LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY— After a slow start, the home-team Bulldogs of Sullivan West (6-7) posted the first points on the board in a non-league varsity hoops matchup on Tuesday, January 28, against the Livingston Manor/Roscoe Wildcats (4-6) as they scored at 5:20 in the opening frame to take a 7-2 lead at the close of the period.

In the second frame, they outscored their opponents 17-9; in the third the Wildcats rebounded slightly to outgun the Bulldogs 17-15; while in the final period Sullivan West out-posted LM/R 18-6 on the way to a 51-34 victory.

Sullivan West’s top scorers: Brandon Haass (13 points and 3/3 at the FTL), Evan Ebert (12 points including a three-pointer and 5/6 at the FTL), Alec Hubert (7 points including a three-pointer), Dylan Lockwood (7), Adam Ernst (6).

Livingston Manor/Roscoe: Ben Johnson (9 points including a three-pointer), Kaleb Maldonado (7 points including a three-pointer), Patrick Gorr (6 points, all three-pointers), while Lagan Thomas and Dillon Tolbert each contributed a three-pointer. 

As a sidelight from the realm of high school basketball, while the NFL World was embroiled in rumors of the referees favoring the Kansas City Chiefs, a couple of legendary local refs kept the game of hoops on an even keel, calling the shots by the rules: Mike Bernstein has been wearing a striped shirt since 1980, while former Fallsburg Police Chief Brett Lawrence started enforcing the rules from 1973-74, until he joined the ranks of law enforcement for a total of 31 years, then dusting off his ref’s uniform in 1999. 

If this sports scribbler’s math is even close to being correct, that’s a combined total of 73 years: all for the love of high school sports.