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Light Drizzle Fog/Mist Sailors race to 7-0 conference mark
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Oceanside junior Greg Gilbert had nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists in last Friday's Conference AA-II victory over MacArthur.
Ron Manfredi/Herald
Take a quick peek at last Friday night's boxscore between Oceanside and MacArthur and the score by quarter looks like it has a misprint. But the zero in the first-quarter scoring column for the Generals is in fact true. The Sailors jumped out to a 16-point lead after eight minutes and cruised to a 57-41 victory, improving to 11-1 overall and 7-0 in Conference AA-II.
"It was our best eight minutes of defense all year," Oceanside coach Dan Keegan said. "It was pretty amazing to watch."
Keegan points to recent conversations about the Sailors' sluggish starts on the basketball court, and the fact the guys responded by getting after MacArthur on the defensive end. Perhaps the most surprising element of the first-quarter shutout is the fact it came mostly because of a strong man-to-man defense and nothing fancy. "It was [almost] all half-court defense," Keegan said. "We did a little trapping and the rotations were great."
Defending Oceanside has been difficult because of the balanced attack with junior Greg Gilbert (10 points per game) and senior Dan Collins (eight), a pure shooting zone buster, also regular contributors. Gilbert in fact, scored 24 points in a recent 71-68 overtime win over Long Beach and is one of three Sailors to lead the team in scoring over the last four games.
Regardless of the defense thrown on the floor, rattling Oceanside hasn't been easy. "Teams have tried to press us but we have an elite point guard who's quickness is very hard to trap," Keegan said.
Under the basket, Bonomo is pulling down more than nine boards a game, while Gilbert has reeled in at least 10 caroms six times. Senior Dan Frisch is one of several unsung heroes, drawing a team-high 10 charges in 12 games. "He's an energy feeder who gets us going," Keegan said of Frisch.
Before getting a week off for midterm exams, the Sailors have another big test of their own on the court, as they travel to Massapequa to take on the second-place Chiefs. Oceanside won the first battle in overtime, 69-63 on Jan. 4, hanging on after Massapequa tied the game on a buzzer-beater at the end of regulation.
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