Hills West boys basketball's Ethan Saintjean scores 29 points, leads Colts to Suffolk 'AA' final

The bleachers were packed on either side of the court. Bill Mitaritonna couldn’t remember a crowd like this for a Half Hollow Hills West boys basketball home game since 2011.

But the coach’s Colts had won 20 times in 21 tries and were in a Suffolk semifinal Saturday against Deer Park, which also had plenty of fans among the crowd estimated at a little more 1,000.

“It’s nice that the fans came out,” Mitaritonna said. “There’s a buzz. For us to play in March was always our goal, and [our] fans really helped us get there.”

On the last day of February, the second-seeded Colts indeed clinched their March goal, beating the third-seeded Falcons, 87-77, thereby making the Suffolk AA final for the first time since claiming the championship in 2016.

The Colts will face top-seeded Smithtown West for the title at 2:30 next Saturday at Stony Brook University.

“We’re really excited,” senior Ethan Saintjean said. “We always look forward to the big stage, but nothing changes. Just going to take it day by day. Do the same things we do In practice and control what we can control.”

Saintjean is a heady Brown-bound third baseman. He’s also a rather good point guard, and he was in control. Saintjean paced five double-digit scorers, delivering a season-high 29 points.

“He’s our rock,” Mitaritonna said. “He’s our coach on the floor. He’s not afraid to take the big shot.”

Hills West shot 25-for-36 from the line as compared to Deer Park’s 16-for-25 in a foul-filled game. Christian Jean went 9-for-10 for the Colts, including 3-for-4 in the last 1:51, and scored 13.

“I’m really confident because we shoot a lot of free throws in practice,” the sophomore guard said.

Jack Vafeas added 12 points, Brian McMichael Jr. contributed 11 and Kamari Vernot had 10.

“Effort, energy, rebound and run,” Vernot said of the keys to turning this win. “And we only worried about today.”

After Saintjean drove for two 10 seconds into the fourth, Hills West led by 12. But Damien Scott scored eight of his 20 and Nusanti Delbridge scored five of his 24 in 13-2 burst by the Falcons.

The lead was down to 72-71 following a Delbridge three.

“They were having trouble guarding us off the dribble,” Deer Park coach John McCaffrey said.

But Hills West regained control, countering with a 15-4 run, including nine at the line. Saintjean also tossed a nifty long pass to McMichael that became a three-point play.

“We knew this game was going to be a dogfight,” McMichael said. “We all just stuck together and stayed in our system to help us win.”

Deer Park had led 52-51 in the third but found itself down 68-58 heading for the fourth. The Falcons finished at 17-5.

“We played in the toughest league in the county,” McCaffrey said of Suffolk III. “The league gave us the strength to come to this game . . . Hills West, to their credit, hadn’t played a lot of these types of games, but they were able to overcome it tonight.”

Now Mitaritonna is on to the final with a special team.

“It’s special because we don’t have a true star on this team,” he said. “We have 18 players that love each other and respect each other and work together. And that’s our motto: ‘Together.’ ”