When the MacArthur varsity boys' basketball team walked off the floor at Great Neck South on Feb. 11, the Generals had completed a successful regular season with an 11-7 record, yet they still were unsure of their postseason fate. Then, minutes later, Bellmore JFK defeated rival Long Beach and MacArthur's sizzling second half to the season was rewarded with a playoff berth for the second straight year.

Eleventh-seeded MacArthur's 2007-08 campaign ended three days later with a 49-42 first-round loss at sixth-seeded Port Washington, despite a double-digit halftime lead.

Still, the positives outweighed that defeat, which marked the end of eight seniors' prep basketball careers: Tom Celentani, Chris Eichner, Mike Gattus, Billy Judge, Bobby Rossi, Vin Sanquini, Brett Tom and Ray Zdrodowski.

Among the season's accomplishments: The Generals had a perfect non-conference record, beating host Wantagh in the finals of the Sports Boosters Tournament, and beating Division and upsetting Elmont to win MacArthur's Jeff Shaw Memorial Holiday Tournament. And after a 1-4 start to the Conference AA-II schedule, the Generals reeled off six wins in their next eight games - the lone defeats during that stretch two-point losses to eventual second-place-finisher JFK and third-place-finisher Valley Stream Central.

Coach Eric Rubin, a Salk social studies teacher who has a two-year regular-season record of 19-17, and assistant coach Doug Neu expect a young squad for the 2008/09 season. This year's senior-laden squad included five juniors: Tim Bradley, Pete Mondella, Mike Page, Billy Ryan and Bobby Thomas.