East Meadow in playoff picture

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East Meadow’s push towards the Nassau Class AA boys’ basketball playoffs took a hit Monday night when its furious fourth-quarter rally still wasn’t enough to overcome the large hole it dug at Plainview.
Behind sophomore point guard Marquis Samuels, the visiting Jets scored 27 points in the final 7:17 and got within a possession of drawing even several times after trailing by 18 but ultimately fell to the Hawks, 67-61. Joe Perlowski, who missed the first meeting between the teams on Dec. 19, scored a game-high 22 points and Dylan Banner added 21 as Plainview (3-4 in Conference AA-2) kept its slim playoff hopes alive while casting a cloud over East Meadow’s (4-3) chances.
“We only came to play for a half,” Jets first-year head coach Tom Rottkamp said. “We tried our best to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but we ran out of time. The first half was just awful and there’s no moral victories.”
Samuels scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, fellow sophomore Nabeel Sheich scored all of his 11 in the second half, and senior Devin Meyers netted a game-high 20 to lead the Jets, who took the first matchup 61-49 as Meyers popped in 19.
“Tonight was a missed opportunity for sure,” Rottkamp said. “We’re walking away feeling like we could’ve won.”

East Meadow never led and its largest deficit was 19 midway through the third quarter. Plainview led 17-10 after the first as the 6-foot-4 Perlowski established his presence in the paint with eight points. “He’s difficult to defend and they got him involved early,” Rottkamp said of Perlowski, who also showed off his shooting range from the top of the key.
The Jets fell behind 32-19 at halftime when Rottkamp made some defensive adjustments. “The message at halftime was simple,” he said. “They’re not that much better than us. We allowed them at least five wide-open layups. So we changed what we were doing defensively and our second-half effort was tremendous.”
It wasn’t until nearly a minute elapsed in the fourth quarter that East Meadow started making a substantial push. Sheich opened and closed an 11-0 run with three points on each side as East Meadow crept within 52-45 with 4:55 remaining. The lefty guard nailed a trey to get it started and then finished it off by going 3-for-3 on free throws after getting fouled on another attempt from behind the arc.
After the Hawks regained a double-digit lead at 59-49, Samuels scored seven straight and the Jets were within three inside of a minute. The margin was down to 63-61 following a Meyers layup with 15 seconds to go, but Banner and Jordan Lambert both went 2-for-2 from the line to seal the outcome.
East Meadow, which saw its two-game losing streak snapped, needs one win over its final three games to qualify for the Class AA playoffs. It hosts Port Washington this Saturday at noon.