third quarter, outscoring the Panthers 15-12 to take a 36-33 lead and it proved to be the decisive margin as the two teams played the fourth quarter to a 17-17 tie.
In their first meeting back on Jan. 21, the Mariners defeated Babylon with ease, winning 61-42 at Southampton High School despite 19 points from Jenkins and 11 from Zamet.
The next time the two teams played, in the final game of the regular season, the Panthers playoff chances were on the line as Babylon needed a win to clinch a playoff spot.
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Jenkins was a scoring machine, igniting the crowd at Babylon High School by scoring from all over the court to finish with a game-high 27 points, including 11 successful free-throws to lead the Panthers to a 66-62 victory. Dawson added 14 points and Watt, who hit a clutch layup in the fourth quarter chipped in with 12.
