Basketball Dog Fight Ends

On Feb. 20, the temperatures outside were at record-breaking lows. As the crowd entered the gym that evening,  you could feel the anticipation of the quarter final matchup of the 9th seed Manhasset Indians (9-10) vs the 16th seed Floral Park Knights (13-7).  Needless to say the temperature was rising.
Right from the tip of the ball,  you could tell that the intensity of this game broke the scale. The Indians had a hard task of stopping Kevin Cluess and company. After defeating Southside, the number one seed, in the opening round, their confidence was high and Cluess had the hot hand. However the Indians confidence was just as high coming off a thrilling overtime win.
Michael Bellucci had the tough task of containing Cluess but he was more than ready. The goal for the Indians was for everyone but Cluess to beat them. Manhasset’s offensive weapons were ready for the rugged Floral Park defense. Joe Enea and Tramont Smith led the offensive charge for the Indians; Enea with 25 points and Tramont Smith with 10 points. Michael Bellucci notched in 5 points. Keyshawn Johnson scored 7 points. John Sanseverino totaled 9 points. Sophomore Jack Keogh had 8 points and Danny Hedberg finished the game with 4 points. The offense was well rounded using several different methods. The team played very inside-out and attacked the basket very well.
The Indians tough task was on the other side of the ball in containing the high-powered offense of Floral Park. Although the star of the show was Cluess the scoring came in many different attacks. In the first quarter Matt Kelly scored 10 point alone, in the second quarter it Cluess scored 10 points alone, in the third Jimmy Guiero scored 13, and finally what seemed to be the dagger in the game, Shadner Edouasie scored 12 points. In the fourth quarter with just under 4 minutes left in the game, Edouasie hit three 3-pointers in a row.
The Indians would go on to lose the game 79-68 despite a heroic defensive performance by Bellucci and a well balanced offensive attack.
It would come to end the Manhasset Indians best season in the last four years. The coaching staff of Stu Goldman and George Bruns led the Indians to their first playoff victory since winning the Nassau County Championship. The Indians completed a great season.