Cassius Moore's big fourth quarter leads Elmont boys to victory
Cassius Moore of Elmont reacts after draining a three-pointer in the fourth quarter of a Nassau Conference AA-IV boys basketball game against Sewanhaka at Elmont on Tuesday. Credit: James Escher
The game was headed for the final quarter, and it still stood in the to-be-determined category. Elmont led Sewanhaka by just six in a clash between two of the top basketball teams in Nassau AA-IV.
Time for Cassius Moore to take a step forward.
The Spartans constructed an 18-point lead and won, 70-56, on their home court Tuesday night after Moore scored 15 of his 28 points over the final eight minutes.
That gave them a two-game sweep of the regular-season series against a tough opponent.
“It says that when we’re playing well, we’re one of the best teams on the Island,” Moore said.
Elmont moved to 13-4 overall and 10-1 in AA-IV. The Spartans entered the night tied for first with Roslyn, so this was a large win with only three more on the schedule.
“We want to finish the regular season strong and get that conference title,” Elmont coach Ryan Straub said, “but I think we’re more looking ahead toward playing in February and making a run at the county.”
Dylan McLennon scored 16 and Jordan Tucker added 15 more for Sewanhaka. But the team, which was missing injured point guard Nasir McMillan, fell to 13-4 overall and 8-3 in the conference.
“We’re going to be fine,” coach Jay Allen said. “We’ve got to get healthy overall and just get back to what we do. Moving forward, I still think we’re a very good team. We have three of the best teams in our classification in one conference. These tough games like this right here are going to help us prepare for teams that haven’t seen us before.”
The Spartans led, 46-40, after three. And they led 53-47 with just under five minutes left. Then Moore made a floater in the lane and a driving scoop for a 10-point advantage.
The margin hit 12. Moore followed by sinking consecutive threes.
“Game on the line, I just wanted the ball in my hands, make plays for me and my teammates,” the senior combo guard said.
Sewanhaka owned a one-point edge at the break. Kymani Dias then scored eight of his 10 in the third, nailing two threes and jamming an alley-oop feed, helping Elmont grab a 46-35 lead.
The Spartans outscored Sewanhaka 41-26 after halftime.
“I think the officiating changed,” Allen said. “They got a lot of calls and we didn’t. And they made shots . . . I think they’re the best team in our conference.”
