Seaford gears up for playoffs

Seaford’s boys’ basketball team has locked up a playoff spot and is near the top of Conference A-IV as it hits the home stretch of the 2015-16 season.

The Vikings are second in the league standings at 6-2, and 11-4 overall. Despite coming off a Jan. 19 setback to Friends Academy, longtime head coach Ralph Rossetti is pleased with his team’s performance heading into the final four regular season games.

“The team is working hard,” said Rossetti, who has won 341 career games in 34 years at Seaford, including a county title in 1998. “They have already exceeded my expectations from before the season.”

The Vikings have been led by a balanced scoring attack. Seaford produced three double-digit scorers in a 63-39 win against Mineola on Jan. 16, led by 21 from Andrew Cain, Andrew Pich (14) and Keith McHugh (13.)

McHugh, a three-year varsity starter, has led Seaford offensively with 18.1 points per game including 41 three-pointers. The senior captain, who switched from guard to power forward during the season, scored 26 in a 62-42 victory versus Clarke on Jan. 5. His presence was missed in the Vikings’ 72-43 loss to Friends that he missed due to illness.

“The kids feed off his play,” Rossetti said of McHugh. “He is very talented.”

McHugh is among a few Vikings who are shooting threats from long-range. Cain has drained 26 three-pointers while averaging 13.2 points and Pich has connected on 23 from beyond the arc.

Pat Quigley has also sparked the backcourt with an 8.5 per game average including 10 three-pointers. Junior guard Danny Roell is averaging 5.2 points and tallied eight in the Jan. 5 win against Clarke.

Seaford has been explosive offensively under Rossetti’s system that stresses up-tempo play and aggressive defense. The Vikings have scored 50 points or more in 12 games and above 60 in nine. The best offensive output was a 79-65 Dec. 23 victory at Calhoun in a non-league game.

“We’re very aggressive on defense, which helps our offense,” Rossetti said. “We like to pressure the ball.”

Seaford returns to action following a 10-day layoff this Friday night at home against Clarke at 7 p.m., followed by a Monday night road game at West Hempstead. The Vikings close the regular season on Feb. 5 at Locust Valley and Feb. 8 at home versus Island Trees, who handed the Vikings a 63-48 loss on Jan. 13.

“Hopefully we can win a couple more games and get a decent playoff seed,” said Rossetti, whose team fell to Carey in the first round of last year’s playoffs “I’m very happy with the effort.”

Rossetti said the week and a half of no games should be beneficial in helping to prepare for the final four games and the playoffs that get underway in mid-February. He scheduled two scrimmages this week to keep his players in game-condition.

“I think the time off will be positive for us,” he said. “It allows us to regroup.”