Sports

East Silences North in Basketball Rivalry Game

With massive crowd support and strong shooting, Arrows beat cross-town brothers, 66-38.

The gym was relatively quiet. You could hear a pin drop in the Sachem East stands, but there was a rivalry game being played right in front of the thousands of fans watching.

Then A.J. Tavantzis hit a three-point shot to put East ahead of Sachem North, 10-3, at the four minute mark of the first quarter and the crowd went wild. 

“I didn’t know it until it happened," said Sachem East coach John Finta, "and it was like what the heck is going on?”

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Taking a play from Taylor University, a small college in Indiana, Sachem East students organized a Silent Night game in which their crowd remains silent until the home team scores 10 points. It worked flawlessly. (Watch the video above.) 

"We saw it on YouTube and said we wanted to try it," said Sachem East senior Randal Colson. "The crowd did a really great job. It had me laughing. I didn’t think they’d do it. When that tenth point came everyone went crazy and it’s another thing that helped contribute to our win."

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East picked a perfect night to capitalize on big shots in pressure situations. Before a ruckus Sachem crowd at their home court, the Arrows sunk nine three-point shots, including four by Tavantzis, in a 66-38 win over cross-town rival Sachem North Tuesday evening.

East (1-3 in League I) started and finished strong in the League I showdown. Tavantzis led all scorers with 14 points. North (0-4) was led by Lou Ferrari, who scored 9 points.

"We shut them down when we hit all our shots," Tavantzis said. "They were big shots and helped us out a lot. We played as hard as we could and it showed."

Sachem East's spark in offense came via a 14-0 run to end the second quarter. East held the ball so much it outscored North 20-4 overall in the quarter. Joe Santarpia scored 6 of his 10 points in the second.

"We came out with great energy," said Finta. "We were very pumped up to play tonight. We made shots. When we make shots we can play with anybody and we can excel."

East led 36-12 at halftime, but Finta said he told his team to take a level-headed mindset and play like it was 0-0 in the second half.

"We said let’s win the first few minutes of the second half," he said. "That’s where we made a couple of shots that we don’t normally make and we helped ourselves that way." 

D'Andre Smith and Tavantzis opened with back-to-back three-point shots to increase East's lead by 30 points at 42-12 and continued to pile on points, eventually leading 53-18 after three quarters.

All starters were taken out of the game in the fourth quarter, leaving way for lesser experienced players to take the court. For Sachem North, this made way for some bright spots.

Freshman Jasheem Banks had a considerable number of minutes and freshman Nick Morena scored his first points as a varsity player. 

North put up 20 points in the fourth quarter, but East continued to apply pressure. Brian Balsalmo scored 8 of his 10 points in the last 7 minutes. 

"We were making shots to beat the clock and sometimes it’s your night," Finta said. "This was our night."

"Sachem East is a group of talented players that was just waiting to have that complete game," said Sachem North coach Tom Mullee "Unfortunately, tonight they had it against us. It was only a matter of time."

The 66 points are the second highest total East has scored this season. It scored 68 against Bay Shore in a non-league win earlier in the year.

Sachem North was held to single-digit points in the first three quarters of the game.

The game is played each year to raise money for the Bernard Brisson Scholarship, given to a deserving senior at the end of the school year. Brisson, the father Matt Brisson, the girls basketball coach at Sachem East, was a former Superintendent of Sachem Schools.

Atmosphere was electric, as always

It wouldn't be a Sachem vs. Sachem sporting event without back-and-forth chants and crowd support for both sides. Win or lose, East vs. North sporting events provide for a fun enviornment. This was the first of two boys basketball rivalry games in Sachem since both teams will meet again in February at Sachem North.

"There can’t be a better atmosphere on all of Long Island to play a high school basketball game," said Mullee. "Records aside, it doesn’t matter. Both teams always show up, fans show up and it’s great for the community."

From chanting the names of their football stars Dalton Crossan and Steve Casali and holding signs with the heads of Morgan Freeman, Tim Tebow and Oprah, it was interesting to say the least.

Colson even found time to ask Annamaria Alotta to the prom on the court before the game. She said yes.

"The atmophere is always great for a Sachem East, Sachem North game, no matter what the sport is," said Colson. "Everyone comes to support their team. I knew everybody was going to come. Kids have signs with faces and things like that, chants going back and forth.

"The environment was good and that’s what you live for as an athlete. The rivalry is going on, but we all live in the same community and we’re basically brothers."

1          2          3            4             F            Sachem East          16 20 17 13 66 Sachem North 8 4 6 20 38

Sachem East: Tavantzis (14), Colson (12), Santarpia (10), Balsalmo (9), Smith (8), Raftice (3), Madsen (2), Payne (2), Silber (2), Daniels (2), Cruz (1), Alexandrou (1)

Sachem North: Ferrari (9), Urbanski (7), Gresalfi (5), Chetuck (3), Pierre (4), Morena (4), Gannon (2), Banks (2), Cavalieri (2)


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