68.0°,
Mostly Cloudy VSS nears first conference title
King reaches 1,000-point plateau
After another dominant performance from its backcourt tandem of senior William Knight and sophomore Dana King, Valley Stream South is on the verge of capturing its first-ever boys’ basketball conference title and securing a top four seed in the Nassau Class A playoff tournament.
Knight poured in 29 points and King added 26 to lead the Falcons to an 81-66 victory at Floral Park last Friday evening, giving them a two-game cushion atop Conference A-III with three games remaining. With one more win, South (10-1 in conference play; 12-2 overall) will secure the conference championship as well as the first-ever home playoff game in program history.
“We’ve been playing well in big games like we did in last year’s playoffs,” said head coach Matt Johnsen, who guided VSS to the Class A semifinals last winter. “We’re healthy and cooking along.
“I’ve been staring at that empty banner for boys’ basketball on the wall of our gym for quite a while,” he added. “It would be great to get a conference title notation on it. If we do, it’ll make history.”
King has etched himself into the school record book by becoming the team’s all-time scoring leader. The three-year starting point guard did so Jan. 17, surpassing 1965 graduate Rich Lobell’s old mark of 914. King entered last Saturday’s twice-postponed non-conference game at Sewanhaka just nine points shy of 1,000, and he scored 24 in defeat to get to the coveted plateau. “The first whistle after he got to 1,000, they stopped the game for a minute and everyone gave Dana a standing ovation,” said Johnsen, who noted King will be honored at the Feb. 10 regular-season finale at home versus Lynbrook.
Floral Park didn’t want King to be the difference last Friday, Johnsen said, after he scored 35 in the first meeting. “They were all over him, doubling and throwing different looks, but he still scored his average,” Johnsen said. “Dana and Will were flying. Two of our bigs [Dimitri Badette and Hall Elisias] got in foul trouble, so we needed them to step up.”
