With 28 seconds to play, Farmingdale High School senior Dan McKeon drained a clutch three-point shot to put the Dalers up 57-56. It appeared that—after a roller-coaster game—he put his team ahead for good. It was not to be, however, when Hempstead’s Lykeem Bethea responded with a three-pointer of his own to put the nail in the coffin and give Hempstead the 59-57 victory.
“We were looking to play them man up,” said head coach Jim Pastier in regards to the final play. “We had a guy right in his face and he shot it over him. We had the switch on it, so we didn’t have the defender we wanted on him because they set a little ball screen but that’s life, they hit the shot,” he added.
The loss hurts a little more considering that Farmingdale had a 20-12 lead after the first quarter and appeared to be cruising. Sal Nicosia was in the zone, draining four three-pointers in that quarter alone.
“Sal was phenomenal in the first half,” said Pastier. “He got hot at the right time and we rode his hand but in the second quarter he struggled. He has to know when to turn it on and when to turn it off with the shot selection.”
As a collective unit, the second quarter was not friendly for the Dalers. They were outscored 15-6 and went into halftime trailing 27-26. They were unable to convert on second-chance opportunities.
They did turn it on in the third quarter. They came out firing and tied the game at 39 when McKeon connected on his first three-pointer of the game. They outscored Hempstead 19-16 in the quarter and went into the fourth up 45-43.
The fourth quarter was truly back-and-forth. Neither time could extend their lead by more than two points, and the game was tied up on five separate occasions. With 1:16 left, it appeared the Dalers were done when Andre Morse hit a jump shot to put Hempstead up by two and the following possession resulted in a Daler turnover. Durell Williams went to the
free throw to ice the game, but he missed the second shot, which gave the Dalers another opportunity. That was when McKeon hit the clutch shot from downtown to put the Dalers back up.
Unfortunately, on the next possession Bethea hit the cold-blooded three to give the Tigers the victory.
“Lately we’ve been having some mental lapses,” said Pastier. “We don’t complete games. When you have mental lapses, that’s what happens,” he added.
Williams led the Tigers with 16 points, four steals and three assists. Bethea had 12 points and four assists. For the Dalers, Nicosia led the way with 19 points and Mike Sheuerer added 12 points.
The loss drops the Dalers to 9-4 overall and 2-4 in the conference. They will take on Uniondale this Friday at home.
