Manhasset Ousts Mineola from Playoffs 77-54

After winning their , the Mineola Mustangs were given the task of taking down No. 1 seed Manhasset to advance another round in the Nassau Class A tournament.

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, they were dealt a bad hand from the start, and Manhasset rolled on to victory 77-54 Monday night.

The Mustangs, already the underdogs coming in, were put even further behind when senior forward Jimmy Bulva and sophomore Mike Waszczuk missed the game with a stomach bug.

Mustang coach Jim Hegmann said after the game that it was extremely tough playing without two of his stars.

“That’s like 30 points right there,” he said, “it’s tough to be able to make up for that.”

But even without the duo, the Mustang’s showed off a fight that characterized the teams scrappy play all year. Sophomore Brian Gaffney scored 13 points for the Mustangs and senior Thomas Ward added 12.

Mineola came out in the first going shot for shot with Manhasset to keep the score close with Manhasset only able to get a 4 point lead at any given time. Senior Tommy Ward put up 5 points in the period, and sophomore breakout Malcolm Brown added four on his way to 10 on the night.

At the start of the second, Mineola continued to pry the Indians’ denfese, scrambling for any lose ball. Following a foul on senior Ryan Jenkins as he was shooting a three, he converted two of the free throws, Manhasset finally broke out and took the game over.

Over the last four minutes of the half, Manhasset broke out a 16-0 run with big-man Gary Tibbs accounting for eight. Tibbs went for 21 points and 12 rebounds on the night.

“We’ve never seen a big like that before,” Hegmann said afterwards. At the half, Manhasset sat with a comfortable 40-23 lead.

In the third period, Manhasset came out and continued to put their stamp on the game.

Mineola was able to go on a 7-0 run at the start of the period to cut the score to 42-30, highlighted by a big three from Gaffney, but Manhasset responded, going on a 21-7 run to close out the last five minutes and and taking a commanding 65-37 lead.

Manhasset’s Alesandro Troia exploded in the quarter, scoring 15 points from a variety of spots and scoring 30 on the night.

But credit the Mustangs, they never lost their intensity.

Mineola had three swipes from Manhasset in the fourth, continuing to attack the basket and keep playing.

When the dust settled, though, Manhasset walked out with a hefty 23 point victory.

Hegmann was still positive and optimistic despite the loss.

“I’m very proud, we had a great season,” Hegmann said. “We had three all-conference players, one all-county. Kids grew this year, Malcolm and (Tom) Breslin, they improved tremendously.”

With the season over for all of ten minutes, Hegmann also knew what the team had to do going forward.

“We just have to work, people have to step up,” he said, “the role players now have to step up and be the star players; and they will.”