The MacArthur boys basketball team produced its largest margin of victory in coach Eric Rubin’s six seasons at the helm with a 78-39 win against Valley Stream North on Dec. 30. The Generals’ scoring outburst was their highest since Dec. 13, 2006, in an 84-80 overtime loss at Wantagh.
The 39-point margin of victory against Valley Stream North surpassed a 77-48 win against Herricks last season for the most lopsided under Rubin.
Nine Generals contributed to the scoring Friday, with junior forwards Kevin Olsen (12 points) and Sean Carey (six points) and senior guard Parth Joshi (six points) tallying career highs off the bench. William Cheshire had 16 points, Kevin Roach 13, Gerard Cunningham 11, Andrew Seniuk 5, Tyler Eppich 5 and Dan Svenelid 4.
MacArthur watched a 12-point lead whittled to one before Cheshire converted a pair of free throws with 14.3 seconds left in the second quarter. Cheshire then nailed a three-pointer before the buzzer to open a six-point lead at halftime.
The Generals held Valley Stream North without a field goal while outscoring the Spartans 25-4 in the third quarter en route to the lopsided result.
The third-quarter outburst began with a block by Roach. The senior forward then took a pass from Cheshire at the other end and converted a layup and foul shot.
The lead had swollen to 18 points less than three minutes into the second half, when Cheshire had a steal and layup and also drilled a three-pointer and Cunningham followed with a layup on a pass from Eppich and a three-pointer as well.
MacArthur (4-1 overall, 1-1 Conference AA-II) went unbeaten in nonleague play in a season for the first time since winning a pair of tournaments in December 2008. The Generals opened this season with victories against Island Trees and Plainedge in the Jeff Shaw Memorial Basketball Tournament.
