End Of The Road For Royals

It was a tale of two halves for the boys’ basketball team, which held the lead over Friends Academy at halftime, before surrendering it in the fourth quarter, losing 54-47 in the Long Island Class C championship game held at SUNY Old Westbury. The loss ended a spectacular playoff run by the Royals (14-9), a team which captured the Suffolk County Class C, Class CD and Class BCD championships this season.

Friends Academy, the Nassau County Class C champions, entered the game having not played since Feb.14, while Port Jeff had played six games over the past two weeks, including a close loss to the Suffolk overall Section XI tournament winner Harborfields on March 4.

Moments after the loss to Harborfields, when asked if the long layoff the Quakers (14-4) faced might benefit Port Jefferson, which stayed sharp by playing red-hot basketball through the Section XI playoffs, Royals head coach Michael Riley said, “It’s definitely an advantage and I hope that they [Port Jeff’s players] fully understand that it’s an advantage to us.”

The Royals matched Friends Academy shot for shot in the first quarter and trailed 14-12 at the buzzer before opening the second quarter with authority, led by star scorer Terrell Rose. Rose began to connect on his jumpers and forwards Anthony Lanieri and Braden Colucci both hit some big shots to give Port Jeff a commanding 33-20 lead at halftime. Unfortunately for the Royals, they let the Quakers back into the game in the third quarter, where they were outscored 18-10 which led to a collapse in the fourth quarter as Friends closed the game on a 16-4 run.

Rose scored a game-high 18 points and Anthony Lanieri added 11 points. Colucci (nine points), Greg Nielsen (five points) and Phil Lanieri (two points) accounted for the rest of Port Jeff’s scoring.

Although the Royals were unable to get upstate for a run at the state title, the championships they won this season along with the thrills they gave their fans will remain in the Port Jeff history books forever.