Shorthanded Garden City stays perfect with win over Sewanhaka

Garden City was about to put its perfect record on the line and shoot for sole possession of first in Nassau AA-IV at co-leading Sewanhaka, and the Trojans were about to do it down two starters and two reserves. Yet James Hegmann wasn’t sweating over that before the tipoff.

“You can’t worry about what you don’t have,” the Garden City coach said after Saturday’s game. “You’ve got to worry about what you have and pour your energy into those guys.”

Those guys were undeterred. Despite two injuries, an illness and another absence, the perfect record remained perfect. The shorthanded Trojans survived a tight fight, emerging with a 51-48 win.

“We have a great group of kids, and they all work hard and they’re all buying into the culture and the process,” Hegmann said. “… They all step up.”

The Trojans stepped up to 10-0 overall and 6-0 in AA-IV.

So is this basketball team a contender for a county title?

“We definitely are,” sophomore point guard Noah Lau said, “especially after this game.”

Lau and Jack Costa, a junior forward making his first varsity start, paced the Trojans with 13 points apiece.

“We have a balanced group,” Hegmann said. “Anybody can have a night or multiple guys can have a night. It’s tough to defend.”

Braylon Metellus scored 14 points, Nehemy Fresnel added 13 and Miles Gurley had 12 for the Ravens. They dropped to 8-3 overall and 5-1 in AA-IV.

“We’ve just got to grow,” said coach Jay Allen, who has only three seniors. “We have to win tough games.”

They led 44-43, and then Brian Nolan, playing off the bench, entered the big picture for Garden City.

The senior shooting guard launched back-to-back high-arcing rainbows from beyond the arc on the right side that landed in the net — Trojans by five, 3:42 left.

“I kind of just stay after practice and shoot around with my buddies; get your confidence up so that when you get into the game, catch and shoot,” Nolan said. “Once you see one go through the net, many more will follow.”

After the margin shrunk to one, Costa hit a layup to make it 51-48 with 2:06 remaining. Sewanhaka just couldn’t convert from there.

“The hardest part about coaching a young team is teaching them how to execute,” Allen said, “and we just did not execute enough this game.”

They owned an eight-point advantage late in the first half, but Garden City cut it to 30-26 at the break.

“Our coach came in at halftime and gave us a really good speech and got us really fired up to come out and play that second half,” Nolan said. “I think we came out with a lot of heart.”