Experience and chemistry are the two biggest reasons East Meadow’s boys’ basketball team is one win away from making program history.
The second-seeded Jets exploded to a 14-point lead late in the second quarter and never looked back on the way to knocking off No. 3 Uniondale, 55-42, in a Class AAA semifinal Sunday night at Farmingdale State College.
“We have eight seniors on this team and we’ve been playing together since elementary school at Barnum Woods,” said Isaiah Perkins, who scored a game-high 21 points as East Meadow won its 16th straight and advanced to face top-seeded Port Washington in the county final Saturday at 8 p.m. at Farmingdale State. “We’ve been dreaming of a championship since we were freshmen. “That’s been our goal and we’re as close as ever attaining it,” he added.
East Meadow has never won a county title while Port Washington, which defeated No. 5 Farmingdale in the other semifinal, last captured a crown in the 1946-47 season.
“Uniondale is a great team but they’re young and we brought a lot of energy,” said Perkins, who scored eight points in the second quarter to lead the Jets to a 29-18 halftime advantage.
Point guard Will Casseus added 14 points, Nick DeStefano 8 and Mazin Ibrahem 7 for the Jets, who improved to 19-3. Sophomore Dylan Hickman led the Knights (15-6) with 13 points. Freshman Mori Toney added 10 points and classmates Jayden Barrows and Jayden Oden chipped in 7 apiece.
“It was a phenomenal season for such a young team,” Uniondale head coach Jazz Styles said. “A lot of the mistakes we made tonight can be attributed to youth. Kudos to East Meadow. They’re all seniors and they executed well.”
The Jets, who squeaked past Syosset in the quarterfinals Feb. 20 despite a subpar shooting performance, led Uniondale 12-10 after the first quarter before exploding for 19 points in the second to lead by 11 at the half. Perkins (two), Casseus and Ibrahem all hit 3’s in the second.
“It was a complete effort,” East Meadow head coach Tom Rottkamp said. “The key is our defensive energy, contesting shots, disrupting passing lanes and grabbing rebounds. All season long we’ve focused on having defensive energy to win games.”
East Meadow’s largest lead was 38-23 midway through the third. The Knights, behind Toney, got to within 40-32 by the end of the quarter but were never within single digits again after Perkins opened the fourth with a rare four-point play.
Izaiah Richards and Brendan Cronin keyed the Jets’ effort on the boards against the 6-foot-7 Barrows and 6-4 Oden.
The last time East Meadow tasted defeat was Dec. 18 at home against Port Washington. The Jets won the rematch Jan. 28.
“They’re a very good team,” Rottkamp said. “They’re disciplined and don’t make many mistakes. It’s going to be a tough game but we’ll be prepared.”
