Glenn beats VSS for L.I. crown

A magical and historic season for Valley Stream South came to an end last Saturday night at the hands of a John Glenn team that made the most of an unlikely opportunity to play for the Long Island Class A boys’ basketball championship.

The Knights, who lived to fight another day after their loss in the Suffolk County Class A final Feb. 25 was overturned due to Amityville’s use of an illegal player, overcame a 10-point second-quarter deficit to beat the Falcons, 68-58, in a back-and-forth game before more than 2,500 spectators at Hofstra.

Senior Jeff Park scored 24 of his game-high 30 points in the second half, and sophomore KeAndre Augustine added 25 points for Glenn, which captured its first L.I. crown since 1987. Sophomore Dana King had 25 points to lead South, which a week earlier won its first-ever Nassau County championship.

“They were fearless and did a great job attacking,” Falcons head coach Matt Johnsen said. “We weren’t as aggressive as they were and they did a better job staving off foul trouble. I thought our kids played their hearts out.”

South led 21-11 midway through the second quarter before Augustine dominated the last four minutes. He scored 10 of his team’s last 12 points of the half, including a trey right before the horn, to cut the deficit to three by halftime.

“I think the nerves got to us a little bit early in the game,” Glenn head coach Charly Rogener said. “They did a great job with the 1-3-1 zone, but once we started to attack late in the second quarter the court opened up for us.”

The Knights continued their momentum when Augustine opened the second half with another trey to tie it at 26. “KeAndre got us back in the game,” Rogener said. “We stopped passing so much and started to get aggressive.

“It’s been a crazy couple of weeks,” he added. “We knew we needed to limit what their big guys were going to do in order to win.”

After King regained the lead for the Falcons, Park ran off nine straight points, including two traditional three-point plays, and Augustine added a basket for an 11-point run that gave Glenn a 37-28 advantage with 2:22 remaining in the third. South responded by closing the quarter on an 11-4 run to get within a basket entering the fourth.

“It was a game of runs,” Johnsen said. “They hit some big shots when they needed to.”

The Falcons led for the last time with 5:11 to play when a pair of King free throws made it 46-45. Park, who scored 12 in the third, put Glenn ahead for good on the next possession. He then put the exclamation point on the victory with back-to-back baskets with just over a minute remaining.

“We wanted to keep going, but we had an incredible ride,” Johnsen said.