Balanced North Shore tops Lynbrook

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Trying to defend North Shore’s boys’ basketball team has its challenges and Lynbrook found out firsthand last Friday night when the Vikings led from start to finish on the way to a fourth straight Conference A-IV victory and fifth overall, 53-38.
North Shore, which began the season 0-5 including a loss to Wantagh in the conference opener, is without a dominant scorer but can attack from anywhere on the court. Sophomore David Berlin came off the bench at Lynbrook to score a team-high 13 points, marking the fifth straight game the Vikings (5-5 overall, 4-1 in A-IV) had a different leading scorer. The Owls (4-6, 1-4) got 10 points from junior Thomas DeMenezes.
“Our guys just flat-out share the ball,” North Shore head coach Kevin Carpenter said. “We only care about one stat and that’s the W. We’ve got balanced scoring and I think the best attribute of this team is we’re like a chameleon. We can match up against anything our opponent likes to do.”
Junior Luke Jacklin, who had 23 points to lead a blowout victory over Floral Park on Jan. 4, contributed a dozen against Lynbrook. Senior Will Scarola, who poured in 18 to lead the way to a win over Oyster Bay last month, chipped in seven points along with juniors Phil LaRosa and Jack Ledden. LaRosa scored a team-high 13 as North Shore got into the win column against Plainedge, while sophomore Daniel Quigley led five Vikings in double figures with 16 in a win over Valley Stream North two days before the Owls held him to two field goals.
“Quigley hit five threes against North and we were conscious of our perimeter defense tonight,” Lynbrook head coach Jamie Adams said. “They play a lot like we did last season where they’ve got five guys on the court who can hurt you inside and out.”

Scarola opened the game with a trey and the Vikings quickly built an 8-0 lead and never looked back. Lynbrook chipped away and got within 12-8 by the end of the first quarter. Senior Greg DeJoseph knocked down a three, sophomore Rich Correa-Lampasona (seven points) converted a traditional three-pointer and sophomore Haris Cekic added a nifty put-back to get the Owls’ vocal crowd going.
However, the Vikings cranked things up a notch in the second when Carpenter summoned Berlin off the bench. Berlin had seven points, Ledden drained a trey and Quigley added a left-handed bank shot as the visitors had Lynbrook doubled up by halftime with a 28-14 cushion.
The Owls would get no closer than 11 in the second half. “We graduated nine guys; six of our top seven,” Adams said. “We’re still wet behind the ears but we’re hoping to win our share the second time around the schedule.”
North Shore hosts the rematch on Feb. 5 at 7:15 p.m.
“We’re working really hard,” Carpenter said. “At the beginning of the season we went through a huge struggle. We lost a bunch of close games, but that gave us tough skin. Now we’re getting the results we’re looking for and the kids are buying into one day at a time.”