It was “just” a summer league game, but for the Greenport High School boys basketball team, Tuesday night’s encounter with Southold was much, much more.

“It meant everything,” said senior Nelson Shedrick.

After losing to their arch rivals in the Suffolk County Class C championship game Feb. 29, the Porters exacted a measure of revenge Tuesday night by recording a 62-35 victory in the Brookhaven Summer Basketball League at Shoreham-Wading River High School.

Greenport and Southold clashed four times last season, with the Settlers registering three wins, including the most important game — the Settlers’ 57-41 win in the county final.

That result was etched in the Porters’ minds and gave them extra motivation.

“I was on the way here with Nelson Shedrick and Taiquan Brumsey. We were talking about how we really have to like lock in today’s game,” said guard Kal-El Marine. “Even though it’s the summer league game, it’s really more than that. They’re the ones who took us out of the playoffs they there. They also beat us two times [in the regular season].”

Shedrick, who scored a game-high 25 points, added: “Those games motivate us to come here to win by 30 and that’s what we did. We put everything on the court … We still stepped it up and held it over them.”

The Porters (2-0), who used a fastbreak to perfection, took control from the onset, grabbing a 33-8 halftime advantage.

Their senior triumvirate of Shedrick, Brumsey (18 points) and Marine (11) combined for 54 points.

“We spend a lot of time on the basketball court,” Shedrick said.

And off the court, as well. “Going out with friends, [playing] video games,” he added. “We do everything together. That chemistry with [them] translates to the game.”

The summer league has some distinct rules.

Games are split into 22-minute halves, compared to a varsity game, which has four eight-minute quarters. Except for timeouts, there is a running clock. There are no shot clocks.

They also can be rather informal. Three Greenport players did not have any numbers. One looked like he was wearing pajama bottoms instead of shorts. There are no team buses; players need to provide their own transportation. Some miss games due to vacation.

Jaxan Swann, a vital member of the Porters team that reached the state Class C final in 2019, coached in place of head coach Justin Moore, who was on vacation. He was helped by several former players, including his brother Jude, another Greenport basketball legend.

“Sometimes basketball is just like that,” Jaxan Swann said, explaining the big win. “One day everything’s clicking the way it’s supposed to. One day it’s not and today was just one of those days.”

The summer leagues also can make for some interesting situations.

Southold’s Travis Sepenoski is a three-sport athlete (soccer, basketball and baseball) and is competing in two sports this summer. He is a guest player (goalkeeper) on the Mattituck soccer team, which plays Mondays and Wednesdays, and on the Settlers’ basketball squad Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“I mean, he’s just got an endless motor,” said head coach Will Fujita, whose team dropped to 0-2. “I love the way that he moves defensively. Now that his brother [Jack, who graduated last month] isn’t here, he’s going to have to carry a little bit more of the load offensively. If he decides that he wants to put that work in, I think that he’s a good offensive threat for us.”

Fujita, whose appointment as Southold varsity coach was set for a school district vote Wednesday night, said that the game was a good learning experience.

“The summer league is good for just waking us up a little bit,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity for us to get in good condition. It’s a good opportunity for guys to play together because I think that we have guys playing, but they’re not necessarily doing it as a collective. This is a really good opportunity for them to work as a unit.”

Unless these two teams meet in the playoffs in early August, they won’t do so again for another five months. They will meet at Greenport Dec. 13 and Feb. 1, 2025, and at Southold Jan. 13, 2025.

Beyond Tuesday’s result, those three confrontations can’t come soon enough.