The Herricks Highlanders boy’s varsity basketball team (7-7) secured their spot in the Conference AA-III playoffs with a 50-39 victory over the Hurricane Sandy-weakened Long Beach Marines (3-10) on Monday night at Herricks High School.
As he has most of the season, Andrew Fellus led the Highlanders with 27 points, including four 3-pointers, seven free throws and five assists.
Earlier this month, in 81-67 Highlander victory over Calhoun, Fellus set the Herricks High School record for the most points in one game, scoring 49 points. That followed up with his scoring 19 points against Bellemore Kennedy on Jan. 11 to reach 1,000 points.
Fellus was assisted in the victory over Long Beach by Highlander Ryan Gaitan who scored six points, and had 10 rebounds.
Long Beach had difficulty penetrating the Highlander’s defense in the first half, struggling to make their way into the paint. And Herricks opened up a 32-16 lead over the Marines at halftime.
Closing the gap to 10 points in the third quarter, Long Beach outscored the Highlanders 16-10, however they couldn’t maintain their momentum in the fourth. Long Beach was led by Tyquan Scott with 16 points and Tariq Cole with nine points. Thomas Patrick scored the Marine’s only 3-pointer.
Long Beach, eliminated from the playoffs prior to Monday’s game, endured major strikes against them this season with the loss of four starters, one due to illness and another having to relocate due to Hurricane Sandy’s devastating impact on their hometown.
“It’s been a tough season, we lost chemistry and had to change some things over,” Long Beach Marines head coach T.J. Burke said.
Burke said half of his players have been displaced as a result of Sandy.
“From all that they’ve gone through, to persevere and fight through that and have some kind of normality is good for them” he said.
Herricks Highlanders head coach Tim Kinsella said the script for his team has remained the same since the season started.
“This season has been a work in progress since the day we started, we knew that we were short with some big guys down in the post, but we were able to rise to the occasion,” Kinsella said.
Herricks is the No. 4 seed in their conference, behind Calhoun (10-4).
Kinsella said Fellus made his teammates better and had taken the team to the next level.
Before the game, the team was recognized for their successful season with their parents joining them on the court for applause from an enthusiastic home crowd. Each team member was presented with flowers, including team captain.
Fellus was tightly embraced by his father Ken, mother Lorie and sister Jeanine during the ceremonies.
