Defensive-minded V.S. North at 13-3

Valley Stream North’s boys’ basketball team has its collective foot on the gas. And from the looks of it, the Spartans have lead feet.

Last Friday they posted a dominant 71-46 win over Lynbrook. In it, Tristan Mitchell led VSN with 18 points. Four others scored in double figures in addition to Mitchell, including Dominic Obukwelu (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Danny Kosior (13, 12) who posted double-doubles, and Jalen Harrison and Vincent Rienzie who added 10 points apiece.

“We’re looking good right now,” head coach Michael McVeigh said.

That’s because there’s more than now; the Nassau Class A playoffs are on the horizon.

With a defensive-minded 13-3 team, the only way to go is forward, literally.

“[Defense] has been the same as a few weeks ago, we’re still trying to just get better and [adjust] little things here and there,” McVeigh explained. “As you get towards the end of the season, some of your big picture stuff is understood so we’re working on details and little things to get better.”

With the team’s intense focus on the next day, the next practice, the next chance to put up a shot, one could say that there’s a valid case of tunnel vision; no distractions, the team maintains its concentration for preparing for playoffs.

“We had a really good win the other day and everyone was just talking about how we got to have a great practice tomorrow to just build off of that,” McVeigh said in reference to 57-49 win on Jan. 13 over Plainedge. “We have the same kind of goals, we’re trying to focus on the day and the next practice.”

Part of this comes from subtle steps taken months ago:

“In the beginning of the season, we talked about all these things we can control and all these things we can’t control,” he explained. “One of the things we came up with was [that] we can control our energy at tomorrow’s practice and how hard we play and who we are as people, things like that.”

But it’s more than character and determination that brings home championships – let’s look at the actual basketball.

For starters, McVeigh has a bench that he can go to without hesitation, a discovery that was made after a starter was hurt.

“You could really see how the other guys have stepped up, like the younger guys that have gotten more minutes have just really seized the opportunity of getting more touches on the ball and more of a chance to play,” McVeigh said. “Those guys have seen minutes, now they’re ready because they’ve experienced more of a role in his absence.”

Who are those guys? Rienzie was one of them. Given the circumstances, he’s made a habit of scoring in the double digits recently.

“He’s always just ready to go,” McVeigh said about Rienzie. “He was just ready for the opportunity.”

Back to the big picture- “The last few weeks, we’ve been able to clinch a playoff spot,” McVeigh said. “[The guys] are very excited and eager to come to practice.”

So yeah, foot still on the gas.