SUFFOLK COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Suffolk CC's Streak Reaches 37

Street Elevates Suffolk

By Gregg Sarra
NEWSDAY STAFF WRITER
January 30, 2004

The address is 33 Jump Street. A packed house on Suffolk CC-Selden's Ammerman campus got the opportunity to see Marcele Street do his thing - not once, but four times. His thing is ddunking, and it's energizing.

Street's electrifying two-handed slam keyed Suffolk CC's pivotal second-half run as the undefeated Clippers downed Nassau CC, 80-57, last night before 1,089 fans in the Brookhaven Gymnasium. After the 6-5 Street's jam, his team jelled. The dunk left Nassau awestruck as No. 33 swung from the rim and the house rocked.

Suffolk used the 15-0 run to open a 56-41 lead with 13:31 left and was never caught as the Clippers extended the nation's longest winning streak to 37. Suffolk is 19-0 overall, 11-0 in Region XV. Nassau fell to 12-9, 8-4.

"They had a good run there in the second half and I like the way we responded," said Street, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds.

On one of his dunks, he took off from the foul line and finished after jumping over a defender. "The slams get the crowd more involved," he said. "And they serve as an energy source, which pumps up the team and really gets the guys going. My legs felt really good tonight and the opportunities to dunk were there."

Street punctuated a fabulous performance with a double-pump, two-handed slam, after which he emphatically flexed his arms for the crowd. The move earned him a technical, but by that time, the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

"He's very emotional," Suffolk coach Rich Wrase said. "And we need that - not too much of it, but enough that it helps us get going.

"We were flat offensively and Nassau went on a strong run. We responded by getting the offense running again."

That started with point guard Aaron Cummings and leading scorer Maurice Manning. The Clippers used a 27-6 run to blow away the Lions midway through the second half. Cummings had five assists and four steals and dived to gain possession of two loose balls in the outburst.

"My job is to hustle and distribute the ball," Cummings said. "When that happens, the great players all around me can shine."

Cummings capped the long burst when he caught an overhead pass from Manning and fired a bounce pass to a wide-open Street for an uncontested dunk and a 68-47 lead. Manning had 14 of his game-high 28 points during the run. Cummings finished with eight assists.

Nassau hung around throughout the first half. Alvin Dennis' layup gave the Clippers a 23-11 lead with 8:33 left in the half, but Nassau drew within three points after freshman forward Alex McLean (10 points) hit two free throws with 51 seconds remaining. Manning and Vernon Alonzo hit consecutive baskets in the final 17 seconds as the Clippers took a 36-29 halftime advantage.

Sophomore guard Caheem Broadus kept Nassau within striking distance, scoring 13 first-half points.

Suffolk opened the second half with baskets from Street and Alonzo before Nassau responded with a 12-1 run to tie the score at 41 with 14:33 left. McLean keyed the spurt with three baskets and two steals.

"It was definitely too close," Street said. "But we got it going in time."

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

 
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