By TONY BELLISSIMO
The controlled chaos that's long been a tradition of the Long Beach boys basketball team was in full effect in last Friday's pivotal Conference A-II game against Farmingdale.
The visiting Dalers led by six points with 2:21 left and by five with 1:09 remaining. In fact, they led Long Beach from the opening tip until the final 20 seconds. Then all chaos broke loose.
The Marines dodged two missed Farmingdale free throws, forced two turnovers and scored the game's last six points, including Lorenzo Pitts' breakaway lay-up with :04 left to claim a thrilling 64-62 victory before a noisy crowd of 150.
Senior Chris Calabrese, who tied the game at 62-62 with a rebound and put-back of a missed free throw by Pitts, stole the ball from Farmingdale guard Joe McDonald with eight seconds left and lofted a pass up court for Pitts. The junior guard took the pass in stride and used a finger-roll to lay it in. A desperation shot by Farmingdale's Mike Mannellino glanced off the rim, and the Marines' wild celebration was on.
"I didn't know how much time was left, but I knew time was running out and I had to get off a shot," said Pitts, who had four points.
Junior Gerard Burns scored a game-high 20 points and added eight rebounds and five blocks for the winners, while Juan Soriano had 16 points. Ryan Heller led the Dalers with 18 points.
"It feels great to beat a top team," said Calabrese, who had 11 points. "We just kept fighting. It's the most memorable game I've had in my high school career."
It's a game Farmingdale soon hopes to forget. The Dalers were in control throughout. They led 19-12 after the opening quarter and held off numerous Long Beach spurts and led by 10 with 6:59 left in the fourth.
"We made some mistakes, but I'm glad that we won the game and it's still something we can learn from," Marines coach Wandy Williams said. "We were in a deep hole, but the kids hung in there and did what I asked them to do. That pressure we apply bothers people and it bothered them at the most important time of the game."
Burns and Soriano combined for 14 of the Marines' 16 second-quarter points as the hosts trimmed Farmingdale's lead to 31-28. The third quarter was evenly played until the final minute, when the Dalers used a basket by Mannellino and a three-pointer by McDonald to take a 45-39 lead into the fourth.
When McDonald and Heller opened the final quarter with back-to-back field goals, Farmingdale had its biggest lead at 49-39. But the Marines wouldn't go away. Burns had eight points, Pat McCann five and Kola Owodolu two to cut the deficit to 58-54 with 2:21 left.
However, during a time-out, Long Beach volunteer assistant coach Mike Luzzo was hit with two technical fouls and the Dalers cashed in with two points to go ahead by six.
Pitts then scored his first points of the game from the foul line with 55 seconds left and Burns answered a McDonald free throw with a 10-foot jumper with 23 seconds to go to make it 62-60.
"I don't know what happened with the technicals, so I can't comment," Williams said. "I do know we used it as a rallying point."
Long Beach improved to 5-1 in conference play, while Farmingdale dropped to 4-2. The Marines take a four-game winning streak into this week's home games against South Side on Wednesday and Great Neck South on Saturday. They will also host Freeport on Tuesday, Feb. 6.
"All the remaining games are tough," Williams said. "This was a big win and we hope to keep on moving."
