Lucky 13 and playoff berth for East Meadow

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Before the season, East Meadow boys’ basketball coach Tom Rottkamp predicted his team would be one of the most improved in Nassau County and welcomed the “challenge” to flip last season’s 9-13 record to 13-9 this year.
The boys answered that challenge and put a huge exclamation point on win No. 13.
The Jets soared down the stretch with five wins in their last six games, culminating with a 53-48 win over then-18-1 Baldwin on Feb. 11. The win pushed East Meadow’s final regular season record to 13-7, including an 8-4 mark in Conference AA-2 play.
“At this point, I wish it was 17-3,” Jets head coach Tom Rottkamp said jokingly. 
Only one of the seven losses was by more than eight points. Two of them were by two against a pair of 15-5 teams in Great Neck South and Clarke and another was by five at 15-win Port Washington.

“They discovered how to play hard consistently for the whole 32 minutes,” Rottkamp said. “I think it’s been an issue for a lot of teams. They’re teenagers so you try to get them to focus for 32 minutes. That’s consistency [and] that’s discipline. Over the course of the season, we finally got there.”
Against Baldwin, East Meadow scored the first six points of the game and eight of the first 10 to start the second quarter, but the Bruins battled back each time and the game was tied at 22 at halftime. 
After Baldwin took a 30-28 with just over four minutes left in the third quarter, the Jets went on a 10-2 run that essentially decided the game. Josh Camacho’s put-back tied the game and Manjot Singh hit one of two free throws to put East Meadow ahead, but the Jets maintained possession after his second shot missed, which led to Frankie DeStefano’s baseline drive that pushed the lead to three.
Each team hit two free throws before Muneer Ibrahem’s 3-pointer from the left arc with about 20 seconds left gave the Jets a 38-32 lead entering the fourth quarter.
“The confidence never wavered and [that was] the key for us because Frankie didn’t hit any threes, so he scored 18 just getting to the rim,” Rottkamp said.
Camacho blocked two shots in the fourth and had a steal that resulted in Ibrahem’s turnaround jumper that increased East Meadow’s lead to 45-39 with two minutes remaining. Mazin Ibrahem’s 3-point play with 45.7 seconds left and five Jet free throws sealed the win.
“Josh was outstanding, and we told him that in the post-game locker room,” Rottkamp said. “He didn’t have a lot of minutes throughout the season, but when Isaiah Richards sprained his ankle at Port Washington, Josh knew he had to play a lot of minutes and he played so well [and] so tough.”
Unfortunately, the Jets couldn’t carry that momentum into the playoffs as they fell 73-51 to Hempstead in last Saturday’s quarterfinals.
DeStefano had a team-best 15.7 scoring average and earned All-County honors. Singh (12.4) and Muneer Ibrahem (9.7) were All-Conference selections.