The season has begun for the Port Washington Vikings Mens Varsity Basketball team, although the team has not yet played a conference match-up, they have participated in five matches so far. Port currently sits at 2-3, with a two game winning streak.
Port Washington’s first game was Wednesday Dec. 6, hosting Syosset. The team started out hot, leading 13-4 at the end of the first quarter. However, the game began to slip a bit away from the Vikings as time progressed. Guard Conor Shanahan had an excellent game, scoring 15 points, but it was Syosset who came back to win, led by junior Robert Kula, by a score of 55-48.
On Friday, Dec. 8, the Vikings played against local rival Manhasset in the Muller Simms Manhasset Booster Club tournament. Junior guard Joe Melkonian came off of the bench with a purpose, scoring 13 points by the end of the game. With about two seconds left in the fourth quarter, Shanahan hit both free throws to tie the game at 47 apiece. However, Manhasset was able to come away with the win in overtime, as their John Mastando converted on a layup with 11 seconds remaining. The final score was 51-49.
Port Washington looked for their first win of the year as they faced off against the Great Neck South Rebels on Dec. 12. Unfortunately, such a result didn’t occur on their home court. Great Neck’s David Sabzehroo went 7 for 10 behind the arc, scoring a whopping 24 points. Defensively, Port couldn’t stop Sabzehroo and Rebel point guard Tyler Witt, who combined to score over 75 percent of the team’s points. Both Melkonian and Forward Garrett Ressa played solid games, but not enough for a Port victory. The Vikings attempted a comeback in the fourth Quarter, by scoring ten compared to Great Neck’s three, but as the old saying goes, too little, too late. Port lost by a score of 54-44.
It seemed like everything was going wrong for Port Washington as they hosted an unbeaten Massapequa squad on Friday, Dec. 15. However, they held Massapequa to a season low 39 points, about 27 points less than the visitor’s season average. Center Daniel Dash hosted a block party, and scored 9 points, while dominating the paint. Dash almost had an incredible dunk, over two Massapequa players, just falling short of the rim. It was a close game down to the wire, but it was Joe Melkonian who broke the stalemate putting up 12 points, playing excellent defense, and even hitting a clutch three-pointer with about two minutes remaining. The Vikings played a hard fought game, and picked up their first win of the year, defeating the Chiefs 41-39.
The next day, Port traveled back to Manhasset High School to play the consolation match-up of the Mueller Simms tournament. They faced up against the 1-3 West Hempstead Rams, who lost to Bethpage earlier in the tournament. Shanahan bounced back after a shaky two games, scoring 20 points, 12 of those off the long ball. Ressa dominated the paint putting up 16 for himself. The Vikings destroyed the Rams, by a score of 58-38.
Port has looked really good as of late, and coach Sean Dooley hopes to see such effort continue. They hosted Baldwin on Dec. 19 for their first conference game, and will be in Hicksville on Dec. 21 to take on the Comets.
