Hills West cracks publication's Top 25
Tobias Harris and Half Hollow Hills West are ranked 25th in the latest USA Today poll. (Jan. 25, 2010) Credit: John Dunn
The Half Hollow Hills West boys basketball team is getting some national recognition.
The unbeaten Colts, fresh off a four-point win over Christ the King (Queens) on Sunday, have entered the latest USA Today national high school Top 25 poll.
Hills West (18-0) is ranked No. 25 in the country in this week’s edition. The Colts are the only New York team in the poll.
They are also the first Long Island team in the rankings since St. Mary’s in 2005 and the first Long Island public school team on the list since Amityville in 2002.
“For a Suffolk public team to be nationally ranked is special,” Hills West coach Bill Mitaritonna said. “A lot of the teams on that list are prep and Catholic schools that can give scholarships and put kids up in dorms. It means a lot to our program and to basketball on Long Island that you can be nationally ranked.”
Mitaritonna said an excited Tobias Harris looked up the rankings yesterday morning and word quickly spread among other players and coaches.
Hills West, the top seed for the Suffolk Class AA playoffs, hosts No. 16 Sachem North in the first round at 6 p.m. Friday. Harris is 44 points from reaching 2,000 for his career.
