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Sports

Sayville Done In By Narrow Defeats

Boys basketball team finishes out a frustrating season punctuated by close-game losses.

Back in early , Sayville boys basketball coach Lou Lowe admitted that seeing the Golden Flashes on a schedule doesn’t exactly instill fear in an opponent.

“Our program has struggled over the last few years,” he said at that time. “I’m trying to get us back to a respectable level.”

Fast forward some 12 weeks, and Sayville finished out their season last week going 2 – 10 in League V (6 – 12 overall). Respectable? Perhaps not if league record is the only criteria. But upon closer look, well, perhaps.

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“Am I happy the way the season went? No,” Lowe said. “But we put on quite a show. Teams like Islip, which I have the utmost respect for, legitimately we could have won both games against them. Same too for Kings Park.”

Against Islip—which finished 9 – 3 in league play—Sayville dropped two games by a total of 11 points. Against Kings Park, Sayville lost one game by two points, another by three. Throw in a two-point loss to Miller Place and a three-point loss to Eastport, and 21 points separated Sayville from six league wins.

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“It’s very frustrating,” Lowe said. “We worked very, very hard. You can’t ask for more when your players giving it all they have.”

Bright spots did shine through the haze of disappointment, starting with Lowe’s son, Chris Lowe. The senior guard averaged 12.5 points per game in league play, while usually at or near the top of game assist leaders. 

“I thought Chris stepped up and was a leader for us, both in games and in practice.” Lou Lowe said. “I’m extremely proud of him. Chris and Brian [Lutcha] our two captains, they came to play every game.”

Another bright spot occurred before the season officially began, when Sean Fullam and Vincent Sakk, seniors who skipped their junior seasons of basketball, returned. “They came back and played hard for us,” Lowe said.

Of the 10-player roster, six will be lost to graduation. Of the returning underclassmen, Lowe is hoping that junior center Rich Geiger continues his progression.

“Rich got better and better every game, and by the second time through the schedule, he got tougher, more aggressive,” Lowe said. “This will clearly be Rich’s team next year. He’s totally dedicated.”

Geiger’s emergence as an inside threat should be a good complement to junior forward James Rupp, whose style Lowe describes as “a slasher to the basket.” The only juniors to see significant playing time, Geiger and Rupp are clearly two players Lowe will build next year’s team around.

And that building begins fairly soon.

“We’re going to run an open gym in the spring, and again in the fall,” Lowe said.

In between, he’s also hoping that he can put together enough players to compete in a 12-game summer league. When you’re building a program, you don’t take participation, or commitment, for granted.

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