Thursday, October 1, 2026
In a League 1 AAA clash between Freeport and Hempstead, the Tigers beat the visiting Red Devils, 83-47, last Saturday. Right out of the gates, it was all Hempstead, and the lead never wavered.
The setback dropped Freeport to 1-4 in conference play and 2-8 overall.
“It just shows that there’s a lot of work that we need to do,” Freeport head coach Daryl Johsnon said. “Trying to keep these kids locked in and focused during practice. We have to start working on our defense and rebounding.”
The Red Devils trailed the Tigers 27-10 after the first quarter, with Hempstead’s Amare Collins and Aaden Saduy leading the charge. Collins notched 11 of his 26 in this quarter, while Saduy scored 8 of his 15. Collins is a top 10 scorer in Nassau County, averaging 19 points per game through 10 games.
Jonathan Davis sliced through Freeport’s defense, getting to the rim and posting an eight-point performance. Nelson Contreras also finished with eight.
Adjustments were made by Johnson, as the two teams tied in points scored in the second quarter, 21-21, though Hempstead led 48-31 at halftime.
“Just running different sets and different plays against the defense they were playing,” Johnson said regarding his team’s adjustments for the second quarter. “We went to more of our zone sets against what they were doing.”
Junior Oneil Suero-Reyes, who is Freeport’s season-leading scorer, led the Red Devils with 7. Even though it wasn’t his best game against Hempstead, he is averaging 12.1 points per game on the season. His season best is 20 against Westbury on Dec. 29.
Sophomore guard Kevin Espinosa made an impact for Freeport, finishing with three points on the day.
The Red Devils’ two wins this season came against Valley Stream South (49-38) on Jan. 3 and Hickville (53-50) on Dec. 15. A team that looked more like itself has gotten away from that style of play.
“I just think we were the better team those nights,” Johnson said. “This conference is really tough to win. I think all the teams are equal in terms of talent, but some teams play harder than others. I don’t think we’re at that part yet where we’re playing hard, digging in and lying down.
“Against Valley Stream South, we got out to an early lead and we had a 26-point lead against Hicksville,” he added.
Junior Keven Valdez, who is known for defense, had four points in Saturday’s loss.
“He’s more of a defender and he's always against the best offensive player,” Johnson said. “But today you couldn’t tell because you had No. 4 [Collins], No. 5 [Davis] and No. 1 [Sarduy] shooting lights out from three. So unfortunately, he can’t go on all three of them. Other guys just got to step up and do their job.”
Freeport will hit the road for a difficult battle against Uniondale (5-2) on Jan. 15. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.
