Trojans Fall to Mustangs

By Rosie Garschina

Amid the sounds of loud pumping music and basketball fans piling into the high school gymnasium, the boys' varsity basketball team warmed up for their first home game of the season, and also their first game of the annual Tip Off Tournament against the Mineola Mustangs. The Tip Off Tournament has been hosted by Garden City for at least the past ten years and is held to kick off the basketball season, but this game was not the Trojans' first game this season. They lost a close match at an away game against Oceanside on Tuesday, Dec. 9. This season is the 65th year of Garden City basketball and is also Coach Tom Martin's 19th year as the varsity coach.

The game started a little after eight and the starters for the game consisted of senior Captain and center Matt McFarland; senior Brett Tiejen; junior Pete Leibman; junior Rob Menger; and sophomore Steve Warinski. The first points were scored half-way through the first quarter when Rob Menger hit both of his foul shots. Several calls were made for traveling which aided Mineola in grasping the lead. The first quarter ended with Mineola ahead by two points in a 7 to 5 game. The Mustangs were combative offensively and used hands-off, instead of long throws, to switch the ball, but the Trojans played superior defense.

The Trojans' aggressive defensive style forced many of Mineola's points to be from the outside. The Mustangs preferred to hang back while Garden City would always push one man forward to press the ball at all times. The man to do this was junior and leading scorer, Rob Menger. Menger was on every ball coming down the court and was recognized for both his defensive and offensive skills. Coach Martin stated, "Both Menger and Tiejen played great defense."

During the second quarter, Garden City picked up the pace as their shooting improved enormously. They led at half time 24 to 22. The support of Captain Tim Crowley, junior Garrett Gleeson, and junior Bill Garvey helped tremendously to push the Trojans forward to gain their well-deserved lead. Mineola displayed concern as they walked off the court, because now they knew what Garden City was capable of.

When the third quarter ended Garden City lost their shooting streak and trailed 39 to 33. The Mustangs concentrated more on their defense and put extensive pressure on center Matt McFarland. This prevented Matt from banking a lot of his rebounds. As a result, he became discouraged. Coach Martin remarked, "They focused a lot of their defense on McFarland and made it more difficult for us to score." The Trojans' shooting ability declined and they only scored 9 points during the third quarter, while Mineola's strong shooters came alive to give them a six point lead. The Mustangs executed 8 three-pointers in all, which compelled Garden City to work even harder to make up the points. "We put a lot of effort into our defense," said Martin, "but the problem was in the third quarter when we could have shot better. It was a stumbling block." Martin supplied supportive coaching from beginning to end, but couldn't pull his players out of their slump.

During the fourth quarter, Garden City had a chance to pick up the game, but just couldn't get the ball in the net. Mineola took advantage of the situation and extended their lead to 13 points with about two minutes to go in the game. It looked as though Garden City would almost pull it off, as they were given several foul shots, but, unfortunately, the defense of Mineola hindered them. Garden City's time ran out and they lost 53 to 45.

At press time, Mineola was scheduled to play Oyster Bay and the Trojans were scheduled to play against Hempstead. We wish them luck.