Basketball Season Ends With Heartbreaking Loss

The Schreiber Vikings boys varsity basketball team can only sit and wonder what could have been.

Seventh-seeded Port Washington gave visiting Herricks everything it had for 32 minutes in Saturday evening's Class AA first-round playoff contest, but some unlucky bounces proved to be its demise in an emotional 59-56 loss to the 10th-seeded Highlanders at Schreiber High School.

The Vikings held a 47-46 advantage with 6:51 remaining in the game and had momentum on their side, but Herricks, led by star forward Shaan Rahi, retook the lead and desperately held on to earn the right to face the second-seeded Baldwin Bruins in the second round on Thursday.

"Since we were the favorite and we were down, we kind of felt the pressure to try to take the game away from them," senior forward Dan Bernstein said. "I think the pressure got to us and we really didn't know how to act towards the end."

The Vikings took the lead early in the fourth after captain Adam Epstein grabbed a defensive rebound and went coast-to-coast to convert a layup while being fouled. He missed the free throw, which seemingly gave the momentum back to the Highlanders. On the Vikings' next possession, Rahi stole Epstein's pass and converted a layup at the other end for a 48-47 Herricks lead. Rahi then set up George Malonoukos' short jumper from the low-right post for a three-point cushion.

"Rahi made a couple of real big tough shots for them," coach Sean Dooley said. "We had some good looks and we missed a lot of easy looks in the paint. We forced a little bit too much."

Bernstein responded with a turnaround jumper from the right post, but fouled Rahi on Herricks' next possession to put the big man on the line. Rahi hit one of two for a 51-49 advantage. It remained a two-point game until there were less than two minutes left on the clock. Following a jumper by Herricks freshman Andrew Fellus Fellus with 1:40 remaining, Rahi found himself on the line again with 54.9 seconds left. This time, Rahi hit both shots to give the Highlanders a 57-52 lead.

Epstein wouldn't let his team go down without a fight and again made it a one-possession game with his driving basket with 38.6 seconds left. Rahi was fouled again, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one to keep Port Washington alive at 57-54. Another Epstein basket off a give-and-go with Bernstein to cut the lead to one with 18.7 seconds remaining led to the most heartbreaking moment of the Vikings' season.

"Adam normally hits that corner three pretty regularly and when he let it go, it was in and then it bounced out," Dooley said. "Any time he lets it go with a look like that, you think it's good because he's that kind of kid. When he lets that go, it's automatic."

Epstein was ready to celebrate too. "It's one of those shots when you let it go, it feels good and it looks good," he said. "It just didn't go in. There's nothing you can do about it. I thought with all my heart it was going down."

With 2.4 seconds remaining the Vikings still had a shot, but Ethan Sander's inbounds pass from underneath the Highlander basket was stolen by the Highlanders' Dionysios Malonoukos, who hit two free throws after being fouled to cap the scoring.

"They were being physical on defense," Dooley said. "We tried to set a good screen to get Dan [Bernstein] the ball. He came down and he wasn't really covered. It wasn't an easy pass, but the kid made a good read and got a steal and made a good defensive play."

The matchup between Rahi and Bernstein lived up to the advanced billing. Both scored 25 points, with Rahi adding 14 rebounds and five assists. Bernstein scored 13 of those points in the second quarter to keep the Vikings within 31-27 at halftime.

"He's definitely a good player," Bernstein said. "We talked about trying to make him drive and get the ball out of his hands. I don't think a lot of help was there, but I didn't think I played good defense. He made some good and hard shots.

Dooley was impressed with the performances of both players. "They're both real talented offensive players," the coach said. "Rahi is a little bit more finesse and Dan is a little bit more power. I thought they both played real well. Rahi had a great first half and I think Dan had a real good second half so it was kind of a battle of the halves. It just comes down to they made one more play than we did."

Epstein finished with 15 points and Desimone added seven for the Vikings. Vamvakas was the Highlanders' second-leading scorer with 14 points.

The loss ended the Viking careers for seniors Bernstein, Epstein, Desimone, Sander and Harrison Relmer. Epstein choked up when he began to realize it was over.

"I definitely didn't want my career to end like this," Epstein said. "It's not how I imagined it happening. It doesn't feel too great at all."