Ringen's big second half leads Harborfields

It's the mantra of every shooter: There's no stopping when the shots aren't dropping.

That's what kept Justin Ringen firing away last night. Ringen scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half to lead Harborfields to a 74-65 victory over visiting Islip in a matchup of two of Suffolk League V's best teams.

"I was missing shots in the first half and then they started falling. You've got to keep shooting," said Ringen, who scored 12 points in the third quarter as the Tornadoes outscored the Buccaneers 21-8 to take command after Islip led by as many as nine in the first half.

Ringen nailed consecutive three-pointers from the wing late in the third quarter after Islip pulled to within 43-41. When JoJo Savaglio (16 points) hit a baseline layup at the buzzer, Harborfields (5-2, 3-0) had a 10-point lead.

The lead grew to 19 points at 60-41 as Harborfields scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter, including Savaglio's fourth three-pointer. Ringen had a layup during the spurt on the game's signature play. Point guard Lucas Woodhouse dived to the floor to make one of his six steals - he also had 12 assists - and fed Matt McLeod, who alertly dropped a pass down low to a cutting Ringen.

"It was all about effort," said McLeod, who had 19 points, nine rebounds and six steals. "We weren't putting in the effort in the first half. Then we started hustling, making the extra pass and playing better defense. It started to flow."

Islip (6-3, 2-1) had it flowing in the first half, with guard David Powell darting inside and hitting from outside to score 17 of his 19 points as the Buccaneers built a 33-24 advantage. But Harborfields closed the half with a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 33-30. The Tornadoes took the lead at 34-33 on Ringen's pull-up after a McLeod steal and wound up scoring the first six points of the third quarter to make it a 12-0 burst.

SEE PHOTOSHarborfields 74, Islip 65

Fabian MacDonald came off the bench to score 20 points for Islip, including four three-pointers and a layup that tied the score for the last time at 39.

But the Bucs got few easy baskets in the second half, thanks to a relentless man-to-man defense that forced turnovers and led to numerous transition baskets that were missing in the first half.

"Everyone thinks we're just a high-scoring team," Harborfields coach Chris Agostino said. "But we take so much pride in our defense."

Ringen takes pride in his offense, too. "He's the best pure shooter in the program," Agostino said. "I want him to keep taking that shot. Shooters get out of slumps. The shots eventually fall."

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For Ringen, they eventually arrived in the second half.