Sports
Whitman Boys Fall To West Babylon In Quarterfinals
Second-half comeback not enough as season comes to a close.
The No. 6 boys basketball team dug itself into too deep of a hole and couldn’t pull off a win despite a furious comeback in its Suffolk Class AA quarterfinal game against No. 3 West Babylon, losing 60-46, Thursday night.
Down 40-16 in the third quarter, Whitman finally started gaining momentum on the strength of strong drives to the basket by Myles Jones and at one point closed the gap to eight points in the fourth quarter.
Heroes: Jones was instrumental in the Wildcats' comeback, as he led the team in scoring with 16 points and suddenly seemed unstoppable on his way to the rim in the second half.
Daniel Guardado had himself a nice game for his team as he worked well with Jones, feeding and receiving passes with the team’s star all night. He made several layups and finished the game with 10 points.
Darrell Felder and Bryan Jiminez also had solid games offensively, finishing with 9 and 8 points respectively.
For West Babylon, Matt Sullivan was the star of the night as he finished with 30 points, half of his team’s total. Taylor Frisch accounted for another 10 of West Babylon’s points.
Turning Point: After outscoring Whitman by only two points in the first quarter, West Babylon was in fire in the second, scoring the first 16 points of the period. Whitman was having a tough time asserting itself offensively, and after giving up the first 11 points of the second half, found itself down 24 points with 5 minutes left in the third. That’s when Jones and Co. stepped up their game and made things interesting. From there on out, they outscored West Babylon, 24-11, making for a thrilling end for fans of both teams.
Quotable: “We had our opportunities,” Whitman coach Tom Fitzpatrick said. “They came out in the first half and took it to us. In the second half we played better. We kind of forced a couple of things. We were down 24 points at one point, but the guys showed heart and they showed what it’s about to be a Walt Whitman basketball player. Never quit and never give up. West Babylon is a good team and I wish them all the best. I want to thank assistant coach Richard Mills and JV coach Curt Russell for all of their hard work and dedication throughout the season.”
Bottom Line: Whitman may have dug itself into a hole but the Wildcats played well enough in the second half to achieve the comeback. Unfortunately the team didn’t show poise at some points during their comeback and tried to force the ball with some bad passes after making what would have been some key steals. The team also didn’t perform well from the free throw line, going 10-for-20 (50 percent) and failing to match West Babylon, which hit all but one of its free throws in the fourth quarter when it mattered most.
This is a team that was built to win this season and will find itself losing seven of its senior players. Losing that talent and experience, especially a star like Jones, will be hard to replace. But Fitzpatrick is optimistic that some players on this team and from the JV squad will step into those shoes and perform.
Who’s Next?: The season is over.
