Ward Melville Hoops Tops Sachem East

Tuesday night's matchup at Sachem East High School between two summer league basketball teams proved that football isn't the only game of inches.

Ward Melville's Shane Dineen sank a three-pointer off an offensive rebound following his own missed free throw with 32 seconds left to give the Patriots a 41-40 win over Sachem East.

A foul called on East sent Ward Melville's Tyler Hagerty to the line with 4.4 seconds remaining, but the missed shot rebounded to East's Dan Candemeres, who fired off an attempted buzzer-beater from half court. The shot narrowly missed, and he collapsed in disappointment.

Ward Melville coach Jesse Smith said the Patriots' agility and consistent squeezes under East's net was the key to netting the win. Ward Melville is 2-1 after its third game, with a 41-36 loss to Sachem North on June 29 and a win over Eastport-South Manor in another one-point game, 37-36, on July 1. East is currently 3-2.

"Crashing the offensive boards definitely made the difference for us," Smith said, adding that sustaining that level of play proved to be their biggest challenge. "We played well in spurts – we'd come out, then they'd get it. We're still learning."

Despite the last-second hustle, East coach John Finta chalked up the loss to a lack of rebounding on free throws, as well as keeping the pressure on when rotating in traps.

"We didn't do a lot of the little things we needed to do," he said.

Ward Melville opened up scoring less than three minutes into the first period, when East struck back big off a three-point jump shot courtesy of D'Andre Smith. Strong rebounding by Ward Melville and aggressive drives from Dineen, who chased a three-point play with two more buckets less than two minutes later, pushed the Patriots up 17-9 by period's end, though it ended on a turnover from a steal by Smith on a throw-in at the buzzer.

East narrowed the spread successfully in the second, grabbing the lead (19-18) for the first time with 6:02 left. Beating the second-period buzzer for three points, Candameres grabbed back the lead for East to end the half 27-23, racking up a three-point play with 7:30 to go in the third as the lead stretched momentarily to 31-27.

Seesawing for the remainder of the game, the gap never widened beyond four points and closed yet again as Dineen responded with his own three-point play to bump Ward Melville up 34-32 to end the third. Smith's three-pointer early in the fourth tipped it back 35-34 for East, which Hagerty grabbed back for the Patriots off a pair of free throws.

Smith edged up East again off another three with 7:30 to go, capped three minutes later by Candameres' two-pointer to end scoring for East. Ward Melville seized an opportunity off a defensive rebound that allowed Dineen to pick up two more at 3:30, not long before his big offensive rebound gave him the three-pointer and Ward Melville the lead for the win.