Davis’s 25 Points, Team Defense Drives Bridgehampton Boys Basketball Team To Win Over Smithtown Christian

The Bridgehampton Killer Bees boys basketball team walked away from a 2022 season-ending loss in the Class D regional semifinals and immediately got back in the gym to grow their game.

Their development since then on a team mentality and metamorphosis into a staunch defense has been evident all year, and no more so than in the new-and-improved team’s dominating 63-48 win over Smithtown Christian on Friday.

“During many of our practices, we don’t do any offensive work — we’re strictly focused on defense,” junior Mikhail Feaster said. “And now we’re moving the ball well and locking down opponents, and I feel we will continue to win games if we work together.”

And behind three players with 10-plus points, including a game-high 25 and seven rebounds from Alex Davis, the Killer Bees (12-4 overall, 11-1 in League V) show no signs of slowing down.

“The guys hyped us up on the bench, and people in the crowd were helping me fix my shot when it wasn’t falling early,” Davis said. “From then, I was hot, and my teammates kept finding me when I was open.”

The freshman’s hard-nosed defense was palpable in the first quarter of the January 26 contest. Although the Knights opened the game on a 6-0 run, he forced back-to-back-to-back turnovers, and found senior Scott Vinski open on the right side on that second possession at 6:01 to help Bridgehampton get on the board. Davis pressured for a jump ball that gave it to Bridgehampton at 3:54 and used that possession to score and tie the game off a Dylan Fitzgerald feed. The freshman’s steal-and-score, which he turned into a three-point play at 1:07, helped the Killer Bees to a 13-6 advantage. He tacked on another point from the charity stripe at 23.3 seconds so Bridgehampton could take a 16-11 advantage into the second quarter.

“When it’s time for big games, we can always count on Alex to come through,” freshman Sae’vion Ward (13 points) said. “Alex and I play off each other a lot, so I know I can always turn to him on the court for easy points. When everyone is locked in, and we are all playing well, we feed off of each other’s energy and play even better.”

Davis finished with 11 first-half points, and Ward added six. He took a rebound all the way for a bucket at the seven-minute mark, and netted a three-point shot with 3:34 left until the break for an almost 10-point lead, 24-15. The Killer Bees hovered around a nine-point advantage until a Smithtown Christian layup with just over a minute left brought the score to 28-21 at halftime.

“Coach let us know that they were going to come out ready,” Ward said. “We didn’t get off to a strong start, but we pulled it together. When things get rough, we don’t give up, and coach gave us a couple of new defenses at practice that we were able to pick up on fast and used to force a lot of turnovers. We played great defense.”

That scrappiness on that side of the ball persisted into the second half, but the rebounding was measurably improved in the third. Fitzgerald, Vinski and his twin brother, Scott, all won back-to-back-to-back chances, but it wasn’t until Kris Vinski’s rebound at 5:09 that the Killer Bees were able to capitalize. The senior guard (12 points) took the ball the other way and scored on a jumper. Ward swished another three-pointer and Davis came through with a leaping block at 4:06 to keep Bridgehampton out front, 38-29. Fitzgerald stole a pass, and Vinski hit a trifecta of his own soon after, and Davis scored off Feaster’s (five points) offensive rebound grab as the Killer Bees went up, 43-30.

“I like the way we hustled,” Vinski said. “We’ve matured a lot, and we obviously have a lot more experience playing with each other, doing it over the last few years now, and we’ve worked on and preached defense and it’s starting to show — the defense led to offensive opportunities, we got open shots and when someone’s shot isn’t falling, we know we can put other guys in to make it happen. Everyone is seeing the whole court and no one is being selfish.”

Ward said he, along with his teammates, made multiple in-game adjustments as the Killer Bees continued to stretch the lead until it was 48-32 at the end of the third. Davis added nine points and Vinski eight across those eight minutes.

“I noticed they had a lot of big guys that I wouldn’t be able to finish over all the time, so I would try to get to my sweet spots around the free-throw line and shoot pull-up jump shots,” Ward said.

“Smithtown Christian’s center was also a lot taller than me, so that took so much adjusting,” Feaster added. “I had to get out in front of him nearly the entire game and make sure I was boxing him out when shots went up.”

Ward, Davis and Vinski continued to lead a balanced attack in the fourth, while the rest of the Killer Bees chipped in on the boards and forced turnovers. Davis found Vinski under the basket off a steal for a 20-point advantage, 53-32, with 7:18 left to play. Ward capitalized on another three-point shot attempt at 5:08 to pad the lead and Davis drove the lane for a score and Bridgehampton’s final points of the contest.

“Smithtown Christian is our main competitor, so the idea of beating them pushed us to work harder,” Feaster said. “Besides defense, we also worked hard during the first few weeks of practice on our dribbling and endurance. I feel that has really helped us in the long run.”

“We have the right pieces that fit together to benefit us,” Vinski added. “We’re trying to continue building and working and making sure we’re at our best for the postseason, and I think we could really do some damage.”

It seems as though these Killer Bees are primed to make a deep run into playoff territory.

“We are playing great basketball right now, and if we keep playing like this and listening to coach I can see us playing up in Glens Falls in a couple of months,” Ward said. “If we keep playing good basketball, we can bring another state championship home to the Beehive.”

Still, head coach Ron White believes his boys have more work to do.

“They’re starting to believe in each other, they’re starting to share the ball and they understand the value of defense, so they’re putting it all together. But we’re still getting beat on the boards and we still had some mental lapses on defense that let some easy possessions go,” he said. “We’re learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses, so we can play to those. And we all believe in each other and we’re all working hard and taking it one step at a time, but our opponents like Smithtown Christian and Greenport are coming for us. We need to be sure we play our best game right now. Everyone has to be locked in.”