Lions' Second Half Charge Not Enough in 54-40 Loss to Sachem North

The knew what they were walking into on Tuesday night. Not only were they facing unbeaten Sachem North, but the second the ball went up, the Flaming Arrows' baseline-to-baseline press would look to wreak havoc.

The out of the gates and spent the rest of the night trying to climb out of the early hole.  Aside from an early second-half spurt, North's relentless defense gave West Islip fits, and the Arrows were able to cruise to a 54-40 victory.

"We knew they were going to press, that's their MO," said West Islip head coach Tom Cross. "We knew they'd press the whole game. Today we just had too many lazy passes where instead of a ball fake, we'd throw lollipop passes. We were just being silly."

West Islip (1-2, 0-1 League II) found itself behind from the opening tip. Dave Brown was the main beneficiary, scoring eight points in the first six minutes, including a lay-up with less than two minutes to go that put the Arrows ahead, 14-0.

"We press every single day in practice; I'm not sure every team does that," said Arrows head coach Tom Mullee. "I think it takes teams longer to settle in, and as a result, we had a pretty big lead early."

The visitors answered with a Kyle Turri three-point play, a forced turnover and a Joe Watson lay-up to cut it to 14-5. That proved to be the only time the game was within single digits in the first half, and the only instance in which the Lions scored consecutive baskets. Otherwise, Sachem (3-0, 1-0) had an answer for everything, and when Anthony Buettner drained a three-pointer from the right corner with under a minute to go, North's lead swelled to 16 at 29-13, and that's how the half ended.

Cross said that Nicky Gallina, the Arrows' talented senior playmaker, was the difference maker.

"We couldn't keep Gallina out of the paint," he said. "If we keep Gallina out of the paint, it's a different story."

Out of the locker rooms, West Islip mixed up man-to-man and a 2-3 zone to slow Sachem early in the second half, and the result was a 10-0 run over the first 4:32 post-halftime. Chris Anderson started it with a fast-break lay-up, Brian Monaghan followed up with a three-point play, and back-to-back buckets by Anderson sliced the North lead to 29-23.

"We just buckled down and were able to handle their press," Cross said. "We had no silly passes and had a couple steals off our own press."

North responded with a run that ultimately made the outcome a formality. In a span of 2:21, the Arrows ran off 11 straight points to bump West Islip's deficit to 40-23. Even with a 15-point fourth quarter – its best of the night – it never really threatened again. Sachem's lead grew as large as 19.

"The style that we play, we'll go on some big runs and allow the other team to go on  runs," Mullee said. "We expect that just as long as we get the last one and it's longer."

Anderson led the Lions with 12 points, and Turri added nine. Jeff Tucci, who had 21 in the Lions' season opener, sank a pair of threes in the fourth quarter to inch West Islip closer. He finished with eight.

The Lions return to action Thursday night when they travel to face non-league foe Smithtown East (6 p.m.).  After another non-leaguer against North Babylon on the 27th, West Islip gets a week to prepare for its next League II showdown, a meeting with Walt Whitman on January 4 at 6 p.m.