Raiders Fall 50-30 to Arrows in League I Opener

Galloping but never quite hitting full speed out of the gate, Patchogue-Medford Raiders varsity boys basketball team hit a bigger second-half snag as the momentum slowed to a crawl due to a number of foul calls against both teams at Sachem East Tuesday night. As such, the Raiders found it tough to overcome East's early command of the board, falling 50-30 to the Arrows in the mutual League I opener.

Pat-Med won the tip-off, but East's Randall Colson hit a two-pointer less than a minute in to open up the board, holding off the Raiders 6-0 until Pat-Med's Ahmed Williams responded in kind with 4:12 to go. East's offense threatened to speed up further when Ryan Morahan sunk a three-pointer, but Williams, who led the Raiders with 15 points, was hard at work at close range to keep the game just as close.

Sophomore Pat Vogel's three-pointer at the buzzer, which trimmed East's lead to two at the end of the first quarter, capped the comeback. Vogel, who had 13 points for the Raiders including four three-pointers, said being up against East's main scorer put significant pressure on him throughout. 

"Candemeres is the best player on the Island," Vogel said of his opponent. "It was hard to hit those shots. It was just man-to-man on the court."

Alec Daniello's three-pointer at the top of the clock announced East's ownership of the second quarter, aided by Brian Corbett's two-pointer with seven minutes to go and some fancy footwork by A.J. Tavantzis, who rebounded his own shot, quickly shuffled back between his defenders and put it up to finally get his two points.

Tavantzis hit a three-pointer, assisted by Tim Doherty, with 1:55 to go to break a scoring lull after another Vogel three-pointer (3:07). A dunk by Colson with 1:10 left, met by plenty of cheers from East fans, ended scoring for the first half. 

Second-half whistles gave each team 10 fouls by games' end though only one player - Raider Ryan Halverson - would ultimately foul out. Williams' accuracy at the line for Pat-Med (5-for-6), alongside two Vogel three-pointers (at 4:22 left in the third quarter and 6:10 to go in the fourth, respectively) helped keep them in the game, but East's Candemeres provided a resounding answer from the line (6-for-8) as the Arrows' fourth-quarter offense found a subtly pounding rhythm amidst the whistles for its highest scoring quarter. 

Raiders Sammy Rozzi and Frankie Caprano each added one point on trips to the line in the fourth quarter.

East's Corbett, Colson and Daniello tied for eight points each. Ryan Morahan chipped in three points, and Connor King scored two points.

Pat-Med goes to Bellport (League IV) for a scrimmage December 23 at 4 p.m., and will host Connetquot (League II) December 28 at 11 a.m. East will travel to Bay Shore December 28 for a non-leaguer scheduled for 1:30 p.m.