VSS falls short in playoff bid

After Valley Stream South blew out Glen Cove by 33 points Feb. 8 to keep its Nassau Class A boys’ basketball playoff hopes alive, the Falcons were unable to decide their own fate.

With a bye last Friday, first-year head coach Matt Johnsen attended the Great Neck North-West Hempstead game with plenty of rooting interest. A loss by West Hempstead would’ve opened the door for South to claim the fourth and final playoff spot in Conference A-III, but the Rams pulled out a 58-57 thriller to clinch a postseason berth.

“It was heartbreaking,” Johnsen said. “We beat West Hempstead twice and owned the tiebreaker. That win put them two ahead of us with one game to go. It’s tough when you don’t control your own destiny, but looking back there were a few spots we could’ve gotten that win to get us in.”

The Falcons capped their season in style regardless, rolling to a 70-42 victory at North Shore last Monday for their 10th win overall in 17 games. They raced to a nine-point lead after the first quarter and never looked back. Senior center Brandon St. Louis poured in a game-high 27 points and grabbled 10 rebounds, senior Henoc Bienne added 15 points and 12 assists, and senior Brandon Negron chipped in 10 points.

“We’ve had some long bus rides in this conference,” said Johnsen, who served as varsity assistant coach last season. “It was the first time we enjoyed a long ride back home. We competed in a very tough conference. To win 10 games and a couple of tournaments were good points we can take into next season.”

South went 5-7 against conference foes and avenged their worst loss by taking care of depleted Glen Cove in last week’s rematch, 66-33, behind Bienne’s 20 points and 12 assists. Johnsen said the first meeting between the teams was “the one that got away.” The Falcons blew a 20-point lead at Glen Cove Jan. 11 and lost 71-67. “They scored 35 in the fourth quarter,” he noted.

Johnsen is now faced with the prospect of replacing nine seniors, including co-captains Bienne and Akil County. “We’re losing all our size, but the JV lost only twice and we’ve got some nice players on the way up,” Johnsen said.

Bienne, who handled point-guard responsibilities down the stretch, is a strong candidate to earn All-County honors after leading the Falcons in scoring at 20.7 points per game. He hit for a career-high 37 in a non-league win over Hicksville Dec. 29 and scored 30 in a Jan. 28 win over West Hempstead. “Henoc had an insane season,” Johnsen said. “He had some really big games, both offensively and defensively.”

County was South’s best perimeter shooter, hitting 30 treys. He and junior Jeyson Jones averaged a shade under nine points per game. Jones thrived on the wing but could be back running the show from the point in 2011-12.