East Boys Hoops Shocks Longwood On Road

MIDDLE ISLAND, N.Y. – Last winter on this same floor, the Sachem East boys basketball team were embarrassed. The Flaming Arrows endured the most lopsided defeat in their brief history – a 55-point destruction at the hands of Longwood – and its not a margin that’s apt to be challenged soon, if ever. That day, the Lions not only won, but their 110 points shattered a 41-year-old single-game school record.

On Tuesday night, Sachem returned to the Den with hopes of inching closer to the first-place Lions (14-2, 10-2 League I) in the League I standings, the Flaming Arrows dug in their heels defensively and scored nine of the final 11 points to stun the host Lions, 65-62. It completed East’s improbable season sweep and halting Longwood’s 22-game home winning streak.

“At the end of the day, our kids defended,” said Sachem head coach John Finta, whose squad hadn’t won at Longwood in seven years. “We gave up a bunch in the first half, but we came out, ran our stuff and tightened it up on the defensive end.”

The victory, less than a month after its 58-41 thrashing of Longwood at home, was Sachem’s fourth in a row. More importantly, it brought the Arrows (12-4, 9-3 League I) within one game of first-place Longwood and William Floyd in League I. Meanwhile, the loss was the Lions’ first at home since Jan. 6, 2009, when it fell to Lindenhurst, 55-53. They had won the last 22 at The Den by an average of 22.7 points.

“It’s an awesome feeling,” senior Dan Candemeres said. “We’ve gotten killed the last two years by these guys, and to come out and beat them twice, and have it be their only two losses, you could tell they were frustrated.”

It wasn’t easy. East held a 42-32 lead at halftime, but its carelessness helped Longwood back into the game in the third quarter. It took nearly four minutes for Sachem to score in the second half, and when a Longwood steal yielded a Paris Parks fast-break lay-up to beat the buzzer, the Lions had a 48-46 lead, their first since the opening quarter.

“We got a little sloppy,” Finta said. “We turned it over needlessly and that allowed them to get back into the game, but we continued to get better."

When Tayquan Mayo buried a jumper to put Longwood ahead 60-56 with 3:32 to go, little did the Lions know that that would be their last field goal. Brian Corbett’s drive and score cut East’s deficit to two, and Tim Doherty lay-up tied it with 2:07 remaining. After a stop, Corbett drew two defenders on the left block, drew a foul and scored nevertheless. His free throw out of the timeout completed the three-point play, and suddenly the Arrows were ahead 63-60.

East failed to ice the game with free throws, going 2-for-6 in the final minute, but its defense nevertheless delivered. They were also  7-for-17 from the line in the second half. Mayo missed a floater over Corbett with 26 ticks left, and Mayo’s 15-footer from the right side would have tied it but instead caromed off the iron into Corbett’s hands, sealing the victory for Sachem.

Despite being outsized, Corbett and Randall Colson were massive all evening, particularly in the waning moments. Corbett scored eight of his 10 points in the fourth quarter, and he grabbed 11 rebounds, including five offensive. Colson finished with nine points and seven boards, including two big ones in the final minute.

“It comes down to experience,” Candemeres said. “We’ve been in these types of situations a bunch of times before. We knew if we got stops and made smart plays on offense, we could come back.”

East got contributions from the whole lineup, whether it was Alec Daniello going 3-for-3 on threes on his way to 11 points, or the all-around team defense. No player shined more on that end than Doherty, who was assigned to Parks.

“Paris Parks is unbelievable, and for him to defend him the way he did is a testimony to how great a defender he is,” Finta said of Doherty.

Even up double-digits through one half, the pace didn’t favor the Arrows. They were on pace to score 80 points despite not having topped 70 all season. On the other hand, Longwood lived at that tempo, hitting the 70 mark nine times in 2010-11, including in four of six games since its prior loss to East.

Candemeres, who scored a school-record 37 points in their 58-41 victory over Longwood last month, was on his way to breaking that in the opening half, scoring 19 points. However, Longwood limited Candemeres’ open looks in the second half, holding him scoreless.