Center Moriches' pressure wears down Babylon
Center Moriches's Maleek Harris with the jump shot during the Suffolk Class B Boys Basketball final. (Feb. 22, 2012) Credit: Alan J Schaefer
The T-shirts read "Full Court Killa" and that pretty much sums up the style and substance of Center Moriches.
The Red Devils' all-court pressure defense produced 25 fourth-quarter points and allowed Center Moriches to wear down Babylon in a 67-57 victory in last night's Suffolk Class B championship game at Farmingdale State.
"That's my Killer Bees mentality," joked Center Moriches coach Nick Thomas, who played for the Killer Bees of Bridgehampton when that school won the 1996 state championship. "That's the style we played and that's the way I want this team to play. Consistent pressure."
To drive home the point, Thomas came up with the T-shirt slogan before the playoffs. Senior guard Tim Rowland embraced it, pulling on his T-shirt immediately after the game. "Full-court the entire game. We want to attack," said Rowland, whose harassing defense and slicing drives produced 21 points, eight in the fourth quarter.
Akyse Brown scored 10 of his 22 in the final period and Maleek Harris added 11 for the Red Devils (15-5), who will play the winner of Saturday's Locust Valley-Cold Spring Harbor Nassau B title game for the Long Island Championship on March 6 at Farmingdale State.
Center Moriches also will play Pierson in the BCD game tomorrow at Suffolk CC Selden. Pierson defeated Bridgehampton in last night's C-D game.
Adrian Sullivan led Babylon (13-7) with 18 points and Nahari Jenkins scored 15, nine in the fourth quarter. It was Jenkins who led Babylon back from a 50-42 deficit with 5:06 left, scoring five straight points to bring the Panthers to within 50-47. Jenkins drove for a basket that made it 54-49 with 3:26 left and the Panthers nearly forced a backcourt turnover themselves.
But Center Moriches broke the press and Rowland nailed his only three-ball of the contest for an eight-point lead. Babylon never recovered.
"That shot was a momentum swing," Thomas said. "It put a stranglehold on the game."
Rowland said that Thomas tells the Red Devils, "Don't be gun-shy. I'll penetrate to force fouls but if I have it, I'll take the shot."
That's what Thomas referred to when he praised Rowland for "displaying a will to win. Tim took over when we needed to and showed a sense of urgency," the coach said. "We had talked about closing out games and he helped us do it."
So did Brown, who scored eight of the Red Devils' final 11 points, including a conventional three-point play when he finished in transition off a Harris steal and nice dish.
"We love to play fast. Make steals and get fast breaks," Rowland said. "We want to attack. That's our style."
Last night, it fit them . . . to a T (shirt).
