Jake Kenyon, Danny Levine help Roslyn avenge loss to Elmont in Nassau AA-IV rematch
Roslyn's Zach Kuppersmith and the crowd react to a basket during a Nassau Conference AA-IV boys basketball game against Elmont in Roslyn on Thursday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
When Roslyn played at Elmont on Dec. 15, the Bulldogs lost by a lot -- 21 points to be exact. But they won every game after that and looked forward all along to Thursday night’s Nassau AA-IV rematch on their home court.
“The 21-point loss earlier, ever since then, we’ve had this game circled on our calendar,” said Danny Levine, their sophomore point guard. “It’s a big game.”
This basketball team still hasn’t lost since that December day.
Junior shooting guard Jake Kenyon contributed five of his 17 points in the final 1:30 and Levine scored eight of his 12 in the fourth quarter, and Roslyn emerged with a 58-53 win — its eighth straight.
The Spartans were undefeated in the conference. So this race got even more airtight with Elmont at 8-1, Roslyn at 7-1 and Sewanhaka at 6-1.
“Everyone thinks it runs through Elmont,” Kenyon said. “The conference runs through us now.”
Bulldogs coach Greg Tull spoke about bringing “a little bit more pressure” this time. Ultimately, he said this about his 11-2 team:
“I think that these guys, at the end of the day, are just playing with unmitigated confidence right now. We’re on a really long stretch of winning. I think when you go into it with the mindset that you’re going to win, sometimes as a group, we can really kind of speak and will that into existence.”
Elmont led 43-38 with 6:31 remaining after Osagie Ekhator made a layup for the final two of his 19 points. Then Levine countered with his own 6-0 burst to put Roslyn ahead 44-43.
The lead was still one before Zachary Kuppersmith drained a three to make it 49-45. Kenyon hit another key three with 1:30 left to extend to a 52-45 lead. He added two free throws at the 27.3 mark, and it was 56-50.
“I know my teammates, everyone in the stands, my family believes in me,” Kenyon said. “I know if they believe in me, I can make the shot. So I want the ball badly.”
After falling behind 20-12 early in the second quarter, Roslyn went on a 14-1 run to go up by five.
The Spartans (11-4) rallied to lead 28-26 at halftime. They led 39-36 after three.
“To be honest, they wanted it more than us tonight, for sure,” Elmont coach Ryan Straub said. “They played harder than us … You’re not going to win a lot of games against tough teams not competing.”
