'D' key to Rocks' stretch run

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The East Rockaway Rocks boys’ basketball team is enduring another season of peaks and valleys, but an improved defense and continued offensive contributions from three key players could put the team on track for a postseason bid.

The Rocks had a rough start to the season with three straight losses, but the team rebounded with six wins in their next nine games to move back to .500. A heartbreaking double-overtime loss to Conference B/D-leading Malverne and another defeat to division powerhouse Cold Spring Harbor halted a three-game winning streak, but second-year head coach Paul Collins is still encouraged about the stretch run.

“Lately our motto is, ‘Nothing great is ever achieved without enthusiasm,’” Collins said. “The last five games, we’ve really picked up on that. Defensively, we’ve really started to turn things around. It was a good run because we learned a lot about ourselves.”

East Rockaway allowed just under 58 points a game in the first three games, but yielded a combined 77 in road victories over Shelter Island and Seaford. It has surrendered 53 or fewer four times since then.

Collins credited defensive “glue players” such as seniors Edward McCann and Vincent Cavalli and junior Stefano Cilluffo for being one of the big reasons for the turnaround. The 6-foot-3 Cavalli is averaging two blocks a game.

“When you have a guy who’s 6-foot-3 who can move around in the post and block shots, that’s just leading to other guys getting points,” Collins said of Cavalli.

Collins was especially happy with the 73-65 win over first-year Academy Charter School on Jan. 9 because they were able to handle a team they knew little about. Sophomore Franklin Infante had the best offensive performance of any Rock player this season with 33 points.

“They’re a very fast up-and-down-the-court team and we were able to not only hang with them, but we ended up beating them and we scored 73 points, which is our high for the season,” he explained.

After a 55-44 victory at Carle Place on Jan. 12, the Rocks visited then-11-1 Malverne three days later. The Rocks trailed most of the game and rallied to take a 52-49 lead with less than two minutes left in regulation before the Mules recovered to tie the game.

Chris Levins’s free throw gave East Rockaway a 58-56 lead with 10 seconds left in the first overtime, but he missed his second attempt and Malverne went the length of the court to tie it again on a layup. The Mules went on for the 69-62 victory.

“We were down nine at the end of the third quarter and we held them to eight points [in the fourth],” Collins said. “That’s where we really turned the game around. To hold Malverne to eight points is a great achievement.”

Offensively, the team is led by Levins (15 ppg), Infante (13.7) and Kellenberg transfer Aidan O’Connor (12.8).

The Rocks hold the fourth and final playoff spot in the conference and visit Oyster Bay on Jan. 29.