Strong finish for Long Beach

With wins in three of its last four games, Long Beach made a push for the Nassau Class AA boys’ basketball playoffs but ultimately fell short of fourth place in a competitive Conference AA-III.

The Marines, who closed with a seven-point loss to first-place Elmont Feb. 14, finished 7-7 in conference play and 8-9 overall. Great Neck South, Kennedy and Calhoun all joined Elmont in the playoffs.

“We made a good run at the end,” Long Beach coach T.J. Burke said. “We had a rough stretch of four games that cost us. The kids worked hard all season. To finish where we did after going 0-12 in the conference last season was respectable, but it was also disappointing because we thought we were better than .500.”

Playing with heavy hearts down the stretch after the death of JV player Shakur Moore—a friend of everyone in the program—on Jan. 27, Long Beach defeated Great Neck South, Mepham and Valley Stream Central while flashing its best halfcourt defense of the season. “We dedicated the rest of the season to Shakur,” Burke said. “The kids wore headbands with his first name on one side and number—21—on the other.”

On Feb. 1, the Marines saw their playoff hopes fade after blowing a seven-point lead with 2:33 remaining at Calhoun. The 47-42 defeat is the one result Burke would like to have back. “I thought at the time the winner of that game would move on,” he said. “We did some things late that we didn’t really do all season. We had two bad turnovers and shot an airball with less than a minute to go.”

Long Beach also led in the fourth quarter of its next game, but was outscored by Kennedy by eight in the final minutes of a 42-39 loss Feb. 4. The setback dropped the Marines two games under .500 with four remaining, and it would’ve been easy for them to waive a white flag.

“We didn’t stop giving teams headaches,” Burke said. “Nobody stopped working.”

Senior Cedric Coad, who last week was named All-Conference, had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and senior Josh Trone, an All-County selection, added 14 points and 10 boards to lead a 55-49 win over Great Neck South on Feb. 7. Junior Daryl Brown chipped in 10 points and senior Farrell Gordon added eight as the Marines began their late-season surge.

Trone, who lead the team averaging 15 points and nine rebounds in 14 conference games, came back the next day with another double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) in a 51-32 win over Mepham. Then Coad, who averaged 12 points and eight rebounds, had 16 points while senior Jaymen Teemer added 10 in a 55-39 victory over Valley Stream
Central Feb. 11.

“Everyone knew we had to win out after we lost the Kennedy game,” Burke said. “They handled the pressure well.”

As it turned out, even a win over Elmont in the finale wouldn’t have been enough for the Marines to punch a ticket to the playoffs.