Elmont responds in big way

Losing three out of four games and committing too many turnovers didn’t sit well with two-time defending Nassau Class A boys’ basketball champion Elmont.

On Jan. 16, the Spartans showed just how good they can be when they make the most out of their possessions. They literally shot the lights out — the scoreboard had to reboot twice during halftime — and threatened to reach the century mark in a 92-36 dismantling of visiting Jericho for their fifth Conference A-I victory in six games.

Senior Victor Olawoye posted a triple-double (23 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds) while shooting a sizzling 7-for-10 from behind the arc, sophomore Jordan Lawson scored all 12 of his points from downtown, and seven others chipped in at least five points as Elmont improved to 8-5 overall. Ben Weinberg had all but one of Jericho’s nine points in the first half and finished with 16 as the Jayhawks dropped to 2-3 in A-I and 5-6 overall.

“We took care of the ball and shot really well,” Elmont head coach George Holub said. “With the exception of one game we’ve been away from home for so long, between road and neutral site trips, the kids were excited to be back. They’re comfortable playing here.”

Jericho’s bus was late arriving to Elmont, causing tipoff to be delayed for 25 minutes, albeit the ride home for the Jayhawks would prove even longer. They allowed 21 of the game’s first 22 points and trailed by 19 after the opening quarter. 

“We came out hot,” Holub said. “When we’re hitting shots early, everything else just flows better. If shots don’t fall, like what happen in some recent games, we tighten up and don’t take open looks.

“It’s part of the growing pains,” he added. “We have a lot of kids who didn’t play a lot of varsity minutes last season and still getting used to everything at the varsity level.”

One of those youngsters is Lawson, who along with Olawoye sank a pair of treys in the second quarter as the Spartans stepped on the gas and exploded to a 48-9 halftime lead. They were in cruise control in the second half and got contributions from seniors Conrad Ihaza, Jaylin Miller (eight points apiece) and William Cook (six), juniors Jarell Pierre-Louis (eight) and sophomores Gus Louis (six) and Jevon Santos (five.)

Olawoye, the lone remaining contributor from the 2015-16 state championship run, is averaging a team-best 17 points per game. He and Santos, the starting point guard, were key parts of last season’s repeat county title squad. Only A-I leader Garden City, which held on to defeat Elmont 47-43 on Jan. 10, has kept Olawoye (seven points) in check.   

“A lot of people might look at us and see the five losses, but we’ve played a very strong schedule,” Holub said. “Garden City is tough. We’ll see what we can do against them at our place [Feb. 2]. Just one game at a time.”