E. Meadow basketball team shows championship spirit

Make room for another championship trophy in the case. The East Meadow P.A.L. boys’ basketball team overcame a large deficit to beat Valley Stream by a score of 53-51 in the finals of the spring league. The game took place last Tuesday night, May 24, at the Town of Oyster Bay Hicksville Athletic Center.

The group of seventh- and eighth-graders (and one sixth-grader) from East Meadow trailed most of the game, at times by as much as 13 points. And even though the Valley Stream team had already beaten East Meadow earlier in the season, the East Meadow boys were not about to back down. The team showed perseverance and determination as they battled back to a tie at 51 with just a few minutes left in the game.

“If you believe we can pull it out, we can pull it out,” was the message Coach Ken Hines used to keep his team focused during the comeback.

With two seconds left in the game, Joe Forrler secured the win for East Meadow when he made both ends of a one-and-one free throw opportunity. According to his coach, Joe is the type of player who is able to step up when the pressure is on.

“I felt confident. I really did,” Coach Hines insisted. “He’s a good ball player, hustles hard and plays hard.”

This game was not the first time the East Meadow team has shown outstanding spirit. At the March Madness tournament earlier this year they overcame an overtime loss in their first game and came back to win the championship of the double-elimination tournament. After losing by just two points to Roosevelt in the first game of the tournament, East Meadow fought their way through the losers-bracket and eventually returned to beat that very same Roosevelt team twice by margins of 30 and 17 points.

“They’re a very spirited team, well coached and just a good bunch of kids,” said East Meadow P.A.L. trustee James Narell.

According to Narell, this was the first time a team from Nassau County has ever won the March Madness tournament after falling into the losers bracket, and also the first time a team has won both the March Madness tournament and the spring league championship. Hines said that the confidence the team gained from winning the March Madness tournament definitely contributed to their ability to come back from such a large deficit in the spring league finals.

While confidence and leadership played a role, Coach Hines singled out talent as the main reason why the team was able to be so successful. He said the East Meadow boys from this current age group are part of a rare crop of athletically gifted individuals and that he expects them to continue to be successful going forward.

“I think they’re going to go on and do very well in high school and beyond, I really do,” Hines stated.