Floral Park boys basketball uses big fourth quarter to overwhelm Valley Stream North, take control of Nassau A-VI standings
![Anthony Caris of Floral Park drives through the Valley Stream...](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.newsday.com%2Fimage-service%2Fversion%2Fc%3AZTI3MjU0ODgtYjYyNy00%3AMGVkZGMxYWEtYmQ2MS00%2Fskpark250129.jpg%3Ff%3DLandscape%2B16%253A9%26w%3D770%26q%3D1&w=1920&q=80)
Anthony Caris of Floral Park drives through the Valley Stream North defenders during a Nassau Conference A-VI boys basketball game on Tuesday at Valley Stream North. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
Floral Park and Valley Stream North entered Tuesday’s game tied atop the Nassau League A-VI boys basketball standings.
The former firmly controlled the first three quarters, leading by as many as eight and trailing for just 32 seconds, but had yet to pull away. Floral Park held a four-point lead heading into the final quarter, but any whisper of doubt would soon vanish.
The Knights scored the first 16 points of the fourth quarter – ballooning their lead to 20 – and did not allow VSN to score again until 1:24 remained. Floral Park ultimately coasted to a 58-38 road win, winning its ninth straight game and grabbing a one-game lead in the conference standings with three regular-season games remaining.
“Every guy competes, whether it’s the next man up or it’s a starter,” said senior guard Anthony Caris, who scored a game-high 23 points. “We always compete in practice and every guy comes ready. Starting the year 0-2 [in the league], they kind of doubted who we would be. But we always trusted in [coach Sean] Boyle and what our potential would be throughout the year.”
Junior guard Declan Lally scored 10 points, all in the second half, for Floral Park (12-4, 7-2). Junior guard Brendan Martin added 10 points. Sophomore forward Ryan Terwilliger grabbed 15 rebounds and junior forward Brady Croon had 13.
“It definitely felt really important, but we know what kind of potential we have and we know where we rank in our minds,” Lally said. “We had the most confidence coming into this game.”
Lally hit a three 54 seconds into the fourth quarter, and Caris added a two to make it 42-33 with 5:15 left. The Knights went 8-for-10 at the free-throw line over the next 3:08 – Caris going 6-for-6 – and junior guard Joseph Prestia’s second three brought it to 53-33 with 1:36 left.
“We made one switch,” Boyle said of the late defensive effort. “We went from a one-guard front to a two-guard front, and the kids did a nice job with it.”
Vin Rienzie scored 12 points to lead VSN (13-4, 6-3).
It was Floral Park's second win of the season over the Spartans, the first a 69-40 home victory on Dec. 17. The Knights, who have not lost since Dec. 21 against Kellenberg, won their six January league games by an average margin of 17.3 points.
“There’s still three games left to play,” Boyle said. “We’re going to watch this film. We’re going to try and improve on some things that we can do defensively, improve on some things offensively.
“The group had goals at the beginning of the year. We’re close, but we still have a lot of work to do.”