VSC slips past East Meadow

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Almost a year to the day Valley Stream Central’s playoff hopes went up in flames with a loss at East Meadow, the Eagles used their athleticism and quick ball movement to make sure history didn’t repeat itself.

Central got a career-high 22 points from senior Amir Stevens and led from start to finish in Monday’s 60-49 Conference AA-II victory that punched its ticket to the Nassau Class AA boys’ basketball playoffs while leaving the Jets’ fate in doubt. Seniors Tom Zitzmann (11) and Joe Minucci (10), and junior Will Ayers (10, 15 rebounds) scored in double figures for East Meadow, which needs a win at Port Washington on Thursday to secure a playoff berth.

“It’s a much better feeling than last year when they beat us on their senior night and kept us out of the playoffs,” Eagles head coach Hayward Alfred said. “It was easy for our guys to be motivated. We had a lot of contributions and it’s nice to be going into the last two games only worried about our playoff seeding instead of trying to get in.”

Stevens, who was held to two points in Central’s 56-55 victory over East Meadow on Jan. 12, busted out for 15 in the fourth quarter alone in Monday’s rematch including six in the span of a minute after the Jets (3-5 in Conference AA-II, 8-8 overall) got within 50-44 with 3:30 remaining.

“We’re working hard and trying to get as far as we can,” said Stevens, who scored 21 points last Friday in a win over Port. “We have a lot of seniors and we’re taking every game personally.”

East Meadow, which beat second-place Plainview last Friday behind Minucci’s 16 points, couldn’t get anything to drop from the perimeter to break down Central’s 2-3 zone. The Jets shot 1-for-20 behind the arc, head coach Barry Dickson said.

“They played much better tonight than they did the first time we met,” Dickson said of VSC. “They’re very athletic and we just didn’t make any shots. We’re usually a decent shooting team, but we didn’t hit a three until the last second.”

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