Oceanside loses OT heartbreaker

Oceanside boys’ basketball head coach Joe Supple could only wander around the gym floor with his head hanging following last Saturday’s disappointing 71-69 overtime loss at Hempstead while wondering how his team let a golden opportunity to inch closer to a playoff berth slip away.

The Sailors (8-6, 4-4 Conference AA-1) led by as many as 14 points with about five minutes remaining in the third quarter, but poor execution on both ends of the floor allowed Hempstead (5-7, 3-6) to rally before the Tigers finally took the lead 54-53 with 4:38 left in the game. 

Oceanside rebounded from its prolonged slump and regained the lead at 57-56 on Jake Lazzaro’s jumper from the right side with 2:30 left before Ryan Powers’ 3-point play pushed the advantage to four with 1:29 remaining. But Hempstead’s Amari Spleen hit a trey with 52 seconds left to cut the lead to one.

With the Tigers over the foul limit, Powers was hacked after stealing a pass with 23.7 seconds left, but hit just one of two free throws to make it 61-59. The miss proved even more costly when Hempstead tied the game with 11.6 seconds left on Dashawn Meador’s floater from inside the key.

The Tigers scored the first four points in overtime and held a 69-64 lead with under a minute remaining when Oceanside rallied one last time. Lazzaro drilled his third 3-pointer of the game with 50 seconds left and Powers made one of two free throws on each of the Sailors’ next two possessions to tie it. But David Wells converted a give-and-go with center Devin Dobson with 4.9 seconds remaining for the winning score.

Oceanside tried to work the ball to leading scorer Anthorn Garrett, who finished with a season-high 25 points, on its final possession, but his shot hit the front of the rim to seal the Sailors’ third loss in five games.

“We were awful defensively today,” Supple said. “We got to rebound [and] we got to challenge ourselves mentally more. I give Hempstead a lot of credit. They executed when it counted and they beat us.”

The teams split the season series, with Oceanside besting Hempstead in another overtime contest, 61-56, on Jan. 3.

Garrett scored 17 of Oceanside’s 19 points in the first quarter, including three 3-pointers, and appeared on the verge of having an historic shooting day. The senior co-captain hit two more shots from beyond the arc in the opening three minutes of the second quarter to push his total to 23, but only managed one more third-quarter basket the rest of the way.

“They started face-guarding him,” Supple said. “We have adjustments for that, but we didn’t execute. Some of our leaders need to step up in those situations and they didn’t today.”

Oceanside went just 2-of-6 from the line in the fourth quarter and 3-of-6 in overtime. Powers and Lazzaro each finished with 13 points.

The Sailors have four games remaining and Supple believes a split should be enough to punch a postseason ticket to the Class AA tournament.