Hills East Outlasts Sachem North to Remain Undefeated

After a slow start, the Hills East boys basketball team came alive in the second half to extend their winning streak to six games to open the season, beating the Sachem North Arrows, 54-51, at home Tuesday night.

Head coach Peter Basel, now in his ninth season as coach of the Thunderbirds, is pleased with the progress his team has made early in the season. "We've made some major strides on the court," he said. "We have some senior guys with a lot of veteran experience. That goes a long way at this level."

The game was a see-saw struggle for all 32 minutes, with each team never really gaining control or taking the game away.

Sachem jumped out to an early lead, but Hills East, led by senior Tyler McKenzie, stormed back. McKenzie hit several jump shots in the first quarter, including a gorgeous end-to-end break right before the buzzer to cut Sachem's lead, 14-12.

"We started off a little shaky, but overall we played a good game," said McKenzie, who led all scorers with 16 points. "We came back as a team, and that's how you win games, and that's why we've started 6-0."

Early on in the second quarter, the T-Birds gave Sachem little breathing room in their own end before Sachem broke through on a 6-0 run, including a big 3-pointer by junior Tom Klingel with 4:43 remaining.

Hills East's McKenzie snapped the streak moments later with a long field goal to cut Sachem's lead to 20-16. Sachem then hit a flurry of shots to jump to a 24-16 advantage.

Then Hills East's Billy Wesnofske came alive from behind the ark, hitting two 3-pointers, coupled with a long jump-shot by senior Mike Addae, bringing the Thunderbirds to within one, 25-24, to close out the first half. Wesnofske finished with 12 points.

"[Wesnofske] is another guy who saw a lot of minutes last year," said Basel. "His game has improved dramatically...He's been a guy we can count on, and his driving abilities have improved."

Both teams opened up in the third quarter, playing little defense. Hills East's Keyran Lawrence opened the scoring, giving the T-Birds their first lead since early in the first quarter, 26-25.

Sachem's Vinny Vacanti followed that up with a 3-pointer off a Hills East turnover to give Sachem back the lead, 28-26. Vacanti had a great game, finishing with 13 points to lead Sachem.

It was a back-and-forth affair the rest of the third quarter. The T-Birds gained the lead and extended it to 36-31, their biggest lead of the night, after a lay-up by McKenzie.

Coach Basel said that it was the T-Birds' goal to press Sachem in the second half, which ultimately led to their success.

Sachem brought it back to within a point to close out the third quarter after Dave Brown put home a rebound just as time expired, 41-40.

Both teams played conservatively in the fourth quarter, not giving either team much space. A Sachem turnover led to a fast break by Wesnofske, which gave Hills East a 49-45 lead, and Sachem couldn't recover.

Sachem had several opportunities to tie the game, but couldn't get the ball to drop in their favor. With 16.8 seconds remaining and up by two, a free throw by Chris Corso sealed the game for Hills East, putting them up by the final score of 54-51.

"This was a big step," said McKenzie. "This is how you get better as a team. Keep winning games. It'll give us more confidence when we get to the playoffs. Maybe we'll do something crazy there."

Basketball standings courtesy of MaxPreps.com: