Spartans go down fighting

After two questionable calls gave fourth-seeded Floral Park possession with barely a minute to go in last Friday’s Nassau Class A first-round playoff game against Valley Stream North, one of the county’s leading scorers cashed in.

Shamoy McIntosh scored on a beautiful reverse layup with 37.1 seconds remaining as part of a three-point play that broke a tie and propelled Floral Park to a 60-57 victory. McIntosh had nine of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter for the Knights, who trailed by as many as 11 in the first half.

The 13th–seeded Spartans, who had senior center Alington Paul and senior point guard David Nelson foul out, got 23 points from senior shooting guard Ryan Kenny.

“As much as it hurts to lose, I couldn’t be more proud of the way we battled,” North coach Fabian Jara said. “We wanted to prove we could compete against the elite teams. We went toe-to-toe with them. It doesn’t even feel like we lost.”

Two crucial calls in crunch time played a role in the outcome. With 1:08 remaining in regulation and the game tied at 55, Kenny was whistled for a five-second violation at midcourt despite McIntosh not within eight feet of him. Twenty seconds later, the Knights appeared to lose the ball out of bounds but officials ruled it was deflected by North. McIntosh made the most of the opportunity, putting Floral Park ahead for good while drawing the fifth foul on Paul (14 points, seven rebounds.)

“I don’t want to take anything away from Floral Park,” Jara said. “They’ve got a tremendous team. A few calls went against us, but that’s basketball.”

The Spartans, who finished co-champions of Conference ABC-III with Great Neck North, led 52-46 when Nelson picked up his fifth foul with 3:32 left. It took Floral Park all but 21 seconds to take the lead. Kenny Quinn and McIntosh each hit a pair of free throws, then Tom Monahan brought the house down with a three-pointer from the top of the key.

“There was a stretch or two where McIntosh didn’t hurt us, but they had other guys step up,” Jara said. “We did exactly what we set out to do defensively. Our defensive intensity was there all season.”