Half Hollow Hills East boys basketball defeats Roslyn in Bay Shore Holiday Classic
Guard Brandon Varlack scores two of his nine points. Sunjay Sharma also had nine on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Half Hollow Hills East had just checked off yet another victory over a quality team. And yet coach Mike Marcelin wasn’t too thrilled after a less-than-classic performance in this Bay Shore Holiday Classic game.
The RedHawks, with their core back after winning the Suffolk Class AA boys basketball championship and with a AAA membership this season, claimed a 52-44 victory over Roslyn on Thursday.
Sure, Marcelin was happy with the result. But as the final indicated, scoring didn’t come easily for the RedHawks (7-1).
“We just didn’t move the ball,” Marcelin said. “The ball stuck today. I think we were playing a little too much selfish ball, hero ball, me-me-me ball, instead of trusting each other.
“We have a lot of talent offensively, so we have a tendency of thinking we can be the hero all the time instead of just trusting and being more patient within the offense. It’s something that we have to work on that we’ve been struggling with this year. But we’ll fix it.”
So there was a lesson to be learned for a group that already had impressed by knocking off Bay Shore, Baldwin and Smithtown East in the early weeks of the season.
“Everyone likes to put up points,” said senior point guard Brandon Varlack, who scored nine and shared team-high status with Sunjay Sharma. “It’s fun being in Newsday and stuff. But we definitely have to be more unselfish, me included.”
The hunger certainly is there after Hills East fell to eventual state champion Elmont in the Long Island AA championship game on a buzzer-beating jumper.
“Extremely hungry,” Varlack said.
Roslyn, which got 17 points from Jake Kenyon, sliced a 10-point third-quarter deficit to 38-36 with five minutes left.
So what was Bulldogs coach Greg Tull thinking?
“That we should win the game,” he said.
But Sharma scored back-to-back baskets from in close, and the lead was six.
After Zach Kuppersmith nailed a three-pointer to cut it to 42-39, Jordan Cador scored inside and Varlack made a layup and converted on a drive. It was a nine-point game with 1:54 left.
“They’re a championship defense,” Tull said.
It helped that Cador was on the back end of it. The 6-6 senior center blocked seven shots.
“I think our ability to get out in transition is definitely one of our key parts of the game,” Cador said. “So being able to block shots and get out and go is really helpful.”
It was hurtful for Roslyn — a 2023-24 Nassau AA semifinalist — which fell to 8-2.
“We expect to be there at the end of the Double-A county championship race,” Tull said. “We think we have all the guys in that locker room to do it.”
