Massapequa Boys Basketball Fall In Playoffs at Hempstead

The Massapequa boys varsity basketball team had their season cut short at Hempstead in the first round of the Class AA playoffs on Friday night with a 49-41 loss. The Chiefs beat the Tigers in both of their regular season match ups, but couldn’t come through in the third and most critical meeting.

Ismael Pierre led sixth-seeded Hempstead with a game-high 17 points. Matt Smocovich was the high scorer for eleventh-seeded Massapequa with 14 points in the losing effort.

Both teams struggled to put points up early on as Hempstead led 2-0 after four minutes behind a packed home crowd and a raucous band urging them on. Massapequa got their first field goal seven minutes into the game on a Ryan Van Buren shot as his team trailed 8-4 after the first quarter.

Hempstead built their lead to eight points at the start of the second quarter, but Massapequa found their touch on the offensive end with a big 10-0 run to take a 14-12 lead midway through the quarter. Aaron McCrimmon hit a three-pointer for the Tigers to help his team regain the lead and head into the half ahead 17-16.

At the start of the third, Van Buren knocked down a lay up to give the lead right back to the Chiefs, but the Tigers charged back with a quick 5-0 run. Both teams kept it close until Matt Young fell into foul trouble, spurring another Hempstead run to close out the quarter up by nine, 38-29.

Hempstead hoped to not have a repeat performance of the first time they played Massapequa at home where they went into the final quarter ahead and gave up the lead late in the game. However, when the Chiefs were down by 10 points with four minutes left, that trend seemed to be coming back.

Massapequa went on a 7-1 run to make the score 44-40 with just over a minute left, but that would be the closest they would get as they couldn’t find the points when needed most. Hempstead pulled away to win by eight points and set up a second round meeting at Freeport next Tuesday.

Heroes: Pierre came through for Hempstead with his 17 points and Jonathan Valery hit two second half three-pointers to help his team to the win.

Smocovich and Van Buren combined for 26 points for Massapequa in what was each of their final high school game.

Turning Point: When Massapequa was down 31-29 in the final minutes of the third, Hempstead went on a 7-0 run to close out the quarter. The Chiefs would get no closer than four points for the remainder of the game.

Quotable: “We are holding our heads up high and did a lot of firsts for Massapequa basketball, but there was no team that played harder than us. They played with pride and class, but Hempstead was just the better team here,” Massapequa head coach Marty Voigt said. “We had good shots in the first half but couldn’t make them. We were going to play 14 as one the whole season and we did just that.”

Bottom Line: The loss was certainly not the way that 10 Massapequa seniors wanted to close out their high school basketball careers. The Chiefs finished their 2010-11 season with an 11-7 overall record.

Key Stat: Hempstead got the majority of their points from the starters as eight players got on the board in the win. On the other end, Massapequa did not have a single point from their own bench.

Team………………...1…..2…..3…..4   -   F

# 11 Massapequa….4….12…13…12…..41

# 6 Hempstead…….8…..9….21…11…..49

M: Smocovich 14, Van Buren 12, Donahue 7, Walsh 5, Young 3. Total: 41. H: I.Pierre 17, Valery 8, Boyd 7, Underwood 6, Gray 5, McCrimmon 3, T.Pierre 2, Watson 1. Total: 49. Three-Pointers: M:Smocovich 2, Donahue 1; H: Valery 2, McCrimmon 1, I.Pierre 1, Gray 1.