Elmont can't stop Uniondale rally

In front of a standing-room-only home crowd, third-seeded Elmont exploded to a 12-point lead against No. 6 Uniondale just four minutes into its Nassau Class AA boys’ basketball quarterfinal playoff matchup on Feb. 20. But the Spartans couldn’t deliver an early knockout, and it cost them.

The Knights got off the ropes, cut the deficit to one by halftime, dominated the third quarter and had enough gas in the tank down the stretch to pull out a 60-57 victory. They led by as many as eight points in the second half and took the lead for good with 58 seconds remaining on Jaaz Styles’ three-pointer. Aaron Cust (20), Jerel McGary (15) and Styles (12) all scored in double digits for Uniondale, which advanced to face Farmingdale in the semifinals. Marc Campbell had a game-high 21 points and Tristan Brown added 18 for Elmont, the Conference AA-III champions.

“We jumped out on them early, but I knew it would be close because they never go away,” Spartans coach George Holub said. “We’re vertically challenged, and we gave them too many second and third chances.”

Feeding off a deafening crowd and riding a seven-game winning streak, Elmont (12-5) was on fire early. Brown scored nine points, including a long three-pointer, Campbell four, and Tim Lewis hit a trey to stake the hosts to a 16-4 lead. Uniondale responded after a timeout by coach Tom Diana and scored 10 of the next 14 points to get within 20-14 by the end of the opening quarter.

“We preach to our guys it takes 32 minutes,” said Diana, whose team knocked off No. 11 East Meadow in the first round. “We’ve played a ton of close games and been in loud gyms, and I thought that paid off.”

The Knights continued to make headway in the second. The visitors had six different players find the basket in the quarter and led for the first time, 28-26, with 2:02 left in the half after a hoop by Tyler Desire. Elmont regained the lead on consecutive baskets by Reggie Pierre, Kevon Chambers and Lewis, and was ahead 32-31 at intermission.

After they cooled off in the second quarter, the Spartans went ice-cold in the third and found themselves facing an uphill battle. Elmont went without a field goal in a quarter that saw McGary (seven) and Styles combine for all 11 Uniondale points, lifting it to a 42-36 advantage and setting up an intense final stanza.

Lewis, who had 12 points but fouled out with 27.7 seconds remaining, got the fourth quarter started with a three-pointer to shave the deficit in half. He later created the first of three deadlocks in the quarter, tying it at 44 with a running right-hander. It was knotted at 46, and finally at 53 with 1:30 to go after Campbell brought the crowd to its feet with a three-pointer. But with the crowd still abuzz, Styles coolly answered to put the Knights ahead for good.

“We had a good season, but winning the conference is no consolation when you don’t get as far as you’d like,” Holub said.