The Mount Sinai Mustangs fell behind 22 points in the 2nd quarter Jan. 18 but battled their way back against Sayville at home to retake the lead a by three in the closing seconds of regulation. It was then that Sayville senior Aidan Arnesen hit a 3-point buzzer beater to force overtime. Mount Sinai surged ahead in the overtime period holding off the Golden Flashes to win it 62-57 at home.
Head coach Ryan McNeely said his team has had some close wins and some close losses but that the close losses were in league play.
“We beat them earlier in [the season] so these two teams matchup very well, but I think our guys are tired of losing those close games,” said the coach. “We’ve got a lot of seniors who’ve been to the playoffs except for [one] year and I think they want to get back to that.”
Mount Sinai senior guard Ryan McNeely, the coach’s son, led his team in scoring with 17 points and talked about the rematch.
“The last time we played them it was very close-we won in overtime, so we knew we could beat them,” said the senior. “Coming into our gym we always play well, we had to keep our composure and we knew we could make a run.”
Mount Sinai seniors Justin Rinck netted 14 points and Nick Cergol banked 10.
The win lifts the Mustangs to 4-7 in League VI, 7-8 overall with five games remaining in regular season play.
