Basketball

Firing squad

Sullivan West hits 11 threes and shoots 85 percent from the line in opening win over Webutuck

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — As a new season opens, the conversation is often about how much talent teams have lost through graduation. That notion has been bandied about considerably with the exit of Sullivan West’s Kevin Cappiello, Derek Hahn, Alan Ackermann and Kienan Garn.

In their absence, few could have imagined the kind of shooting performance evinced by the Bulldogs in their season-opening 82-73 win over Webutuck on December 1. Showing an uncanny sense of chemistry so early in the season, Sullivan West used great ball reversal, three-point shooting and a remarkable 17-of-20 shooting from the charity stripe to pull off the win over a team with a demonstrative size advantage.

A total of 11 threes slid through the cylinder, just three short of the record-setting 14, turned in by the 2005 team at Marlboro. That day, Sean Semenetz and Joe Meyer had six and seven from downtown, respectively, in a game that had another parallel to this one: Marlboro’s center, Garrett Huyler, was a major tall tree clogging up the post that day. This time out, it was Webutuck’s Alex Krauchuck standing tall under the rim.

Despite his menacing presence, Sullivan West shooters never flinched in their attack and scored 32 of their points off mid-range jumpers and points in the paint. Webutuck pressed Sullivan West repeatedly, but the Bulldogs often answered with points at the other end of the floor.

Junior Brad Reimer’s 25 points, 13 of which came in the first quarter, paced the Bulldogs. By game’s end, he had netted a trio of treys and was 10 for 12 from the stripe. Early on, he was fouled on a three-point shot attempt and drilled all three of his free throws to set the tone. He evinced a free throw three-peat again in the third quarter.

Sullivan West also got big outings from junior James Spruill, who fired in four from downtown and went four for four from the line as part of his 22-point contribution. Senior Jason Leewe had 18 points, nine of which came courtesy of his trio of threes. Leewe was one for two from the line. Junior Justin Armstrong had nine points, including a three. He was two for two from the stripe.

Webutuck, a legitimate Class C contender, showed its own brand of fine shooting in this crossover with Class B Sullivan West. Last year, the Warriors finished at 15-7 and lost in the sectional semifinal to Millbrook. In this game versus Sullivan West, Alex and Matt Krauchuck accounted for 26 and 16 points, more than half of the Warriors’ total production.

Turnovers by both teams abounded. The Bulldogs led 17-16 at the end of the first quarter and ratcheted up its defense in the second quarter, limiting Webutuck to 12 points while scoring 23 to take a 40-28 lead into halftime. Spruill and Leewe had nine and eight respectively in the second quarter.

Webutuck made a run in the third quarter to get within nine. As big man Alex Krauchuck poured in 10, the Bulldogs had some difficulty dealing with his raised energy in the paint. Nevertheless, Sullivan West countered with hot shooting. Sullivan West led 61-50 at the end of three.

A pair of Spruill threes began the fourth quarter, which he sandwiched around a steal, to give the Bulldogs a 17-point margin at 67-50. The lead burgeoned to 20 with a Leewe three at 76-56, but Webutuck wouldn’t go away.

From that point out, the Warriors outscored Sullivan West 17-6 in the closing minutes, but the deficit was too great to overcome.

Webutuck coach Mike Riddle championed his team’s pressure defense that led to upward of 20 steals and its attack of the basket as positives for the first game of the season. “I give credit to Sullivan West,” he said. “They shot the heck out of the ball. I haven’t seen a high school game like this in years.”

Sullivan West coach Cliff Kelly was very pleased with his young team’s opening effort. “We lost a lot of players and we have some jayvee kids that moved up and are contributing. We played good team defense,” he said, noting that the plan was to rotate help to deal with big man Krauchuck. The coach was most impressed by his young team’s chemistry and, of course, its uncanny lights-out shooting.

Sullivan West (1-0) will play S.S. Seward in the Billy Moran Tip Off Tournament on December 6. Webutuck (0-1) will host Spackenkill on December 7.