Momentum builds for Clarke

Results were going from bad to worse as a winless December wore on, from a string of heartbreaks out of the gate to more and more sound defeats – but there were straws of hope to clutch at.
The Clarke boys’ basketball team, at partial strength, started the season on a six-game skid, but had come within a basket in three of its first four matchups, and as the league portion of its schedule approached, key cogs repatriated from the injured list.
“I thought some early games were winnable,” said Clarke head coach Joe Hasbrouck. “If we’d had a full squad, that is. But that’s something a lot of teams are dealing with.”
Led by late-returning offensive engines James Desimone (junior) and Bryan Richard (senior), the Rams abruptly made a midseason U-turn. After Desimone’s game-high 21 points helped Clarke secure its first win Dec. 28 against non-league host East Rockaway, the Rams kicked off a 3-2 run that included handing Nassau Conference A5 rival North Shore its first league loss Jan. 19.
At 3-2 in A5 (4-10 overall), Clarke has clawed to within a game of catching second-place Seaford nearing the stretch, with an inside track to its second playoff berth in four seasons after ending a 21-year drought – and eyeing what could be its first winning league finish since 2007-08.

“The non-league games were a learning experience,” Hasbrouck said. “We weren’t scoring with high efficiency, weren’t taking opportunities. These last few games, at full strength, I think we’ve hit our stride. Against North Shore we took the opportunities given, with all five of us on the court.”
Clarke spread its scoring load to beat host North Shore, 45-33, in the first of back-to-back, home-and-home meetings, paced by Desimone’s 13 points and junior Zeak Mercado’s nine, while Richard and junior Jason Gaetz had six apiece in the teams’ first tilt. The Rams held the Vikings (9-3, 6-1 A5) well below their season average of 51 points in both games, the second of which North Shore won, 44-36, Jan 21.
“We hang our hat on defense, but also know it’s about shot-making,” said Hasbrouck, whose club countered North Shore’s 14-point, fourth-quarter flurry in the teams’ first matchup with a 20-point, rally-snuffing onslaught. “That fourth quarter, things seemed to open up. We got some good looks, and hit a couple more shots than them.”
Desimone leads Clarke with 15 points per game – with a high of 28 in a league win over Lawrence Jan. 5 – and 20 3-pointers. “I think he’s caught people by surprise, including myself,” Hasbrouck said of the 5-foot-9 point guard. “And he’s only getting better, more creative.”
Even apart from possible postseason implications, Clarke has its regular-season Feb. 8 finale circled, as the Rams get a chance at a do-over against lately-sliding Seaford (6-5, 4-3 A5), which dealt Clarke its biggest blow, 70-44, Jan. 11.
“We take each game understanding this conference will be a dogfight,” Hasbrouck said. “Whoever’s the most consistent team will be the one who’s there at the end.”