Wednesday, February 12, 2025
You can’t blame the Lynbrook boys’ basketball team if it gets hit with a sudden case of deja vu as its conference schedule flips a second time around.
Last season, the Owls split their first six league games before dropping four of the final five divisional matchups to fall out of the playoff race after qualifying for the postseason the year before. This season, Lybrook finds itself in the same exact situation as it prepares to embark on its final six-game conference run.
This time around, the Owls have experience on their side as nine players from last year’s rotation are still with the team. They beat three of the remaining six teams during their first meetings that helped them match last season’s win total of five, but head coach Brian Donaldson isn’t taking the same results for granted.
“We told the guys that our destiny is really in our own hands,” he said. “Last year, we were 3-3 halfway through league play and we struggled the second time through. Now that we had that experience, if we sure up some things and take efficient shots, because we feel, in our league, it’s the ‘Wild Wild West.’ Any team can beat anybody on any given night.”
A tough non-conference stretch that bridged the new year resulted in a 1-6 slide that Lynbrook carried into last Monday’s final non-league game against East Rockaway. The Owls are now in the midst of a five-day break before continuing their playoff quest on Saturday at Floral Park (9-4, 5-2 Conference A6), whom they beat 68-63 on Dec. 13 behind 19 points from senior Ismar Purisic and 15 by junior Jake Prince.
After splitting games with Valley North and South two weeks ago, Lynbrook found itself in a battle with Plainedge as the teams were tied at 27 at halftime before a second-half struggle by the Owls resulted in a 53-48 setback on Jan. 14. But despite the recent slump, Lynbrook boasts a defense that has greatly improved from last season by yielding almost 52 points a game after giving up nearly 63 a year ago.
All-Conference senior James O’Donovan is pacing the team with an 11.3 scoring average and has surpassed 20 points twice. Purisic has lived up to Donaldson’s preseason hype by nearly doubling his scoring average to 10.1 after back-to-back 16-point efforts last week
“He’s been very big for us,” Donaldson said. “Just the other day, even though we lost, he led the team in points, rebounds and five blocks the other night. So, this guy, during the second half of league play, we’re going to rely on to get those tough baskets for us.”
Prince (5.2 ppg), senior Michael Werzinger (4.8) and junior Jaime Pereira (4.7) have provided tertiary scoring with at least one double-digit point game on their ledgers and junior Devin Byrne has “stepped up” from last year, according to Donaldson. Junior guard Cooper Cordes has been a clutch shooter off the bench and junior Max Dellacona admirably filled in for an ill O’Donovan earlier this season and is a solid defender.
