BOYS BASKETBALL: Southold stays unbeaten, clinches first league title in 15 years

BY BOB LIEPA  |  SPORTS EDITOR

Not even the most enthusiastic Southold High School boys basketball fan could have envisioned this.

Prior to the start of the season, the First Settlers hardly talked about winning a league championship. An undefeated season, Coach Jeff Ellis said, was never even mentioned once.

They already got one, and may yet get both.

Southold nailed down its 16th win in as many games this season on Thursday night and, in the process, captured its first league championship since 1995 and first in 12 years under Ellis. The First Settlers clinched at least a share of the Suffolk County League VIII title with a 70-36 win over the Shelter Island Indians at Southold High School.

"It's big for us because last year we didn't do too well," Southold guard Jon Cepelak said. "It feels good to be winning games."

Southold entered the game as one of only two unbeaten teams in Suffolk (14-0 Half Hollow Hills West was the other).

The two regular-season games Southold has remaining could both be of significance. Southold could assure itself of sole possession of first place with a road win over The Ross School Ravens on Monday night, and a rare undefeated season could be at stake for the First Settlers on Wednesday night when they host The Stony Brook School Bears.

Southold forward Trevor Perry said his team wants to finish the regular season with a zero in the loss column. He said, "Having this undefeated record means a lot to us, the team, my coach and Southold ."

The First Settlers' success stands in stark contrast to last season when they struggled in the more competitive League VII and finished with a 3-16 record. But that losing season was anything but a waste for the First Settlers.

"There is a big gap between the two leagues, and playing up [a league] last year just helped them improve so much," Shelter Island Coach Mike Mundy said. "They made the best of that situation, took that year, learned, became a better team, got back down to this league and just dominated."

Indeed, the First Settlers got something out of last season. They learned what it takes to win and gained an appreciation for winning. They are living proof that good, positive things can come out of defeat.

"They've done nothing but improve since the end of that last season," Ellis said. "They work hard every single possession, and that's what I want to see from them."

Southold has a lot going for it. It has scorers, big men and don't forget depth. Ellis said this team is deeper than the Southold squad that reached the New York State semifinals in 2006.

"We're playing together and we have the will to win," said Gino De Jongh, Southold 's 6-foot-5 center.

That will was in evidence on Thursday night when the result of the game was never in much doubt. Southold , which has outscored Shelter Island by 152-81 in the two games between the teams this season, flew to leads of 10-2, 12-4 and then 24-8 in the first quarter. That quarter featured a crowd-pleasing dunk by Cepelak.

A basket by Aidan Fogarty stretched Southold 's lead to 38-9 before Shelter Island finally reached double figures on a free throw by Chris Napolitano with 1 minute left in the first half.

Winston Wilcenski connected on five three-point shots for a career-high 15 points for Southold , which raised its league record to 12-0. De Jongh added 12 points while Cepelak and Kevin Parma had 10 apiece.

The top scorers for Shelter Island , which fell to 4-11 (4-8 in the league) and was eliminated from playoff contention with its third straight loss, were Dustin Mulcahy and Napolitano. They had six points each.

Photographers may have been disappointed that there was no major celebration by the First Settlers after the game, but that lack of reaction might indicate that Southold 's focus was on the bigger picture.

De Jongh said, "We don't think ahead, we don't think about what happened in the past, we just think about the moment.”

At that moment, his team was an undefeated league champion. Not a bad thing to contemplate.

bliepa@timesreview.com