Carle Place boys basketball team wins Nassau Class B championship in thriller
Ryan Leary of Carle Place celebrates victory as time runs out of the Nassau Class B boys basketball final against Cold Spring Harbor at Farmingdale State College on Friday. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
The Carle Place boys basketball team had absorbed Cold Spring Harbor’s best shot, but the Frogs were not going to let their championship dreams dissipate.
Carle Place’s seven-point lead after three quarters turned into a two-point deficit in the final two minutes.
“We’re all very composed,” Carle Place junior guard Ryan Leary said. “[Coach John] Cantwell is always saying, ‘Just stay composed no matter what happens. Basketball’s a game of runs.’ The whole coaching staff says it: ‘It’s a game of runs, ups and downs.’
“They went on a run, and then we hit a big shot.”
That big shot came via sophomore center Mario D’Alessandro, whose three-pointer from the wing rimmed in. That gave No. 2 Carle Place a one-point lead with 52 seconds left in a 47-42 win over No. 1 Cold Spring Harbor in the Nassau Class B championship game Friday night at Farmingdale State.
“I went like 0-for-8 [from three] the whole game,” D’Alessandro said. “And then I was just confident on the last shot, rolled in.”
Leary, who scored 25 points, said: “He shoots, I said, ‘Hit that!’ Because before the game, after school, I’m like, ‘All right, Mario, let’s go get some shots up.’ And that’s the shot we were exactly working on. I was kicking to him, he was knocking down shots. It’s crazy how it just all comes full circle.”
After D’Alessandro’s three made it 43-42, Leary made a layup off a steal to bring the lead to 45-42 with 22 seconds left. He and Colin Driscoll each hit a free throw in the final 10.4 seconds to ice the win.
D’Alessandro scored 11 points, including five in the fourth quarter.
Carle Place (14-8) won a county championship game for the first time since 2005. The Frogs lost in the Nassau Class B final each of the previous two seasons. They were crowned Nassau Class C champions in 2022, though they were unopposed in the county’s postseason.
The title was especially meaningful for Cantwell and Leary, who averages 26.8 points and has been on varsity since he was in eighth grade.
“I am so proud,” Cantwell said. “We made a promise — before he graduated, we’re going to win one. And now we got another year.”
This school year has brought plenty of hardware for Leary, who also won the state Class B boys soccer title in the fall.
“It’s surreal,” Leary said. “We win a lot of soccer, but winning in basketball — it’s just a different feeling.”
Nate Grossman (11 points) hit a layup to tie it at 40 with 2:34 left and Cole Newman threw an alley-oop pass to Carter Prizzi for the go-ahead layup with 1:51 left as Cold Spring Harbor (13-8) opened the fourth quarter on an 11-2 run to take a 42-40 lead.
Leary had a huge block with 28.7 seconds left to preserve a 43-42 lead before he put the Frogs up by three six seconds later.
Carle Place will meet Suffolk Class B champion Mattituck (9-9) in the Long Island Class B final at 11 a.m. on March 16 at Farmingdale State.
“This is my sixth trip here. I got the monkey off my back,” Cantwell said. “This is all about them. These guys have tolerated me for so many years. [Leary’s] tolerated me since eighth grade. But this is all about the community. This is about these guys. This is about the student body. I’m so happy.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
