Port Washington boys basketball's Trevor Amalfitano scores 23 points in Nassau AAA semifinal victory

Port Washington easily beat Syosset on Farmingdale State College’s court and claimed a ticket to the Nassau Class AA championship game on Feb. 25, 2023.

Now came a postseason rematch on the same date one year later, at the same site and in the same semifinal round, only this time with a ticket to the Nassau Class AAA championship game at stake.

This time, it was a lot closer. But in the end, it was the same result.

Trevor Amalfitano scored 23 points and Cole Reyes totaled all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter as top-seeded Port Washington earned a 66-56 victory over No. 4 Syosset Sunday night.

The Vikings improved to 20-2 after winning their 10th straight game, and snapped Syosset’s 11-game winning streak. They will meet No. 2 Baldwin in the final, which is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. on Saturday at Farmingdale State.

“It’s one more game,” Port Washington coach Sean Dooley said. “We get to be together for another week… The county championship would be awesome, but we just want to keep playing.”

Last year, Port Washington emerged with a 71-44 win over Syosset, then fell in the final to Baldwin, 45-39. So the Vikings will again be in pursuit of the program’s first county title since 1947.

“Obviously, we’ve heard about it,” Amalfitano said. “But it’s the same mentality. It’s a normal basketball game, 32 minutes… Obviously, we’re happy right now, but it’s not the main goal. We want to win it all.”

Syosset trailed 44-37 heading into the fourth. But when Yassen Shaker made a layup with 3:46 left, the deficit was to 48-44. Syosset's AJ AbuSaab made a three-pointer to again cut it to four with 2:28 left.

But Reyes delivered his second three-point play of the quarter, this one off a shot in the lane, to make it a 57-50 game with 1:48 remaining.

Cooper Smith responded with a floater to get Syosset within 57-52 with 1:22 left. Reyes then made two free throws a second later, and Syosset, which has never won a county title, couldn’t get it under seven from there.

“They went on a bunch of runs,” Amalfitano said. “They can shoot. They’re well coached. But no matter what run they went on, we had a response and we stayed together.”

Amalfitano scored eight of his 14 first-half points in the first quarter and Port Washington’s lead sat at 15-5.

“I knew this is a team that we didn’t want to play catch up to,” Syosset coach Greg Cardona said.

Syosset (17-5), which got 14 points apiece from AbuSaab and Will Pettinato, answered with a big run and took a 17-16 advantage.

The Vikings responded to take a 28-21 at the half, and extended their lead to 34-21 in the third.

“I felt we got better as the year progressed,” Cardona said. “They’re a tough team, and they were better than us.”