Sewanhaka cruises past Hewlett

Sewanhaka High School’s gym was rocking from the opening tip of Thursday evening’s Nassau Class AA boys’ basketball first-round playoff game and senior Jordan Tucker made sure it stayed that way.

Tucker scored the first nine points for the hosts and finished with 24, and classmate Dylan McLennon added 15 as the eighth-seeded Indians cruised to a 67-39 victory over No. 9 Hewlett in front of a rowdy crowd.

“We love playing at home it’s a different type of energy,” said Tucker, who brought the house down midway through the second quarter with a breakaway dunk that gave Sewanhaka a 20-10 lead. “We’re like a family,” he added. “We feed off the crowd and each other.”

Senior Dominic Reed added 9 points for the Indians (15-6), who advance to face top-seeded Great Neck South in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The Rebels received the only bye in the 17-team tournament.

“We don’t care what seed we are or who we play,” Sewanhaka head coach Jay Allen said. “We’re just going to get after it.

“Today we came out with intensity and never let up,” he added. “We scouted a lot of Hewlett games and noticed they didn’t face much pressure, so that was a big part of our game plan and the kids executed.”

Sophomore Justin Ortiz had 18 points and junior Justin Ogilvie added 9 to lead the Bulldogs, who finished 13-8.

“We had a really successful and fun season even though we took our lumps today,” Hewlett head coach Andy DeBernardo said. “It was a wild and wacky environment, but our kids weren’t nervous. We just didn’t play well. They took us out of our offense and we couldn’t recover after scoring only 15 points in the first half.”

Sewanhaka led from start to finish despite senior point guard Nasir McMillan relegated to the bench for most of the first half after picking up two personal fouls within the first three minutes. Juniors Matthew Abreu and Miles Gurley picked up most of the slack and chipped in 5 points apiece.

“We’re a very deep team,” Tucker said. “Next we have the No. 1 seed. Great Neck South is a good team, but we’re not scared of them. We’re just taking it one game at a time.”

McLennon’s biggest impact in the playoff opener came in the second quarter when he scored nearly half of his points, including a layup at the buzzer that gave the Indians a 28-15 halftime advantage.

The margin swelled in the second half. Sewanhaka had an 11-6 run to start the third quarter and took a comfortable 16-point lead into the fourth. The still-buzzing crowd exploded with under a minute remaining when senior Ernchi Belizaire put the icing on the cake with a three-pointer.

“Our kids kept their focus throughout the game,” Allen said. “We played a really difficult schedule and I always felt that would benefit us come playoff time.”