Manhasset keeps its edge, holds off Wantagh
Liam Connor of Manhasset makes his way through the defense of Wantagh's Charlie Destefano during a Nassau Class A boys basketball semifinal on Tuesday at Farmingdale State College. Credit: Dawn McCormick
It’s one thing to win a championship. It’s another to defend one.
The Manhasset boys basketball team has learned that this season. Each time the 2022 state Class A champions step on the court, they get the opponent’s best game. It faces defenses that try to force it away from its preferred game. There are expectations everywhere.
Manhasset has been unfazed by it so far this season. After rolling through the regular season with just a single stumble, it is again rolling in the playoffs. On Tuesday night, it rumbled past tenacious Wantagh for a 50-37 Nassau A semifinal victory at Farmingdale State’s Nold Athletic Center.
No. 5 Wantagh controlled the pace and held top-seeded Manhasset without a three-pointer. It was even within two points with 5:56 to play. But Wantagh couldn’t keep Manhasset off the offensive glass and the champs turned those extra possessions into a win, its 12th in a row.
“We’re bigger with [6-5 Liam] Connor and [6-5 Liam] Buckley and [6-4 Jack] Lamarca so we have to play big,” Manhasset coach George Bruns said. “Those offensive rebounds and extra chances can wear a team down.”
“They made us play a game we’re not used to,” said Connor, who finished with 17 points. “What I was proudest of was that even when we were struggling to play our style, we didn’t give up. . . . Every time we’re on the court, there’s a challenge. You have to meet those challenges and we’re capable.”
Manhasset (22-1) will meet the winner of the late semifinal between No. 2 South Side and No. 3 Elmont in Saturday night’s championship game at Hofstra’s Mack Sports Complex.
“I am seeing the same intensity that I saw at the end of last season – maybe even a little bit more,” Buckley said. “We have no ego about what we did last year. We want to keep winning.”
Manhasset only trailed for 10 seconds of the first quarter en route to the win but had a harrowing moment when Jack Tate put back an offensive rebound to pull Wantagh within 34-32 with 5:56 to play.
Manhasset answered by getting points on five of the next six possession to start a 13-1 run. James Notias had six points and Connor five in the burst. On the other end, Wantagh went five minutes without a field goal.
“We played the kind of game we wanted to play, but we just couldn’t score,” Wantagh coach Matt Simeone said. “Their size and experience in games like this hurt us at the end.”
Bruns said that while Manhasset has the talent to win any game “there is a psychological side now too. We never talk about ‘repeat.’ There are pressures and expectations when you defend [a title]. I’ve seen great players have trouble with that.”
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.
