Middle Island - If the Bridgehampton boys basketball team came away with anything from Friday's Suffolk County Class D Championship at Longwood High, it came away with a grudge. Memories from the 87-36 loss handed out by Greenport will expire in a year's time when the same two teams are very likely to meet on the very same stage.

Head Coach Carl Johnson hopes that his Killer Bees, who will be largely intact for the 2009-2010 campaign, left town with an appetite for off-season improvement.

The Killer Bees' Matt Marzan played his final game in the black and yellow.

"That's why I had them sit on the bench and watch them get their awards," Johnson said. "That sends a message. Do you want to be on this side or do you want to be up there collecting the awards? It's about commitment, how far you want to go. You have personal goals and you have team goals. We'll see what their goals are coming back for next year. I told them I'd make sure everything was possible for them to achieve their goals, and it was up to them to grasp on."

Greenport, which wrapped up its fifth consecutive Class D title Friday, moves on to face Class C champion Port Jefferson in Tuesday's C-D game back at Longwood (4 p.m.). The Porters (18-2) will play for the right to play upstate and square off against either the Section I or IX on March 14 (Longwood, 12 p.m.).

Meanwhile, Bridgehampton can take solace in the fact that it won four straight games to close the regular season, including a victory over Class C runner-up Stony Brook. The Bees made the playoffs after a one-year hiatus, and they're apt to return with more than 95 percent of its scoring due back in November.

Any consolation was difficult to accept after the game, during which Bridgehampton was overmatched essentially from the opening tip. "I didn't work this hard to go 9-5 [in League VIII] and lose like that," junior guard Ainsley Wyche said. "Going in here I wanted to win, but I wasn't going in here to lose by 50. It's horrible."

A long rebound caroms to the Porters' Wally Sorenson despite efforts of Pablo Londono.

The Bridgies (9-10) had hoped to avoid digging themselves a big hole like they had in the teams' regular season meetings in which Greenport outscored them 54-14 combined. When Wyche sank a pair of free throws with 4:09 to go in the first, Bridgehampton had to feel good down just 11-5. However, the early woes turned out to be a trend. The Porter ran off 17 of the next 19 points to open up a 28-7 lead through eight minutes, and brought it up to 34-7 by tallying the first six points of the second.

Greenport's ability to rebound and ignite the fast break thwarted Bridgehampton's plan of staying close and pushing the pressure over to the Porters' huddle. Their fast-breaking wore on the Bees. The final three baskets of the first half were breakaway lay-ups, which brought the halftime score to 47-14.

The massive spurt seemed to awaken the Bridgehampton attack. Cesar Banados became the first Bee other than Wyche to score, burying a three-pointer with 5:47 left in the second. Wyche and Jamal Hires each converted from the paint shortly thereafter. However, Ryan Creighton and the Porters all but put the game out of reach with a 10-0 run over the final 2:09 of the second.

Wyche was once again the focal point of the Killer Bee attack but he was also keyed on by the Porter defense. The junior guard finished with a team-high 21 points yet was forced to take several off-balance shots that went awry.

"He can get those shots at any time during the game," Johnson said. "He has to learn how to be a better floor general, how to set up his teammates and rely on his teammates more. That's what we're trying to teach him."

Greenport's Ryan Creighton gave the Killer Bee defense all it could handle on Friday, scoring a game-high 26 points.

Creighton led the Porter attack with 26 points. It added to his Long Island scoring record, nudging his total up to 2,648. He currently stands 35 points ahead of Hampton alum Kenny Wood and now just 127 behind Brooklyn's Sebastian Telfair for second place on the state list. Lance Stephenson of Lincoln, which is also Telfair's alma mater, is over 2,800 points for his career and amidst his senior season.

Bridgehampton's Jamal Hires collects a rebound on the baseline and looks for an open teammate behind Greenport's Brandon Mims.

Arguably, as impressive as Creighton's shooting proficiency, is his ability to distribute the ball. The senior, who is undecided on his college plans but has a scholarship offer from Dowling on the table, tacked on eight assists as well as 12 rebounds.

"It's hard to deal with that big three – [Wally] Sorenson, [Ryan] Creighton and [Dantre] Langhorne," said Johnson, referring to the Porter trio that combined for 58 points. "When you have three players like that on our team, you're always in a position to win the game."

He hopes that with a year's worth of fine-tuning their skills, the Killer Bees will be in position to do just that in next year's Class D title game.

GREENPORT 87, BRIDGEHAMPTON 36
Suffolk County Class D Championship, at Longwood
BRIDGEHAMPTON (9-10)
Ainsley Wyche 7-5-21, Cesar Banados 4-0-10, Jamal Hires 1-0-2, Matt Marzan 1-0-3. Totals 13-5-36.
GREENPORT (18-2)
Ryan Creighton 9-7-26, Wally Sorenson 5-1-14, Dantre Langhorne 7-3-18, Hezekiah Mangham 1-0-2, Tristen Mangham 3-0-6, Teddy Stevens 2-0-4, Jalen Shelby 2-0-5, Brandon Mims 3-2-8, Antoine Hunter 1-0-2, Tremayne Hansen 1-0-2. Totals 34-13-87.
Halftime: Greenport 47-14. Three-Point Field Goals: Bridgehampton 5 (Wyche 2, Banados 2, Marzan); Greenport 6 (Sorenson 3, Creighton, Langhorne, Shelby).