Boys Basketball: Defense is key for Riverhead as they down Newfield, 44-43

Defense wins championships, they say.

But Riverhead head coach John Rossetti doesn’t want to hear anything about winning a championship. The only thing he’s worried about is today.

“One game at a time,” Rossetti said before the game.

And today, defense prevailed.

Playing their first league game of the season in front of a home crowd, Riverhead barely slipped by Newfield, 44-43 on Tuesday in a game that the Blue Waves didn’t take a their first lead until the final seconds of the third quarter.

“An ugly win is better than an ugly loss,” Rossetti proclaimed following the game to a hyped up Blue Waves squad.

Riverhead (2-0) kept itself in the game by playing strong defense. Even as Newfield (2-1) was getting baskets and extending their lead up to as many as eight points on one occasion, the relentless defense came up with huge steals and forced turnovers that resulted in points on the other end.

“We’re definitely a very strong defensive team this year,” Rossetti said. “It’s something that we really pride ourselves on.”

Sharron Trent led the team with three steals, one of which resulted in a big bucket to give Riverhead a two point lead midway through the fourth quarter.

“It’s a typical League III matchup with two teams that really know each other well,” Rossetti said. “There wasn’t much room to operate for both teams and we just happened to have the last run of the game.”

Much of the run was thanks to the scoring and rebounding of seniors Steven Asconia and Tyrese Kerr. Asconia pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds and Kerr scored 15 points. No point was bigger than Kerr’s tip in late in the fourth quarter to give the Blue Waves a three point lead, their largest lead of the game.

“This win was big for us early in the year,” Kerr said. “We probably wouldn’t have won that game last year.”

With many of their starters returning for their senior year after playing on varsity since their sophomore season, big things could be on the horizon.

Seniors Lintell Brown and Trent both scored scored eight points in the win. Asconia added seven. No one player dominated for the Blue Waves and that’s the way Rossetti likes it.

“Every kid on this team plays for the name on front of their uniform,” he said. “Not the name on the back.”

Riverhead will travel to Huntington on Thursday for a 6:15 p.m tip off.