Thursday, October 1, 2026
Colin Kohut raised the palm of his left, non-dribbling hand – seemingly miffed at finding no cutters as the Mepham point guard paused at the top of the key.
His Pirates boys’ basketball team trailing by a point as the game’s last seconds ticked away, Kohut – scoreless on the afternoon till then – dropped a shoulder and charged the lane, his gesture of frustration now looking like a tactic as he raced past lulled Division defenders to lay in the go-ahead bucket with 5.9 seconds left.
The lead would hold, as Mepham (8-6, 3-3 Nassau Conference A4) completed its climb from 13 points behind at the half to outlast visiting Division 48-47 in a nonleague matchup Jan. 10.
Though Mepham head coach Jamie Adams said he’s preached patience to his club this season, the former longtime Lynbrook skipper, now in his second season at Mepham, agreed the thrilling finish to his team’s comeback against Division showed the Pirates also know there are times to adapt situationally – hewing to what Adams said has been his main message: “Keep it simple, don’t overthink.”
“I’ll be honest, Division is a game we would have lost last year,” said Adams, whose club last season went 0-20 overall. “This year guys aren’t settling for bad shots, impatiently, but also they’re free to be decisive, to read the defense and react.”
“Colin (against Division) saw they’d switched from zone to man,” Adams said. “He saw the lane and went for it. That’s keeping it simple.”
Captains Rhyan Galarza, Andrew Adams, and Kohut have been key to Mepham’s so-far successful efforts at stepping from last season’s fog, said Adams – whose late start at the helm last season left little time for culture-building.
Galarza, an All-Conference forward, leads Mepham averaging 12.1 points per game, while the six-foot-three Adams – team leader with 7.8 rebounds per game – is fast becoming his team’s so-called “glue guy,” using an intimate knowledge of Mepham’s schemes to help keep alignments tidy on the floor as a vocal leader.
Described by coach Adams as his team’s “most gifted scorer,” junior shooting guard Frankie Fasano has emerged as a second centerpiece of Mepham’s retooled offense, finding motion schemes a natural fit, as evidenced by his team second-leading 8.4 points per game.
“Frankie’s very crafty,” Adams said. “He shoots outside enough where teams have to go defend him, but also he’s a playmaker. We run a different offense from years past. Frankie has picked it up. Between him an Rhyan, those are the guys we look to.”
Freshman Caleb Caraballo, a late transfer from St. Mary’s, seems all but past any growing pains, averaging 8.1 points to rank third on the Pirates. Thee 6-3 forward made a splash leading Mepham with 13 points to go with a team-high 12 rebounds in a season-opening nonleague win at MacArthur, 44-43, Dec. 20.
“Games like (MacArthur and Division), which, again, we probably end up losing last year, are where all the work, the patience and the situational work, pay off,” Adams said.
“Last year, a multitude of things were against us,” Adams added. “I think we’ve changed the culture of the program. We’re getting there. Everyone rowing the boat in the right direction.”
