Jack and Travis Sepenoski lift Southold past Greenport for Suffolk Class C title
Southold's Travis Sepenoski looks to shoot against Austin Luke of Greenport during the Suffolk Class C boys basketball final on Thursday at Southampton. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
As Southold lined up for an inbounds pass, coach Lucas Grigonis shouted “Man-press break!” Then he looked toward the scorers table and said, “Maybe that should have a better name.”
Regardless of the play’s name, it worked to perfection.
Senior guard Jack Sepenoski launched a pass to the opposite end of the court, where his younger brother, Travis, caught the ball off one bounce and finished a layup through a foul.
It was one of three successful attempts on the inbounds play in the fourth quarter of No. 2 Southold’s 57-41 win over top-seeded Greenport in the Suffolk Class C boys basketball championship game Thursday at Southampton High School.
While the Settlers lived by the long ball on Thursday, it’s not always the main goal of the play.
“Jack will give me a look and, it’s not like a quick glance, he’s really looking at me,” Travis said. “I’ll look at who’s on me and if it’s someone I can beat or someone who’s not paying attention, I know where to go.”
Travis caught another long pass from his brother and Brady Woods converted the third.
“We try to tweak it for how our opponents run their presses. We try to be flexible with it, that’s why it doesn’t have a better name,” Grigonis said. “Maybe ‘flexible’ should be the new name.”
The full-court pass was unsuccessful only one time, as it was out of Travis’ reach and ended up out of bounds.
“The only downside is it goes out of bounds and they get the ball under the hoop,” said Travis, a sophomore. “If I’m open, we get two points, so why not take it?”
“Sometimes it’s high risk, high reward, but Jack is the best passer in our league,” Grigonis added.
Southold (12-9) will face the champion from either Section I or Section IX in the regional final on March 9.
Travis had 21 points and five steals and Jack had eight points and six assists.
“He might be the only guy that brings a little more energy than me,” Jack said of Travis. “Sometimes it’s a little too much, but he’s always playing to win.”
Jacob Steinfeld scored 13 points and Skyler Valderrama added eight.
Nelson Shedrick scored 20 points and Kal-El Marine had 10 points for Greenport (11-10).
It’s Southold’s fifth county title in school history and first since 2020, when Jack was an eighth-grader on junior varsity.
“I never played in a county championship game until today,” Jack said. “We lost in the semifinals to Pierson two years ago. This is a lot different. It feels good to win one.”