56.0°,
Overcast East Meadow ousted by GNS
After an impressive 12-win regular-season and runner-up finish in Nassau Conference AA-II, East Meadow failed to capitalize on a first-round bye in the Class AA boys’ basketball playoffs.
Torrid shooting propelled No. 5 Great Neck South to a 72-51 victory over the fourth-seeded Jets in a quarterfinal game Tuesday afternoon in front of a capacity crowd at East Meadow. The Rebels, who got a game-high 16 points from Ben Kestenbaum and 15 apiece from Stephen Ambrosio and Adam Warner, stormed to a 15-point lead after the opening quarter.
“We hadn’t played in more than a week and we started off pretty slow,” East Meadow coach Barry Dickson said. “We needed to play better defense, but give them a lot of credit. They shot extremely well.”
The Jets (12-6) had four seniors score in double figures. Nick Slevin led the way with 13, Jeff Angelino added 12, and Kyle Berger and Rob Franzese each chipped in 10. The hosts led only once — 3-2 less than two minutes into the game.
“Sometimes the way Kestenbaum goes is the way we go,” GNS coach Steve Liebertz said. “Today we got contributions from everyone. It’s a group that plays very well together. We came out with intensity on defense and had a big day shooting the ball.”
Ambrosio had the hot hand early and scored three straight baskets to give the Rebels an 8-3 lead, and it wasn’t long before the rest of their starters got into the act. Kestenbaum, a lefty with a quick release, nailed a pair of threes and Warner drained one to push the margin to double digits. And when Stav Sofi beat the buzzer with a short jumper, the Jets faced a stunning 23-8 deficit after eight minutes.
