Oceanside navigating tough stretch

The Oceanside boys’ basketball team is hoping for calmer waters entering the season’s final month.
Despite a tough start, Oceanside still controls its own destiny for one of the final playoff spots in Nassau AAA with four weeks left. But they’ll need more offensive consistency to do so while avoiding the occasional bad quarter that has plagued them.
Oceanside entered this week on a four-game skid following a 57-37 non-conference loss at Bethpage last Saturday, but they remain 2-4 in Conference AAA-1 (3-10 overall) as they try to remain among the top eight to qualify for the playoffs. Of the 13 AAA teams, five entered last weekend’s action with either one or no wins in league play.
The Sailors, who last made the playoffs in 2019, endured a difficult non-league schedule that included first-place South Side and Valley Stream North in preparation for their just-as-tough division foes.
“I think that we played well against better teams than us,” coach Ed Risener said. “We’ve come out on the losing side of those games, but we’re competing, we’re scrappy, we’re tough and we’re just looking to push us over the top a little bit.”

Risener was hoping a heartbreaking 79-76 overtime loss to conference-leading Syosset would boost their confidence against Bethpage and it initially appeared that way as the Sailors trailed by just 19-18 at the break. But the Eagles outscored the Sailors 21-8 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.
Two days earlier, Oceanside led Syosset 57-55 through three quarters, but the Braves tied it and stopped the Sailors’ final possession in regulation before winning in overtime.
“Thursday was definitely the best beginning to end game,” Risener said. “Offensively, we’ve been talking about taking advantage of our size and we’ve been preaching, ‘Get the ball in the paint’ and ‘Get to the foul line.’ Thursday night was definitely the first night we did that consistently.”
Even the wins haven’t been easy. On Dec. 21, Oceanside was outscored 21-9 in the fourth quarter before escaping with a 70-67 double-overtime victory over 1-12 Hicksville.
Captain Ben Zito is averaging around 17 points a game this season – four better than his junior year – while playing with more confidence. His 28 point, seven rebound performance keyed a 49-41 win over Valley Stream South on Dec. 29.
“This year, his teammates look to him as a leader of our team,” Risener said. “He’s accepted that role and he’s accepted the responsibility to be the central focus of an offense.”
Connor Haufler is averaging almost 12 points in his first year as a starting guard and Risener tabbed fellow senior Adam Elbehiry as “the rock of our team” for being the tempo setter on both ends of the floor.
Risener is confident that senior A.J. Romagno will show more consistency down the stretch and lauded sophomore Josh Gamarra for providing a spark in his first start against Syosset. Senior Nick Paris is the team’s defensive stopper and aggressive senior Angel Espinal has done “whatever is necessary to win.”