Anthony Daley's three-pointer wins it for Deer Park
Anthony Daley didn’t have time to think. And that’s not a bad thing. All he needed to do is what he does every day.
After Junius Johnson corralled a rebound with Deer Park trailing by one point in the final seconds, he pushed the ball up court and found Daley open beyond the arc. The rest was second nature for the freshman guard.
“I’m going to shoot it,” Daley said. “I worked for this. I shoot the ball all the time at practice. That’s what I do — I shoot.”
And shoot he did. Daley knocked down a three-pointer with 3.2 seconds remaining for the final points as host Deer Park defeated North Babylon, 44-42, in a Suffolk League IV boys basketball game Thursday.
“I saw Anthony open for a three — the best shooter on the Island,” Johnson said. “I saw him open and he cashed it.”
Even though Deer Park only trailed by one point at the time, coach John McCaffrey wasn’t surprised the final shot came from beyond the arc.
“It’s so funny, it’s such a different age of basketball,” McCaffrey said. “He’s a really good shooter, but he almost had a breakaway and no one in the gym thought, ‘Go get a layup.’ Now it’s Steph Curry, stop at the line, let it rip. And when it left his hand, I was right behind him and I was like, ‘That’s going in.’ ”
McCaffrey wasn’t alone, as fans stormed the court following the basket. But Deer Park security quickly cleared the court and after North Babylon called a few timeouts, Johnson blocked a desperation three-pointer with 0.5 seconds remaining.
“He’s our Draymond Green,” McCaffrey said. “That’s the simplest way of explaining it. He has to do a little bit of everything for us. He has to handle the ball a little bit, rebound for us, play defense, steals, he has to contribute in his own little ways.”
Deer Park (2-0) led nearly the entire opening three quarters, despite missing one of the top scorers in Suffolk in Malik Edmead. Edmead, who is committed to play at Division-I Merrimack College, was out because of an injury, but the production stayed in the family. Preston Edmead, Malik’s brother, took over at point guard and controlled the game, despite being a 5-5 eighth grader. He led the Falcons with 14 points.
“It’s fun being only an eighth grader and going out and making plays for my teammates and myself,” Edmead said. “Especially when we win the game.”
North Babylon (2-1) never trailed in the fourth quarter until Daley’s final shot. And despite Malik missing the game, Deer Park rallied around its combination of youth and experience for the win.
“It’s kind of been a next-up mentality, but we have a lot of good basketball players in Deer Park,” McCaffrey said. “We are kind of piecing it together with the kind of basketball players we have and to get this type of win kind of shows our depth and toughness.”
