South Side ups conference streak

Despite losing the first meeting by 35 points, Roslyn entered last Friday night’s boys’ basketball showdown with South Side as the only Conference A-II rival with a legitimate shot to catch the front-running Cyclones, who last dropped a conference game in the 2012-13 campaign.

However, the Bulldogs, home for the rematch and riding a five-game winning streak, proved no trouble for South Side. The visitors built a 10-point lead after the opening quarter and never let off the gas in a runaway 82-48 victory keyed by senior Alex Sorensen and junior Brandon Grayson.

Sorensen moved closer to becoming the school’s all-time scoring leader while recording a triple-double (26 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists), and Grayson exploded for 25 points, including 17 in the third quarter, as the Cyclones improved to 11-0 in A-II and won their 36th straight conference game dating back to February of 2013.

“We talked about jumping on them early because we felt like they were going to bring a ton of energy and wanted revenge from the first meeting,” South Side head coach Jerry D’Angelo said. “We did a nice job defensively in the first quarter holding them to five points, then coming out of halftime we changed things up a little and got three quick turnovers.”

Junior Dami Awosika’s putback beat the buzzer to give the Cyclones a 15-5 lead after the first quarter. Midway through the second, the game was a mirror image of the first meeting on Jan. 5 as South Side led 27-8 and kept Roslyn from getting anything done inside the paint. 

The Bulldogs (9-2 in A-II) finally showed some tenacity before halftime and used a 15-7 spurt to get to within a dozen. Omar Burns and Jared Cohen, who combined for zero points through the first 12 minutes, had six and five, respectively, during the run to give Roslyn some hope heading into the second half.

The third quarter, however, was all Grayson. He scored from behind the arc, in the paint, and everywhere in between to help the Cyclones blow the game open. He scored nine straight points to extend South Side’s lead to 51-29 before Roslyn’s Keandre Augustine (19 points) reached a milestone with his 1,000th career point with 2:21 remaining in the quarter. There was a break in the action as Augustine was presented with a commemorative ball, and when play resumed so did Grayson’s scoring.

“We knew Brandon always had talent and potential,” D’Angelo said of Grayson, who closed the quarter by converting a long alley-oop pass from Sorensen, who is fewer than 80 points away from the team’s all-time scoring mark. “He has good athletic ability,” he added. “I wouldn’t say this was a breakout performance for him because he’s had a bunch of strong games.” 

Sophomore Ryan Prendergast added eight points, and seniors Tim Awosika and Paul Longeran chipped in six apiece for South Side, which needs one win over its final three conference games to wrap up another title and one of the top seeds in the Nassau Class A playoffs.