Bellport tops Pat-Med, 57-49, in Mayors Cup basketball game

The Rich Brown era of Bellport High School basketball launched on Dec. 3 as the Clippers’ new head coach made his regular season debut and led the team to a 57-49  win over visiting Patchogue-Medford in the Mayors Cup game at Bellport High School. It was the regular-season opener for each school.

The Clippers (1-0) turned in an impressive performance under Brown, the longtime Bellport assistant, who was elevated to head coach after Peter Grossi retired as coach earlier this year after 19 years on the sidelines.

Juniors Amari Trent and Julian Croke led the Clippers with 21 points and 20 points, respectively. Trent took home the trophy as the game’s Most Valuable Player.

Pat-Med had an early 4-2 lead until Trent scored a basket to tie the score at 4-4.

From there, the Clippers went on an 18-4 run that put them ahead, 22-8, midway through the second quarter.

The Clippers closed the first half up 32-20, thanks to Croke’s 17 first-half points and Trent’s 13 first-half points.

Pat-Med mounted a furious comeback in the fourth quarter, pulling to within four points at 53-49 on Perez’s basket with 24 seconds left in regulation. That was as close as the Raiders got as Trent and Carmello Flippen, a freshman, each sank a pair of free throws to seal the win for Bellport.

Gio Hopwood led Pat-Med with 14 points, followed by Darius Erves (12 points) and Andrew Johnstone (10 points.)

The win was an impressive start for Brown, who takes over a storied Clippers program that has boasted players like two-time NBA all-star Randy Smith, who played from 1971 to 1983, and David Russell, who starred for St. John’s University from 1979 to 1983 and was drafted by the Denver Nuggets. Bellport won the Class B state and Long Island championships in 1980.

“It feels great,” Brown said of getting the win. “Game One in the books. It was closer than we wanted it to be and we made a lot of mistakes, but we got the win in the end and that’s all that matters.”

Brown said his young Clippers team—the starting lineup features two juniors (Trent and Croke) and a freshman (Flippen)—will play “fast-paced, tough, hardnosed defense.”

“We’re young, but we’re going to get after it, play hard and keep pushing the limits,” he said.