It's not the biggest sports story to come out of the North Shore in recent days, but the Roslyn High School Bulldogs are enjoying their best year since 1997. By the time you read this, the Bulldogs may or may not have advanced to the Nassau County Class B basketball finals, but either way, it's been a most successful year for Coach Jeff Risener's squad.

The Bulldogs finished the regular season with a 10-2 conference record. They went into the county playoffs as a number five seed. The playoffs began in exciting fashion, with the Bulldogs winning a one-point thriller at home against Westbury.

On Saturday, Feb. 23, they earned another exciting win, defeating Carey High School, 57-54 in a game played at Malverne. The win allowed them to advance to the county semifinals. On Wednesday, Feb. 27, the Bulldogs played top seed Jericho. A win there and Roslyn plays for the county championship this Saturday.

The game against Westbury, played at the Roslyn High School gym, was a terrific, see-saw affair, with Roslyn outscoring their opponents by three points in the final quarter to come away with the win.

Andrew Oliver led the Bulldogs in scoring with 14 points. His free throw with a little over a minute remaining gave Roslyn a 45-43 lead, one they held onto when a Westbury player hit only one of two free throws on the other end. Raymond Johnson had 10 points and Ronny Koenig added eight. Mr. Risener was happy with the outcome, but also with the support his team received from the home crowd. "Roslyn was jumping last night," he said of the packed gym. "We had a lot of people, a lot of parents, a lot of friends. I was very pleased."

The Saturday game against Carey was another cliffhanger. A three-point shot by Andrew Oliver gave the Bulldogs a lead with six minutes left in the game, a lead they never relinquished. As always, the Bulldogs scoring attack was well balanced, with four starters in double figures. Andrew Oliver recovered from a slow start to score 15 points. He was joined by Ronny Koenig (14 points), Darren Lindo (12 points), and Raymond Johnson (11 points). The latter turned in his usual stellar performance on the defensive rebounding end of the game.

In between his busy schedule, Mr. Risener talked about his team's success. During the day, Mr. Risener teaches at an elementary school in Uniondale. When the school day ends, he drives over to Roslyn to conduct practices and prepare for games. This is his third year as head coach. Asked about the banner year, the coach listed several main reasons, among them, having an experienced team, a balanced scoring attack, and a squad that plays good defense.

Of the starting five, Raymond Johnson, Andrew Oliver, Eric Bratt, and Darren Lindo are seniors. The other starter, Ronny Koenig is a junior. So the starting five have been playing together for a while. Mr. Risener noted that out of the 20 games played so far this year, all five starters scored in double figures in 12 of them.

On the other side of the ball, Mr. Risener also praised the Bulldogs' defensive efforts, especially the one they displayed against Glen Cove, in the regular season's final game. In fact, Roslyn went into the final two games tied with Island Trees and Glen Cove in their conference standings. Showing great poise, the Bulldogs won both games. In coaching his teams, Mr. Risener prepares them to play any style of basketball. On defense, that means playing either a zone or a man-to-man. "That makes it hard to play against Roslyn," he said.

"I've got a great bunch of kids," Mr. Risener said of his 2002 squad. "This is an unselfish team. They know basketball is a team game, not an individual game. All year long, we've had five players on the court, playing for each other, putting forth an outstanding defensive effort."

Mr. Risener's coaching philosophy has been forged over a long career of teaching basketball to young people. Before coming to Roslyn, he spent 11 years as head coach at John Jay College in Manhattan. Before that, he served as assistant coach at Columbia University. He has also been the head coach at the Berkeley-Carroll Street School in Brooklyn.

Mr. Risener is a graduate of Long Island University in Brooklyn, where he played varsity baseball. He is a native of College Point, Queens and a graduate of Flushing High School. Although he played baseball, he found basketball a more exciting and interesting game to coach. In fact, it was at Flushing that he first began coaching grade school children in the sport, a process that led him to his career. In addition to coaching and teaching, Mr. Risener has also written a book on the subject. How to Raise Your Child in the World of Sports was published by Vantage Press in 1998.