The game looked like it would be nearing a blowout for the Vikings early on when they went up 27-15 with a little under four minutes remaining until the intermission. From there, East Meadow looked like a completely different team, as they began to share the ball and play a much more physical style on offense and defense.
“When they switched to man [defense] we just got a little stagnant offensively, and relied to much on the dribble and did not move the ball,” said head coach of Port Washington Sean Dooley after the game.
“That kind of bogged down the offense, and they were able to make a run and we just couldn’t score in the second quarter during that stretch,” Dooley said.
From 3:57 in the second quarter until the intermission, East Meadow went on a 12-2 run to cut their deficit and head into the break only trailing 29-27. Jalen Griffin led both teams in scoring with 18 points in the first half for the Vikings, while Devin Meyers led the Jets with 15 points.
The third quarter was even between both teams, as they each netted 18 points in the stanza to head into the final period of play with the Vikings leading 47- 45. Port Washington looked less rattled than they did towards the end of the first half and gained more composure as the game went on.
“Ball movement, player movement, share the ball, good spacing, and then be able to make some layups and some free throws,” Dooley said in regards to his message for the team coming out of the half.
In the fourth quarter things got tense halfway through when, Meyers fouled out for East Meadow. He was their leading scorer throughout the game, and was hitting one crucial shot after another to keep his team in the game. Once Meyers went out, the team fell apart and was not able to generate enough offense to secure the win at home. For Port Washington Griffin lead the team with 35 points on the night, with the next leading scorer being Dylan Trenaman with 11 points.
Meyers finished the game with 25 points and was assisted by Nelo Williams who had 12 of his own.
“ [It] was sloppy but hard fought and we were able to execute down the end, and do the things that we needed to do to come out with a victory,” Dooley said.
Port Washington moves to 9-4 on the year and will be in action on Tuesday when they host Westbury at 6:30 p.m. East Meadow falls to 7-9 and will travel on Monday to Baldwin. That game will start at 7 p.m.
