Carey earns signature win

After years of considerable success on the basketball court, the Carey Seahawks withstood a few very trying seasons. Well, the tide has officially turned. The return to respectability began last winter when the team picked up seven victories, and the momentum carried over in the 2019-20 campaign.
The Seahawks recently earned six wins over an eight-game period and stand at 9-5 overall, 4-3 in Nassau A-II, a league that is thought to be the deepest conference in the county. The team’s latest triumph was a 51-49 victory over intradistrict rival Sewanhaka. Senior James Cosgrove’s runner at the buzzer gave Carey the win.
“The boys deserve a lot of credit,” Carey head coach Steven Savino said. “The attitude is terrific, they’re focused, and they work brutally hard every day in practice. They have high expectations, and they know what I expect from them. They’re a real great group to work with.”
The victory over Sewanhaka served as a signature win for the Seahawks. Carey ran out to a quick 19-6 lead, but it was short-lived. Paced by 17 points from Kamren Denhart, the Indians fought back to tie the score at 32 as the teams took the floor for the final eight minutes.
With his team trailing by three and just 6.4 seconds to play, Denhart converted a traditional three-point play to knot things up at 49, setting the stage for Cosgrove’s heroics. Carey junior Chris Toscano led all scorers with 24 points. Cosgrove, who is averaging 14.4 per game, finished with 12.

“Chris and James have developed a real nice two-man game,” Savino said. “Chris’s shooting is terrific, and James’s game has really evolved. James can score away from the blocks or in the paint, and he’s a touch matchup.”
Toscano, who scored a career-high 37 in a non-league win over Valley Stream North, leads the team with an average of 20.9 per game. It would be noteworthy for a player to attempt 90 free throws in a season, Toscano has already converted 90 over the team’s first 14 games. He has also become an outstanding on-ball defender.
Junior point guard Michael O’Connell receives rave reviews from his coach. O’Connell had the knack for slashing and getting the basket, but adding the ability to pull up and shoot a mid-range jumper to his arsenal has made him more of a threat.
Savino waxes poetic about the contributions his team receives from seniors Garrett Scavelli and Nick Bell, citing Scavelli’s basketball intelligence and Bell’s lead-by-example approach and terrific defense.
“One of the great things about this team is that they never look back and never get too far ahead of themselves,” Savino said. “They’re always moving forward. There’s never any quit in them. I’m happy with where we’re at. We need to tighten up our pressure defense, both half court and full court down the stretch of the season.”
The Seahawks are back in action on Thursday evening at 6:15 when they welcome in Valley Stream Central.