Sachem Falls to Pat-Med In Summer League

The shots were not falling for Sachem North Tuesday night at Newfield High School, as the Flaming Arrows fell to Patchogue-Medford, 40-28, in summer league basketball.

Sachem had a short bench with only two substitutes, leading some players to play nearly the entire game. But head coach Tom Mullee refused to use that as an excuse.

"We just didn't make a high-enough percentage of our shots," said Mullee. "We got some good looks early, and it's really a make-or-miss game. If you hit shots, you look great. If you miss shots you don't look so great."

The Flaming Arrows had a difficult time hitting shots and driving the lane throughout the game, but kept it close throughout the first half until a series of fouls, including a technical opened the game up in the final minute of the opening period, and Sachem couldn't recover.

"We fell asleep on the baseline on an out-of-bounds play and they scored two," said Mullee of the team's undisciplined play. "We fouled the guy on a put back, then got a technical foul and the game went from seven points to 12 in a matter of seconds. When you have issues scoring you can't give away points like that."

Mullee was happy with his team's bounce-back in the second half, and said they competed stronger than in the first half. The Flaming Arrows trimmed an 11-point deficit at the break down to eight, but it was as close as they would get as their cold shooting continued.

"I thought we had a better second half simply in that we competed a little bit harder," he said. "Guys didn't give in, and where we fell asleep in the last minute or so of the first half, we didn't have that lapse in the second half. It allowed us to hang around for a bit, but we just didn't hit enough shots to really make it a game."

Sachem had trouble defending Pat-Med an applying real pressure. They gave up several three-pointers that aided the Raiders in putting the game out of reach.

Sachem had a big boost from senior Jayson Purdente, who played all 44 minutes of the game. He played aggressive all night, leading him to the foul-line more than anyone on either team.

"I like getting to the rim," said Purdente, who led Sachem with 16 points. "It keeps us in the game. The only thing [in summer league] is running time kills us. Once the regular season comes, we can slow it down."

Though wins are always better than losses, summer league games are more for creating chemistry and getting an early look at players who could potentially make the jump to the varsity level.

"It's important for our guys who are moving up to the varsity, our rising juniors and sophomores who are going to play varsity basketball in the winter, just to get used to a varsity paced game," said Mulee. "It's certainly a different pace to the game at the varsity level."

Purdente agreed, and said its a great way for new players to get accustomed to playing with some new faces.

"We have a lot of young guys," said Purdente. "I, myself, didn't play a lot last year because we had a lot of seniors, but it helps because we're starting to play with each other now. It's good for the young guys."