During last season’s incredible run that culminated in a Nassau County championship, defense was paramount for the Farmingdale Dalers boys’ basketball team. They were unable to duplicate that formula in their 54-40 loss to rival Massapequa Chiefs.
Brandon Merklin led the way for the Chiefs with 17 points and five assists. Joe Verna added 13 points, including three clutch three-point shots and Sean Nealis dominated the paint with 15 rebounds.
“We’re trying to find ourselves right now,” said head coach Jim Pastier. “We have a whole new group of kids. We have to find people to play defense. We have a lot of holes to fill right now. We’ve been getting exposed in certain games, and we got exposed tonight,” he added.
The blunt assessment is a bit tough considering the Dalers entered the game with a 9-2 record. They did fall to 2-3, however, in conference games.
The Dalers did hang tough for most of the game. They were playing in a hostile environment against a rival opponent that was gunning for them. Still, they only trailed by four points after the first quarter thanks to some aggressive defense and shaky shooting from Massapequa.
They did get outscored 10-8 in the second quarter, and entered halftime down—but still within a manageable six points.
In the third quarter, they cut the lead down thanks to Vincent Rice’s shooting. He scored five straight points to tie the game up at 31-31. That was the last time, however, that the Dalers would threaten.
The biggest sequence of events occurred late in the third quarter when the Dalers had possession. They had a shot blocked and the Chiefs turned it into a fast break. Verna attempted a long three, got fouled, drained the shot and the crowd erupted. He hit the free throw, and it put the score at 35-31 after three quarters.
The Dalers never recovered after that, scoring only 9 points in the fourth quarter and losing by 14 points.
A bright side for the Dalers was Sal Nicosia and Dan McKeon. The former led the team in scoring 13 points and McKeon scored 11, including three from long range.
“Last year Dan was a role player. We had Curtis (Jenkins) and Jack (Burke) and other people the opposition had to worry about. He was able to get lost. Now he’s getting keyed in on and we’re finding out what he’s made of,” Pastier said. When asked what he needs to improve on, he said: “He has to go to the rim a little more, he has to move without the ball a little better and he has to get a little better shot selection.”
“We’re going through a little identity crisis right now,” said Pastier. The Dalers still have time to figure it out, however. They will return to action Friday against Uniondale at 5 p.m.
