South Side captures Class A championship

The nightmare that was last year’s first-round playoff departure has been officially put to bed by South Side.

The second-seeded Cyclones made their biggest dream come true Saturday afternoon, beating No. 5 Jericho, 64-51, in the Nassau County Class A boys’ basketball championship game before a crowd of 2,000 at Hofstra.

“It’s especially sweet because last season we didn’t accomplish what we wanted to accomplish,” said senior point guard Darren Nickelson, who contributed nine points and 10 rebounds to a balanced attack. “We weren’t taking anything for granted this time.”

It’s the first county title since the 2003-04 season for South Side (19-2), which got a huge boost off the bench from senior Bobby Akeson (10 points) and juniors Gerald Mitchell (eight) and Dane Flaherty (six.) Senior Ryan Spadaford led the offense with 13 points, while seniors Kevin Coyle and Robert Picchioni added seven apiece.

“It’s very fulfilling,” Cyclones coach Jerry D’Angelo said. “The first day of practice we set a goal to get to the county championship game, and I like the way this team persevered throughout the season.”

Jericho, which split regular-season meetings with South Side, and outscored playoff opponents Seaford, Glen Cove, and Great Neck North by a combined 91 points, raced to an early 8-2 lead behind junior standout Garrett Johnson’s pair of treys. But the Cyclones kept Johnson (21 points) from dominating and will face Harborfields for the Long Island Class A championship this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Hofstra.

"We wanted to show him a lot of different looks, play aggressive on him in the post, and give him nothing easy,” D’Angelo said of Johnson. “He’s their best player and I was happy with the job we did containing him.”

Johnson was the only Jayhawk to convert a field goal in an opening quarter that ended knotted at 11 after Coyle beat the buzzer with a sweeping left-handed layup. Then Akeson, the team’s starting center until knee tendonitis sidelined him in late January, made his presence felt in the second along with Flaherty. Akeson went 5-for-5 from the line, and Flaherty hit his first attempt from behind the arc.

“We were so much hungrier this year and overcame some obstacles,” Akeson said. “I’m glad I was able to contribute.”

South Side built a 23-18 halftime advantage and got its offense cranked in the third quarter to lead by 16 heading into the fourth. Coyle and Spadaford opened the second half with back-to-back threes, and Akeson closed the third quarter by dialing long distance off a feed from Mitchell who previously converted a traditional three-point play that brought Cyclones fans to their feet.

“I enjoyed hitting that shot,” Mitchell said. “It feels great to be a county champion.”

Early in the fourth, Flaherty and Mitchell drained treys and the Cyclones were well on their way to turning out the lights on the Jayhawks. Senior Corey Miller (nine) and junior David Orr (seven) had all of their points in the final quarter when Jericho managed more than half (26) of its production on the day.

“I think our depth was the difference,” D’Angelo said. “It made practices very competitive, and these guys pushed each other every day.”