Coach Rossetti: ‘You’ve gotta believe’

The post game conversation between Coach John Rossetti and his players was a positive one after the Blue Waves dropped their fourth straight game 69-60 in a non-league contest against Bayport-Blue Point. Their overall record fell to 1-4.

“You guys shouldn’t be hanging your heads,” he said. “I’m not disappointed in the way we played today. We will get this thing turned around. You have to believe in yourselves, you have to believe in the team, you have to believe in the coaches.”

It all starts with belief.

Rossetti knows that this team is more than capable of producing victories but maintains that the team is just off in terms of chemistry. The football team’s championship run has something to do with it but more than anything else, the youth on the squad is preventing early success. Rossetti says his team is a week behind every one else and it will come together in time.

“We’re just having some growing pains right now,” he said. “But you know what, these kids aren’t giving up. They have good attitudes, they’re working hard and we’re going to be alright.”

The team featured a new starting five to begin the game. Only one player remained from the opening day starting lineup – sophomore Charles Manning. Rossetti went with Ethan Greenidge, Jeremiah Cheatom, Manning, Tyrese Kerr and Jesse Patriss. Players were shuffled in and out throughout the game.

“When things aren’t working you want to try different things and we’re in the trying out phase right now,” Rossetti said. “Right now, we’re trying to find a solid starting five that has a good balance of offense and defense, a little more basketball IQ, a little less turnovers – we’re trying to balance that out.

“The lineup changes will probably continue until we figure this out.”

Brandon Tolliver, who injured his left knee in the game against Newfield, still dressed for the contest. He played limited minutes, hobbling at times, with his knee wrapped. They’ll take it day-to-day with him and see how he progresses.

The game was lost in the turnover battle. Once again, the opposing team played very sound fundamentally and capitalized on the Blue Waves’ errors. The passing was predictable; it seemed at times that instead of finding the open player, Riverhead passed it to the player that should have been open as a result of the play, forcing it in, as opposed to reading the defense and making a play.

“There’s times out there they’re definitely confused,” Rossetti said. “It comes from not being exposed to a lot of it. A lot of these guys are five basketball games into their high school career. There’s going to be growing pains with that. I think this team has a big upside. It’s a matter of them believing in themselves and a matter of working hard. I know this team is going to have better basketball. I’m glad we’re going through the lulls early because when we figure it out, we will be a good team.”

Rossetti compared his team’s improvement to a reading book.

“Right now, we don’t have everyone on the same page,” Rosetti said. “We’re in the same book at least now but we need to get everyone on the same chapter then same page and hopefully the same paragraph.”

The next thing the Blue Waves need to tackle is the timing of the plays.

“The pass is a little early or a little late,” Rossetti said. “It will improve.”

Manning scored a team-high 15 points. Cheatom scored 14 and Greenidge added 12.

Riverhead will scrimmage Deer Park on Monday before playing another non-league game on Friday at home against Sachem North. The game starts at 5 p.m.

Photo caption: Forward Tyrese Kerr.

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Emil Breitenbach Jr.
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