Harborfields salutes seniors in easy win
Harborfields' Justin Ringen drives around Kings Park's John Li. (Feb. 9, 2012) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
There were plenty of senior moments at Harborfields Thursday night.
From coach Chris Agostino's altered starting lineup that included three non-starters, to the "Thank You'' sign courtesy of a neighborhood elementary school, to the one-by-one removal of the "real'' starters in the fourth quarter, it was great to be a Harborfields basketball senior citizen.
"They're all special, every one of our seniors," Agostino said after the Tornadoes raised their League V record to 11-0 with a breezy 80-49 victory over second-place Kings Park (8-3). "It's nice for some of them to get recognized. It's a very tight team. They're all so close."
None are closer than the team's two stars, point guard Lucas Woodhouse and shooting guard Justin Ringen. Each scored seven points in the first quarter, setting the tone for an easy win that featured five players in double figures. Ringen scored 22 points with seven rebounds and six steals. Woodhouse had 15 first-half points and 12 assists.
"We've known each other since preschool,'' Woodhouse said. "We've grown up together."
"That's what made it such a special night," Ringen said. "Our families are close, and they enjoyed it, too."
That was evident when the eight seniors on the roster were introduced before the game, along with their parents. Kristin and Michael Woodhouse hugged Ringen as well as their own son. Same for Caroline and Ron Ringen. "They watched us grow up and become best friends," Woodhouse said.
As a gesture of appreciation for their hard work in practice, Agostino sent out reserves Ryan Logrieco, Jimmy Smith and former manager Reed McLean to start alongside Woodhouse and Ringen.
"I grew up with Reed, too. I've known him since first grade," Woodhouse said. "I was the first person he met in school. I was trying to set him up to score."
Logrieco was the only one of that group to get a basket, but all three enjoyed their extra minutes and extra attention. They were replaced early by John Patron (11 points, 15 rebounds), David Ba (15 points) and Kevin Zabransky (10 points) and returned the favor late by replacing those players in the fourth quarter. That's when Agostino sent in one sub during each of the first five play stoppages, allowing all the regulars to get a nice ovation from a crowd of more than 500.
That included a bunch of kids from Thomas J. Lahey Elementary School, who periodically held up a handmade sign that read "Thank You Lucas'' and were among those cheering loudest when the point guard was the final senior taken out. Woodhouse attended that school.
"There's a bunch of them that come to a lot of the games to support us," he said.
You could call them the Future Seniors Club.
