Carle Place spells upset with 'D' in victory over Wheatley
Ryan Leary of Carle Place shoots over the defense of Grant Callahan of Wheatley during the Nassau Class B boys basketball semifinals on Wednesday at Hofstra. Credit: Dawn McCormick
On Wednesday night the Frogs became the princes of the Nassau Class B boys basketball tournament. Next week they will seek to become the kings.
There was no magical kiss in Carle Place’s stunning 47-43 upset of top-seeded Wheatley at Hofstra’s Mack Sports Complex – just hard-nosed defense and grit in the face of defeat. The Frogs trailed by seven midway through the third quarter, rode the game-changing plays of Ryan Li, Chris Colaciello and Anthony Ruggiano through a comeback and then held the Wildcats at bay late to earn a spot in the championship game.
No. 4 Carle Place (15-6) will meet No. 2 Malverne (14-7) for the Nassau B championship at 6:30 p.m. next Wednesday back at The Mack. The Frogs are seeking their eighth county championship coming off winning the 2022 Class C crown. Carle Place defeated the Mules 63-54 on Jan. 11 in their regular season meeting.
“There is a refuse-to-lose mentality that this team has had all season,” Carle Place coach John Cantwell said. “They aren’t a collection of great basketball players, but they all bought in. They’re gritty. They don’t give in. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Wheatley posted a pair of blowouts over Carle Place during the regular season – by 20 and 23 points – but the Frogs flipped the script with a triangle-and-two defense in an effort to minimize Wheatley stars Mike Santarelli and Nate Song. Ryan Leary guarded Santarelli and Colaciello covered Song. It the fourth quarter those two combined for just two field goals.
“It was all about beating them with defense,” Colaciello said. “We had to believe the points would come.”
“They won those blowouts, but we still knew this was possible if we all pulled together,” Li said.
Leary had 14 points and Li and Colaciello each scored 11 for the Frogs. Santarelli had 21 points including five three-pointers and Song added nine for Wheatley.
Colaciello and Ruggiano each had six points and Li four points when Carle Place put together a 20-5 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters, capped by Ruggiano’s tip-in for a 44-36 lead with 1:47 to play. Wheatley went to a fouling strategy and crept within 46-43 on a Song putback with nine seconds left.
Antonio D’Alessandro made one of two free throws with 7.2 seconds left to finally seal the victory.
“[Cantwell] told us it would take all we’ve got when it mattered,” Ruggiano said. Added Leary “we knew this was possible but it took all of us to make it happen.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.