SWR basketball boys to compete in league championship

Following an 8-1 summer campaign that landed the Shoreham-Wading River boys basketball team the No. 2 seed in the Town of Brookhaven Varsity small school playoffs, the Wildcats stayed hot. They upended No. 3 Sayville in the semifinal round, 53-30, on Tuesday, Aug. 5, at Rocky Point High School to punch a ticket into the championship.

“We’ve been working on this mentality of just digging in and playing our type of basketball,” SWR head coach Kevin Culhane said. “It’s been a long time coming for this group. A lot of them have been on varsity for multiple seasons. It’s their time now.”

Carter Baumeister and Max Boerum, now seniors, are among those who have been on the varsity roster for quite some time. They’re no longer the youngest kids on the court.

“Me and Max have been on the varsity team since 8th grade,” Baumeister said. “This has been four years in the making. We’re the ones with the experience out there playing against teams that have less experience.”

Even with all their experience, Shoreham-Wading River fell behind early, 13-4 as Sayville’s defense and rebounding dominated the opening minutes. 

“We [had] trust in ourselves and our teammates that things were going to turn around for us,” Boerum said, who scored a game-high 23 points. “We were up against a good team but we felt we were better.”

The Wildcats clamped down on defense and only gave up two points in the final eight minutes of play in the first half. The team’s offense took off too, going on a 24-2 scoring run to end the half.

“Last year, this didn’t happen,” Culhane said. “In that exact situation last year, the game would effectively be over. We couldn’t climb back in the game. We got down on ourselves and couldn’t fight out of a hole. I’m so proud of the boys and their growth as basketball players and [they] are really turning into the team I’ve always wanted them to be.”

Last year there were sparks of what was to come. The Wildcats started the season with a record of 8-2 before falling apart and eventually missing the playoffs. It was a learning experience for the team.

“We just needed to mesh as a group,” Boerum said. “We know we have the talent. We know we have the ability to play with anyone. We just needed to grow as a unit and build that trust and bond with each other.”

There is no one main scorer on the team despite Boerum’s production on Tuesday. Anyone is capable of finding the scoring column. When some may not be carrying the load, they find a way to impact the game in other ways.  Zach Makarewicz and Tyler Lievre scored eight points but also came up with four steals each by being menaces in the passing lanes. Baumeister scored seven and snatched three steals. Brandyn Bland only scored two but was a huge presence in the paint, ripping down 10 rebounds and coming up with five steals.

“We’re a defensive team first,” Culhane said. “But slowly but surely, we’re also becoming an offensive juggernaut. Last year, we were scoring about 40 points a game in the summer, and this, year we’re at about 60.”

With the win over Sayville, Shoreham-Wading River will take on Rocky Point Thursday, Aug. 7, for the championship game. Rocky Point is the only team that beat the Wildcats during the season. They advanced to the finals on a last second three-point basket that just beat the buzzer to eliminate Center Moriches.

“I don’t think Rocky Point has anything on us,” Baumeister said. “We beat them all the time. We were just short-handed this year when we played them. We’re going to show Rocky Point just like we showed Sayville — this isn’t the same Shoreham team of the past few years. We’re going to smoke them.”