Hills West Boys Basketball Notebook

After a tough loss against without a doubt their strongest competition of the year, the Hills West boys basketball team rebounded with two victories last week.

“They play like a Division I team,” said West head coach Bill Mitaritonna of the storied Lincoln team. “It was just very awesome to watch.”

Lincoln defeated the Colts (5-1, 6-3) Monday night, 74-38, at Baruch College in a non-league contest.

“They came out and just blasted us and there’s nothing we can do about it,” Mitaritonna said. “We were just outmatched and outhustled that game.”

The Colts’ offense hadn’t been held under 40 points all season, and it was only the third time they haven’t cracked the 60-point mark.

Now that’s more the style

The Colts shook the Lincoln loss off quickly, as they defeated Hauppauge, 74-49, the following night.

“It was the first time this season we played Hills West defense,” Mitaritonna said.

With relentless pressure and attack on defense, the Colts were able to control the tempo of the game, allowing them to walk into the half with a 16-point lead.

“We want to pressure them into making mistakes and then transition.”

Besides the effort on defense, the Colts also impressed their coach with their ability to spread the ball around the court in such an efficient manner.

“We had three of our starters with four or more assists each,” Mitaritonna said of his team’s unselfish offensive production.

Anthony Rollino, who is averaging six assists a game since being shifted to point guard, led the way with eight helpers against Hauppauge.

“Really unselfish night; it was a nice night to watch them bounce back.”

Colts make it two in a row; dominate Comsewogue

Hills West made sure that the Comsewogue Warriors were not going to get their first “W” on the season in a definitive fashion Thursday night.

The Colts manhandled the visiting Warriors, 84-36, picking up their second League IV victory in three days.

“Defensively it’s probably the best we’ve played all year,” Mitaritonna said. The Colts’ defense stifled the Warriors, holding them to single-digits during the first and third quarter; Comsewogue only recorded five points in the third.

Chris Kaimis, who had six blocks in the first quarter alone, led the Colts’ defensive charge.

“He’s really going,” said Mitaritonna of Kaimis, who is averaging six or seven blocks a game. “It really helps us get out in the transition.”

Junior Emile Blackman led the Colts on the offensive side of the ball, dropping a career-high 27 points.

“It was really nice to see him to get his career high last night,” Mitaritonna said. “He’s really going to be important for us in these last six games for us in the league; he really earned it.”

Leading scorer Tavon Sledge (218) once again finished with double-digit points (17), giving him nine-consecutive games with double-digit production.

"If we continue to understand that that’s what we need to do as a team, we’ll be fine,” said Mitaritonna. “We just need to be consistent, we need to put together a string of wins now and that all starts on our defense.”

The Colts need your support!

The Colts are looking for their sixth man in the crowd when they host League IV rival Deer Park (4-2, 8-4) today at 4 p.m..

“We need a big crowd to help us against Deer Park,” Mitaritonna said of the passionate matchup against the Falcons. “That’s always a backyard brawl; we need a sixth man in the crowd to really give us a lift.”