Wilson wins quarterfinal for Floral Park
Floral Park's Justin Wilson reacts after scoring the winning basket in his team's win over Westbury. Credit: Kathy Kmonicek
In just a few frantic seconds, Justin Wilson went from shooting an air ball to walking on air.
The 6-2 senior swing man nailed a jumper from the left corner with four seconds left to lift No. 5 Floral Park to a dramatic 60-58 victory over host No. 4 Westbury Monday in a Nassau Class A quarterfinal.
"The shot before that was a three that missed everything," Floral Park coach Nick Simone said. "You rarely see Justin do that."
Floral Park's Shamoy McIntosh hit two free throws with 1:14 left to tie the score at 58 and that's when things got chaotic. Both teams took wild shots, committed turnovers and called timeouts.
But after junior guard Lloyd Wheeler grabbed a defensive rebound with about 10 seconds left, Simone swallowed his impulse to call another timeout and let the play unfold. "After I got the rebound, I pushed it upcourt," Wheeler said. "Justin came from the other side of the court and I got him the ball. I was real confident when he took the shot."
Wilson, who finished with 10 points, got open behind a screen, rose up for the jumper right in front of the Floral Park bench and swished the 18-footer cleanly. By the time Westbury (11-7) called timeout, there were only 1.1 seconds left and the Green Dragons never got off a desperation shot.
"The only thing I was thinking was that my team was counting on me," Wilson said after he helped the Knights improve to 16-3. They will face No. 1 Manhasset at 5 p.m. on Friday at SUNY-Old Westbury. "Our big man was underneath if I missed, but I was just happy it went in.
"I've never had a game-winning shot before."
He might not have had the opportunity if Alloca wasn't such a force down low. "Coach said they might play some triangle-and-two and that I'd have a field day," said Alloca, who had 14 points in the first half when Floral Park erased a nine-point deficit to lead 30-27 at the break. "Most of my baskets came underneath. Shamoy made some amazing passes."
McIntosh (18 points) fired a nifty pass to Wilson for a layup with 1:33 left to put the Knights on top 56-55 soon after Westbury's impressive freshman Tim Quashie (14 points) sparked a five-point flurry that erased a 53-50 deficit. Victor Luckens' three-point play put Westbury ahead for the last time, 58-56 with 1:18 left.
That set the stage for Floral Park's improvised final possession. "My guys are probably better off playing off the cuff rather than me drawing something up," Simone said.
Wilson was the beneficiary of his coach's hands-off approach. "Coach always tells me 'if you miss a shot, forget it and move on,'" Wilson said. "I'll remember this day for the rest of my life."
