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Sports

East Captures Summer Hoops League Title

Beats Greenport in overall Suffolk County championship.

The large-school varsity title wasn't enough for Sachem East.  After losing a lead that sent the game into overtime, East's Randall Colson hit what proved to be the game winner, giving East the overall Suffolk varsity summer league basketball title with a 44-40 win over Greenport at St. Josephs College in Patchogue on Wednesday evening.

It was a slow start for East as it only managed to score 2 points in the game's first 8 minutes, falling behind by five. A pair of clutch three pointers by East's Dan Candemeres in the final minutes of the half helped East roar back into the game, giving them a 16-15 edge at the break.

RELATED: East beats North in large school final

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East held the lead throughout the second half.  With just a minute left in the game, its lead stood at four, but a quick score by Greenport gave East the ball back with half a minute left.  East chose to try to run out the clock, passing the ball around at mid court.  Greenport used this opportunity to make a steal and put up an easy layup on a fast break with less than 5 seconds remaining, tying up the game 40-40 and sending it into overtime.

In the two-minute overtime, after a strong defensive effort on each team's first possession, Colson came through with his big shot.

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"I saw the defender.  I knew that if I came down it would be a contested or blocked shot," said Colson.  "I felt good and I just put it in."

This all came after Colson took a hard fall on a clean block in the first half while going for a layup and landed hard on his tailbone.  He showed his toughness as he got up and continued to play on his was to 10 points, including his eventual game winner.

Greenport failed to score on its next possession and was forced to foul Candemeres, who hit both of his free throws, allowing East to put the game away. 

Candemere's lead all East scorers with 15 points.

A big part of East's win was their success on free throws as they hit over 70% of them.   East also did a good job shutting down Greenport's long range game, allowing only two three pointers that came early in the first half.

"We defended really well," said East coach John Finta.  "I thought for the most part we sealed the inside.  Once we figure out that that one kid could shoot threes we locked him up too and they really didn't have a lot of other things they could do."

"I feel really good [about this team]," said Colson.  "We came on as the worst team in the league and turned it around to win the summer league championship.  Talk about underdogs.  We're going to be revved up [going into the fall season]."

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