Jayden Smith-Haywood's three-pointer with 15 seconds left lifts Wyandanch win
Jayden Smith-Haywood #11 of Wyandanch, right, gets congratulated by teammate Akwan Roberson #24 after draining a three-pointer to give the Warriors a four point lead over Bayport-Blue Point in the closing seconds of a Suffolk County League VI boys basketball game at Wyandanch High School on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. Credit: James Escher
Wyandanch owned a one-point edge and a chance to put away the visitors from Bayport-Blue Point with first place at stake in Suffolk League VI Thursday night. The ball ended up in the hands of a junior shooting guard located behind the arc, but it didn’t stay long.
Jayden Smith-Haywood sank a three-pointer from the left side with 15 seconds remaining as
Wyandanch claimed a 70-66 win, its ninth straight after stumbling out of the gate at 0-3.
"We’re going to go far," Smith-Haywood said. "We’ve got a good team . . . We’re going somewhere."
They went to the top spot in the standings at 5-1 by overcoming 29 points from Phantoms guard Jack Baron, a slew of turnovers and the absence of two starters, Marcus Harris and Harold Cunningham.
Kamel Bussey paced Wyandanch with 18 points. Smith-Haywood, who made a trio of threes, and Akwan Roberson contributed 14 apiece and Deandre Smith added 13. They helped drop Bayport-Blue Point to 9-4 overall and 5-2 in the league.
"We started off rough," Smith-Haywood said of 0-3. " . . . We got it in order."
Wyandanch led 37-36 at halftime, 54-50 after three and 65-56 with less than four minutes to go, but a 9-0 Phantoms run erased that advantage.
After Bussey hit a go-ahead layup with 1:32 left, Baron went 1-for-2 from the line at the 47.3 mark, cutting the Phantoms’ deficit to 67-66. That set the scene for Smith-Haywood’s shot.
"It was real under pressure," he said. "We knew we were going to take it. It was a big shot. It was my turn to shoot it."
The Phantoms wilted under Wyandanch’s pressure early on and fell behind 16-3.
"I feel that the press kind of made them speed up and they turned the ball over," Wyandanch coach Karvardas Robertson said.
"I just thought we played timid the first six minutes of the game," Bayport-Blue Point coach Charlie Peck said.
Then Baron erupted for 15 points to power a 25-9 run, good for a 28-25 lead early in the second quarter.
"Jack’s a special player," Peck said. "He can take over a game."
But Baron was held to seven after the break. Robertson gave a lot of credit to Jon Rejouis.
"He’s one of our better defenders," Robertson said. "He did a great job."
