South Side Escapes With 65-56 Win Over Hewlett

The South Side Cyclones defeated the Hewlett Bulldogs last night at Hewlett, narrowly escaping with a 65-56 win to extend its undefeated conference record to 9-0.

Cyclones head coach Gerry D'Angelo said he was disappointed with how his team played on defense, and warned them its defense that will lead them to a county championship. "We didn't play well at all in the first half," he said. "We were really sloppy with the turnovers, we didn't shoot well and our energy level wasn't great."

D'Angelo said he played ten guys in the first half — he usually plays seven or eight — to try and create better energy on the court. "Some of the guys that don't play a lot, like Brian Caulfield, did a good job and gave us an energy spurt," he said.

Due to Regents testing week and school closures because of inclement weather, D'Angelo said he thinks the unorthodox week impacted his team. "Maybe it caught up with us," he said. "We didn't play with intensity."

D'Angelo explained that South Side plays best when its defense creates offense. When they don't play well on the defensive end, he added, it opens the door to failure if they shoot poorly. "We didn't guard screen wells and our rotations were slow," he said. "I preached to them before the game that we have to have a defensive state of mind."

To Hewlett's credit, they slowed down South Side's up tempo offense and forced them to play slower, and the Cyclones were never able to build momentum. A fourth quarter spurt gave South Side a 17-point advantage, but Hewlett chopped it to seven before South Side pulled away.

To instill more focus in his team, D'Angelo canceled today's practice, which he said is unheard of. "They need a day to themselves," he said. "But when we have practice tomorrow, we're not even touching the ball. We're working on defense. We'll win the games that we shoot well, I just want to win the games that we don't shoot well."

South Side has three games left in the season, and must win two of three to secure a top seed in the playoffs. The Cyclones play again on Friday night at home against Lynbrook at 7:30 p.m.