East Endures Second Stumble Against Colonials

Grabbing an early lead and never letting go, the William Floyd boys basketball team's tenacity spelled trouble once again for Sachem East.

In their second regular-season meeting against the Colonials (6-1 in League I, 10-1 overall), East showed plenty of resolve, re-igniting its offense with a combined 23 points in the final quarter - 17 of which were knocked down by late-game hero Dan Candemeres. He had lopped East's deficit to five points twice within the last 30 seconds of the game, electrifying East's fans with a rare four-point play followed closely by a key three-pointer.

But several costly East fouls in those last few moments sending Floyd to the stripe three times within those last 30 seconds for a combined 5-for-6 effort, removing the brass ring from reach in a 61-54 showdown.

"Give them credit, they played a great first half," East head coach John Finta said. "We did some nice things toward the end, but not practicing for two days meant we didn't have the crispness we needed to have when you play a team like this."

Similar to what had haunted East last week in its neck-and-neck final-stretch rally against Brentwood and in its first go-around at Floyd earlier this month, the Colonials piled on the points with flurries of threes, where East seemed to struggle the most defensively. 

The Colonials' Anthony White's three at 7:25 was the opening gambit, and teammates Ray Ducoing and Aaron Willis each added one apiece before the quarter ended 20-13 on another three at the buzzer by Willis. Candemeres made his entrance on foul shots with 4:47 left in the first quarter, shooting a perfect 3-for-3 after drawing a foul from Willis. He eventually leading East into battle with 11 first-quarter points that included one three-point field goal, also bagging a three-point play after Thompkins received a foul call. 

Candemeres led East with 36 points including seven three-pointers and a perfect 5-for-5 performance from the line, nearly tying his single-game scoring record of 37 points from two weeks ago against Longwood. As bright a spot as that was, the senior was visibly disappointed with the result but joined Finta in commending Floyd.

"At one point, they couldn't miss," he said. "We had started to clamp down on D and chip away, but we didn't finish it. We didn't match it for the full four quarters."

By the end of the lopsided first half, Candemeres had sunk 16 of East's points. Floyd's own brand of hard-charging defense turned it on early and often, frequently grabbing steals and boards to regain control. Almost invariably, the ball made its way to either White or Willis to hold East off until mid-fourth quarter. Not helping matters was Floyd's ferocious goaltending throughout, which limited East's opportunities for inside scores: At the end of the game, East's final score was closely split between its two-pointers (nine) and its three-pointers (eight). 

East got some of its defensive edge back in the third quarter, contesting a series of shots under the basket. But it was a bit too late, as Floyd went on to net 14 points in the fourth: Willis hit Floyd's final three on a delayed drive after eating up both clocks to leave nearly one minute left to play.

White led the Colonials with 23 total points including three three-pointers, going 4-for-5 on foul shooting. Willis chipped in 21 points, with five three-pointers to his credit. Ducoing contributed eight points, including two threes.

"They shot the lights out of us," said Randall Colson, who added six points and also was perfect - 4-for-4, in his case - from the line. Praising Willis for his scoring, Colson added that the loss is less important in the short term - right now, he is taking the longer view toward the playoffs, where East will undoubtedly face Floyd yet again.

"As the coach said,'This is a marathon, not a sprint,'" Colson said.

East will travel to Patchogue-Medford (0-7 in League I, 1-9 overall) on Monday, Jan. 31 for a 6 p.m. game.

News & Notes: Sometimes surprising, sometimes heartbreaking but always riveting, the top three teams in League I boys basketball will no doubt keep things interesting moving ahead into the final games. After East dropped its away game to Floyd 59-42 on Jan. 4, East downed the Lions at home in their only fall of the season on Jan. 14 in an eerily similar final score of 58-41 - another 17-point margin. It was a considerable upset for Longwood, which had gone two years with an unblemished league record. The plot thickened further on Jan. 20, when Floyd played Longwood and had its only loss by only three points (67-64). 

In fourth and fifth place respectively, Brentwood and Lindenhurst cannot be counted out. Both squads have posed surmountable but still significant challenges for East as well: East fell early last week to Lindy (3-4 in league, 5-6 overall) 71-64, rebounding with some spectacular late-game play to beat Brentwood (4-3 in league, 6-5 overall) 57-55 on Jan. 21.