by Max Robinson
The East Meadow Jets flew their way to a victory Friday night against the Hicksville Comets 67-47.
It seemed like the crowd was in for a long game, with both teams scoring less than 10 points combined at the end of the first quarter (7-2 in favor of East Meadow). The game would start to speed up a bit and end at halftime with the Jets holding a five point lead, before going on a scorching 43-28 run in the second half.
“We knew they (Hicksville) would be hungry for a win at home on senior night, so we wanted to guard really tight.” Says Coach Tom Rottkamp of East Meadow. “First half was a bit of an experiment, but we’re glad to have gotten this win on the road”. The Jets were led in scoring by sophomore point guard Markese Samuels, who had a game high 27 points, including two 3 pointers while converting a and one. He wasn’t alone however, with Senior forward Devin Myers posting 17 points with a crowd silencing block near the end of regulation. “Our point guard (Samuels) started scoring a lot, which took a ton of pressure off of me so I can have open lanes to attack the basket” Myers said. “My mindset was to get the win, while controlling the ball & tempo to keep the ball safe in our hands so we can get on the bus back home happy and in the playoffs”.
This was a crucial win in helping East Meadow on their push to make the playoffs while going up against a home team with a hostile crowd. Coach Rottkamp went on to further say “The key for us is always defensive rebounding. They (Hicksville) did a good job getting putbacks on us. We still need to work on it, but we’re very fortunate to get the win and go back to the drawing board tomorrow”. Needless to say, it looks like this team will be prepared for any team, no matter the record, moving forward.
