Miller Place offers players after Port Jeff is shorthanded
By John Westermann
August 08, 2008 | 04:42 PM The summer is when high school basketball teams are busy making the improvements that bear fruit over the holidays in December. It doesn't matter much if the game is official, or a spirited scrimmage following a forfeit, which happens in summer, with limited rosters and players traveling, at camps, or working. The Port Jefferson Royals (2-7) arrived at the Sachem East gymnasium one man light to face the Miller Place Panthers (5-4). Port Jefferson assistant coach Ryan Howard promptly accepted the offer of two spare Panthers to fill out his squad. Miller Place head coach Brian Sztabnik delivered a senior starter Brian Campbell and a promising junior varsity forward who had just completed an official game, sophomore Dan Finta. "I wouldn't say this is huge rivalry, but we're both small North Shore schools," Howard said. "We beat them in the first game of the season last year, but they came back to have an excellent season and make the playoffs. Their coach Brian Sztabnik does an excellent job." The Brookhaven Town League referees worked the scrimmage but they kept no running score. Still both squads went after each other hard. Campbell and Dan Finta clearly enjoyed facing their mates, and the competition with brother Alex Finta, Matt Dunn and Christian Prisco under the glass was enthusiastic and physical. For Port Jefferson, senior Garrett Luksich and sophomore Noah Whalon were also effective near the backboards. In the second half Sztabnik dropped the basic Panther man-to-man defense and had his team practice their 3-2 zone, while the Royals worked on spreading their offense and moving the ball. When the scrimmage was over, Howard thanked Campbell and Finta and told them that they were now honorary Royals, too. "It's pretty tiring playing two games in a row, but I love basketball and always enjoy playing it," Dan Finta said. For the Royals, their primary focus was on their young backcourt. They know their frontcourt is solid and mature. "We need guards," said Howard. "We have a lot of talented freshman fighting for the positions so it will be interesting to see who takes off. We'll see who does the work and wins the jobs. It will all come down to ballhandling under pressure, and the ability to use the left hand. Who can beat their man off the dribble?" Against the Panthers, Howard thought freshmen guards Dylan Roberts and Brendon Fabri got the job done in the Royals' backcourt. "I'm disappointed we didn't have two full squads tonight because I wanted to use this game as a measure of what sort of progress we're making," Sztabnik said. "We wanted to gauge any improvement. The playoff games coming up are meaningful, and will show us that." He continued, "Our summer record is 5-4 now, putting us right in the middle of the pack. We're pretty healthy now, only missing guard Matt Rodecker, who is out with a sprain. But he might be back in time. So I think we're getting better. I liked what I saw from Matt Dunn tonight."