East Meadow boys basketball team, with an eye on a title, rallies to beat Farmingdale
Brendan Cronin of East Meadow hits a three-pointer against Farmingdale in the final minutes of the fourth quarter during a Nassau Conference II boys basketball game at Farmingdale on Friday. Credit: David Meisenholder
The goal is pretty simple this season for the East Meadow boys basketball team.
“Our goal is to win every game we play,” coach Tom Rottkamp said. “That’s a tall order. But that’s how we go into every game, thinking we’re capable of that. So we want to win a conference championship, we want to win a county championship, and just see how far our talent can take us.”
It has been 45 years since East Meadow’s last conference championship. The program has never claimed a Nassau crown. But there’s hope now with all 12 players back from last season and talent among them.
The Jets fell behind by 13 with 4:41 left in the third quarter Friday at Farmingdale, then yielded only five points the rest of the way and won, 53-45. So they’re off to an 8-3 start, 4-1 in Nassau AAA-II.
“We’re definitely capable of winning a title this year for East Meadow,” senior guard Mazin Ibrahem said after scoring 24 points.
The Jets chipped their 13-point deficit to 43-38 after three quarters. Will Casseus hit a three-pointer, then followed with another at the buzzer — a heave from a little inside the midcourt line.
“It really brought a lot of energy,” Casseus said.
That 6-0 burst became a 15-0 run and a 47-43 lead. The Jets outscored Farmingdale 15-2 in the final quarter.
“They were just more tougher and physical than us, which was a little disappointing,” Dalers coach Jim Pastier said.
Jake Mangio had nine of his 10 points to power a 16-5 run by formidable Farmingdale (8-3, 3-2) to start the game.
Erik Kubelka powered a 12-1 Dalers run to start the third quarter, contributing two three-pointers and 10 points. The second three gave them a 40-27 lead. But Kubelka, who had scored eight in the first half, didn’t score again after the 10-point burst and finished with 18.
“We switched from a standard zone to a box-and-one because Jake Mangio is a great player,” Rottkamp said. “We wanted to shut him down. And then when Erik Kubelka started lighting it up, we switched and put a defender on him.”
Mangio scored his 1,000th career point on Tuesday in a win over Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK.
“It was great that I got to do it at a home game in front of my family and all my friends,” the senior guard said. “But it’s a long season. My goal isn’t to get a thousand points. My goal is to win a county championship.”
