By Mike Zummo
It wasn’t pretty, but the Highland boys’ basketball team got the victory, nonetheless.
First, the Huskies had to make the nearly hourlong bus ride from Highland High School to the S.S. Seward Institute in Florida for Friday’s consolation game of the John Guerra Memorial Spartan Invitational.
Then, they arrived late, and despite some sloppiness managed to hang on for a 64-59 win over the S.S. Seward Spartans.
“We just kind of sunk down to their level a little bit, which we should not have done,” said Ethan Thompson, who led the Huskies with a game-high 26 points. “We were super sloppy. We should have passed the ball more. We hit some shots, which was good, but I feel we could have had a way bigger lead.”
Thompson was named to the all-tournament team.
“Ethan made a lot of big hoops,” Highland coach Mike Milliman said. “He’s got the mentality that he’s a scorer and tonight he’s been scoring. He’s done a really nice job and made some big 3s. He also made some good passes tonight and that’s a part of the game that he’s working on.”
Dontay Baker provided the rest of the offense with 19 points.
“I felt like my shot was on and Dontay’s shot was on,” Thompson said. “We were moving the ball around and getting open looks.”
The Huskies (4-5) entered the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead, but the Spartans closed the gap to four points after a basket by Andrew Mulhare, pulled the Spartans to within four points.
“When you’re up 10, those are the possessions you have to run your sets and you get great shots,” Milliman said. “If you miss them you miss them, but we had some turnovers in there.”
Thompson converted a three-point play and Ronnie Byers scored four straight points on a pair of put backs to restore a 9-point Highland lead.
Baker then hit a jump shot to give the Huskies a 10-point lead with 1:36 to go.
“We had to bear down and play as a team,” Thompson said.
“We attempted that. I feel like we did a couple of times, but there were a lot of bad possessions. We have to emphasize that in practice.”
Mulhare scored 17 points to lead the Spartans and Chris Beattie added 16. Daryll Walker was named to the all-tournament team.
The tournament was originally scheduled for Dec. 2 and 3, but the early December snowstorm forced the postponement of the second day.
The Huskies lost to Port Jervis, 50-46, on Dec. 3 in the tournament opener. Thompson led the Huskies with 22 points.
The Huskies won both their games this week, after opening the week with a 71-65 win over Millbrook on Dec. 30, but the road ahead is tough with games against FDR, Red Hook and Marlboro coming up in the next week.
“Hopefully our next couple of upcoming games, we’ll win a few more,” Thompson said. “We have to work hard in practice and hope for the best.”