Parks, Longwood hold off hot-shooting Lindy
Longwood High School #30 Chris Millender grabs a rebound in the first half of a Suffolk County varsity boys basketball game vs. Lindenhurst. (Feb. 4, 2011) Credit: James Escher
The Lindenhurst gymnasium is so chilly that some of its players wear long-sleeve T-shirts under their basketball tank tops. The Bulldogs' long-range shooting, however, was so hot Friday night that the boys basketball team was either going to scorch powerful Longwood or go down in flames from the effort.
"They came out on fire. We were pretty surprised," Longwood guard Paris Parks said. "But coach told us at halftime they've got to miss sometime. They can't stay on fire. Just keep playing good defense. And that's exactly what happened."
The Lions also are a team that sizzles from beyond the arc, but this time, they overcame a barrage of Bulldogs bombs - 14 three-pointers in all - and pulled away for a 77-67 Suffolk League I victory.
"That's one of the best shooting displays I've seen," first-year Longwood coach Pierce Hayes said after his team improved to 11-1 and dropped Lindenhurst to 4-7.
Lindenhurst's Stu Warren, with a game-high 32 points, was especially steamy in the first half, nailing five treys among his 19 points, but his team still trailed 38-33 at halftime, validating Hayes' premise. "We didn't make adjustments at halftime because we weren't really playing bad defense," Hayes said. "We stuck with our game plan because we're confident in it."
Longwood loves to pressure the ball and Parks (24 points), Blake Evans (17 points) and Tayquan Mayo (12 points) made numerous steals that led to high-percentage baskets as the Lions grabbed a 49-39 lead midway through the third quarter.
The Bulldogs' Rob Balkam (16 points) nailed a couple of treys in a 9-0 run that cut it to 51-50. But Parks made two steals and two layups in an 11-3 run to start the fourth quarter and Lindenhurst never recovered. Parks had 13 rebounds and three steals.
"I'm not usually a rebounding guard, I'm usually looking to leak out," Parks said. "But once I grabbed some rebounds early, I kept at it."
His teammates kept at it on the defensive end, particularly Evans, who scored 14 second-half points thanks to opportunities in transition. "When we pulled away," Hayes noted, "it was because we turned up the ratchet on defense."
And turned down the Bulldogs' thermostat. Warren did not have a three-pointer in the second half. "We knew - hoped - he couldn't keep it up," Hayes said.
