West Boys Basketball Picks Up First Victory of the Season

Smithtown West Boys basketball used a strong third quarter to overcome a five point halftime deficit and pick up its first victory of the season Tuesday night. The Bulls defeated the North Babylon Bulldogs 59-51 in a League III match up. The victory was the first of the season for the Bulls, who moved to 1-7 overall and 1-3 in league play. North Babylon fell to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the league.

The Bulls were coming off a game in which they were outscored 22-1 in the fourth quarter and lost in overtime to Newfield. A runner by sophomore guard Ryan Hickey put Smithtown West up 49-40 with four minutes remaining in the game, but North Babylon was able to climb back within one at 51-50 with a little over a minute left. Clutch free throw shooting down the stretch - the team went 8-for-11 from the line in closing out the game - was a huge key for the Bulls in salting away the victory.

“They were very resilient tonight, it was a tough loss [against Newfield] after being in control for most of the game and I’m very proud of them,” West coach Mike Massa said. “I just tried to stay positive and tell them they were going to finish it out. The games are always peaks and valleys and they take a run, you take a run. We had to take the hit and we withstood it. That’s going to build character.”

Hickey, who made all four of his free throw attempts in the games final minute, led the team with 15 points.

“We played so hard, we deserved it,“ Hickey said. “Our fourth quarter was unbelievable.”

It was two three-pointers early in the second half that spurred the Bulls to take the lead, the second of which tied the game at 32. By the time the third quarter was over West had jumped ahead 40-36, and while it got dicey they were able to hold onto the lead.

“We showed good mental toughness, good effort, and had a lot of big steals and rebounds,“ Hickey said. “This is a huge win.”

The youthful joy and exuberance of the West guard was matched by the anger and frustration expressed by North Babylon Head Coach Brendan McCaffrey after the game.

“It was the worst game we ever played, terrible,” he said. “We beat a team by 30 the game before and we lose tonight to this team. They did a good job tonight and hit some good shots. We just gave up. There was never a run, we played terrible in the second half.”

North Babylon was led offensively by guard Preshod McCoy, who scored a game high 19 points. The Bulls Eric Joseph and Matt Schultz also contributed heavily to the West win, scoring 14 and 12 points respectively.

After Hickey drained two free throws to put his team up 53-50 with 1:04 left, North Babylon’s next possession ended with two missed free throws that would have cut the deficit to one. By the time Hickey was back on the line with 13.1 seconds left his team held a five point lead. He calmly hit both attempts and finally began to savor his teams impending victory.

“It was awesome, the feeling was unbelievable,” Hickey said of standing on the line with a win finally on the horizon. “It was outstanding, it was so cool.”