By:Zack Richner
It was Senior Night, a celebration of South Side seniors and their parents, a tradition inaugurated by D-Angelo when he took over as coach three years ago. At the last home game of each season, each of the team-s seniors is introduced to the crowd, and each presents a rose to his parents at center court, where they pose for a photo.
For most parents, Senior Night is the culmination of a four-year commitment to the South Side basketball program that begins when their child joins the junior-varsity team in ninth grade. The night is a great way to thank the seniors, D-Angelo said. But more importantly, to thank their parents, who have really shown tremendous support. These seniors- parents are the best.
After the festivities, the game got under way. D-Angelo had said earlier that he would use a full-court-press defense in the hope of subduing Garden City-s top two scoring threats, Brian Perrier and Artie Cutrone. South Side-s two best defenders, seniors Nick Castro and co-captain Mike Cove, were assigned to guard them.
The Cyclones got off to a quick start, as senior Nate Smith hit a layup and then Castro nailed a long 3-point field goal, his first of three on the night, to give South Side a 5-0 lead. But Garden City stormed back, going on an 11-3 run to end the first quarter with a 13-11 lead. The energy the Cyclones had exhibited before the game had vanished.
The lead changed hands throughout the first half, as South Side struggled to find its rhythm. But then, with the score tied at 22 and just over two minutes remaining in the half, the Cyclones stole the ball from Garden City. Senior co-captain Alex Anderson, who finished the game with a team-high 21 points and 15 rebounds, ended the fast break with an emphatic dunk that energized both the crowd and the team. South Side never trailed again.
The Cyclones finished the half leading by eight, 30-22. By the end of the third quarter, they had increased their lead to 21 points, 49-28, after a dominating 32-6 run.
By the fourth quarter, all of the seniors had made it into the game, as D-Angelo had hoped. When they were taken out, the crowd gave them a rousing ovation. In the final minutes of play, the underclassmen who replaced them showed that they could hold their own. Junior Chris O-Connell drained two consecutive three-point shots in the final minute of play, as South Side-s squad of the future finished a game whose final score represented South Side-s largest lead of the night, 69-42.
The underclassman who saw the most action was sophomore point guard Bobby Hayes. Though he had only one assist and two points on the night, the intangibles that he brought to the floor weren-t recorded on the stat sheet. Hayes continually showed his intensity, leading team claps, shouting encouragement to his teammates and calling plays on the floor.
Bobby-s a great leader, D-Angelo said. If it weren-t for my seniors, he would be the best leader on this team, and I-m really looking forward to coaching Bobby for another two years. He always brings the intensity. He always brings the energy. He has the ability to hit the shot, to rebound or to find the open guy on the floor.
But the night belonged to the seniors. Before the game, D-Angelo had told Anderson, Zack Blumenthal, Castro, Cove, Dwayne Fielder, Karl Perryman, co-captain Matt Simoneschi, Smith and co-captain Tom Walsh to enjoy the game and make this last game a good one.
The nine graduating Cyclones must have been listening. They didn-t just make the game a good one; they made it a great one. In the process of raising the team-s record to 10-1, the seniors led their teammates to a win that will long be remembered by both the players and their families.
South Side takes rematch
In a rematch of an epic six-overtime game nearly four weeks ago, South Side thrashed host Valley Stream South 78-57 last Thursday night. The win was the Cyclones- ninth straight, and improved their record to an impressive 11-1.
In the teams- first matchup of the season, South Side was without star player Alex Anderson, who was suffering from a pulled rib cage. In this game, however, Anderson was nothing less than dominating, scoring 21 points and grabbing a team-high 20 rebounds. Senior sharpshooter Nick Castro led the scoring with 26 points, matching a team single-game high for the season with six three-point field goals.
