Big second half lifts Cyclones

Down a starter for a third straight game and with another on the bench icing an injured knee, South Side faced a midterm exam on the basketball court last Friday night at Jericho in a battle for the top spot in Nassau Conference A-I.

Trailing by five points at the half, senior forward Ryan Spadaford put the Cyclones on his back for a stretch and got plenty of help along the way as the visitors pulled out an exciting 62-58 victory and upped their winning streak to eight games. Spadaford scored 17 of his team-high 22 points in the second half, and seniors Kevin Coyle and Darren Nickelson added 12 points apiece to propel South Side (5-0 in conference play, 11-1 overall), which hit 19 of 24 free throws. The Jayhawks (4-1, 8-4) got a game-high 26 points from junior Garret Johnson.

“We’ve played in hostile environments before,” said Spadaford, who also ripped down 12 rebounds. “We won at Roslyn a few weeks ago and it was louder than this place. We think we have a team that’s good enough to win the county title, and games like this will only help us in the playoffs.”

Experience and depth are two things the Cyclones have going for them. They’ve rallied around the absence of senior center Rob Akeson, a double-digit scorer and rebounder who’s battling tendonitis (knee) and hasn’t played since Jan. 10, and missed senior guard Rob Pichioni (10 points) last Friday for a quarter-and-a-half after he tweaked a knee.

Anyone called upon by coach Jerry D’Angelo has stepped up. At Jericho, junior Dane Flaherty started and sank an early basket, junior guard Brendan McDerby provided energy off the bench and drained a three-pointer, and seniors Tim Gangadeen, Nicholas Bruno and Brian Caulfield were tough on the defensive end.

“I’ve scouted Jericho a few times and they always play their hearts out, but so do we and I’m proud of the way our guys continue to handle adversity,” D’Angelo said. “This isn’t an easy place to play, especially when you have to dig out of a hole.”