The Teich is Right: Senior's Late Three Pulls Kennedy Boys Basketball Past Long Beach

The Long Beach Marines boys basketball team hosted the Kennedy Cougars in an intense, Conference AA-III game on Friday night that had enough excitement to last a season. But in the end, the Cougars, on the strength of a Mike Teich three-pointer, emerged triumphant over the Marines, 42-39.

Kennedy went up early on the scoreboard with two consecutive baskets. In the opening minutes, the Marines had difficulty penetrating the Cougar's defense, and were unable to convert shots into actual points on the occasions when they did.

Finally, Long Beach got on the scoreboard at 2:36 left on the clock in the first, but the Cougars remained ahead 7-2 with a three-pointer right afterwards.

A foul called on the Marines resulted into Kennedy's Andrew Hirsch nailing two more points via free throws, bringing the score to 9-2.

With 1:05 remaining Long Beach's Matt Rivera hit a nice lay-up shot, wrapping up the first quarter at 9-4 Bellmore.

The Marine's Jaymen Teemer missed a three-pointer at the start of the second quarter. Bellmore seemed poised to attempt their own shot, but got called on traveling, giving the ball back to Long beach.

Again, Teemer missed a three-pointer at 7:06 remaining, and again at 6:26 remaining. This was followed up with a brick fired up by Kennedy's Joey Karo, who finished with a season-low of four points. Unfortunately, missing shots was a trend both teams would continue throughout the evening.

Long Beach's Cedrick Coad, who finished with a game-high 16 points, nailed a jumper and tied the game at 11. After Coad's basket the sparks really started flying, and soon Kennedy was out ahead again after an exciting rally. Teemer finally hit a three-pointer at the last second to close out the second quarter at 22-21.

The third quarter mirrored the start of the game, with the pace slowing and the scoring occurring less frequently. Both sides consistently missed shots, but the streak was broken by the Cougar’s Adrian Rose at 4:36 remaining when he hit a three pointer that was all net, putting the score at 25-21.

The Marine's Farrell Gordon, who finished with nine points, sank a three-pointer with 2:33 remaining in the third, putting Long Beach ahead for the first time, 28-27. Again, the two teams went into overdrive, trading baskets with a new-found intensity, but the Marines jumped out to their largest lead of the game at the end of the third quarter, 35-30.

The Cougars finally found their groove in the fourth quarter and started the frame on a 9-0 run on the strength of several big shots from 6-foot-10 center Brian O'Gorman. After pulling ahead 36-35, it was Cougar Mike Teich who sank a beautiful three-pointer near the end of the quarter that essentially sealed the Marine's fate, enabling Kennedy to squeak out the win with a final score of 42-39.

Teich and O'Gorman each finished with 10 points to lead the Cougars.

Long Beach head coach T.J. Burke readily admitted that his team's main problem this game was their aim.

"Defensively, we were great,"he said. "Offensively, that's where we've been short on. High-pressure defense can make you rush your shot instead of a comfort shot, but there were even some comfortable shots that we were missing."

Long Beach, now 4-6, will meet second-place Great Neck South at home on Monday at 4:30 p.m.

Kennedy head coach Rory Block said that, despite missing a great many of their shots this evening, his team came through in the end where it most counts.

"Mike Teich hit that three pointer near the end, and that was huge," he said. "We played very hard, didn't always play smart, but Long Beach plays so hard and plays such good defense that they forced us into some mistakes. But for the most part, we held our own and came out with the win."

Kennedy sits in fourth place in Conference AA-III with a 7-4 record and will host Carey at home this Tuesday at 7 p.m