Anderson's Hot Hand Leads West Islip To Victory Over Smithtown East

The West Islip boys basketball team turned to their at different times to take down Smithtown East, 47-45, on Wednesday evening.

First it was Kyle Turri who led the charge with 13 first-half points to give his team a 22-16 lead at halftime. A bigger Bulls team, however, clearly made an adjustment at halftime and was able to shutdown Turri inside in the second half. Fortunately for the Lions (2-2) that's where having two scorers comes in handy, because in the second half — specifically in the fourth quarter — Chris Anderson was unconscious.

"He struggled in the first couple of games," coach Tom Cross said of Anderson. "We knew he was going to make some shots at some point and I'm glad it happened tonight."

With the Lions trailing by five in the fourth quarter, Anderson hit three consecutive three point shots to help his team take a 41-39 lead. The teams traded shots for the rest of the quarter, but the Lions were able to keep their lead thanks to a key layup by Brian Monaghan, his only two points of the game with just seconds remaining to increase their lead to four.

The Bulls hit another shot to bring it within two with 10 seconds left, but the Lions shut down Smithtown East's final attempt at bringing it to overtime and closed out the victory.

"In the second half they came back and made a little bit of a run," Cross said.  "Kyle was hurting down low but Anderson made a couple of big threes, really got hot, and I think that was the key to the game for us."

Turri finished with 17 points after being held to just four in the second half.   Anderson ended up with 21 which included five three-pointers.  With the win, the Lions move to .500 on the season with one game remaining before the league schedule begins.

"It's huge because we know that our first league game is going to be against Whitman and they have Miles Jones who is a 6'6" kid and he's probably one of the best kids on the island."

Before opening up League II play and the new year against Whitman at home on Tuesday, Jan. 4, the Lions will have to get by North Babylon on Monday, Dec. 27, at 1 p.m.

"[North Babylon's] going to be a little bit of a smaller team but they're going to be quicker than we are so we might play some man to man rather than zone," Cross said. "Then against Whitman it's about keeping the big kid off the boards and doing the same thing we did tonight which we were pretty successful in."