By Michael J. Lewis

The heat was blistering, even at 7 or 8 a.m.

The sweat poured off the teenagers’ foreheads, and shade seemed as far away as a snowstorm.

But they all showed up, day after day, to Christopher Morley Park last August. The Manhasset boys basketball team would come out in the 90-degree temperatures and run through drills and workouts their coaches had prepared.

According to the players who were there, very few complaints were heard, and just about everyone came on time and worked hard.

Coaches say that it’s in the offseason where championships are won, and in the case of the Manhasset team, it absolutely seems true.

“It’s not easy to get up in the morning to do that stuff, but we always had the end goal in mind,” junior Liam Connor said. “For the most part, pretty much the whole team wanted to be at those workouts.”

“It was unusual how much those guys wanted it, even in August,” said head coach George Bruns. “That told me a lot right then.”

Those summer practices paid off for Manhasset in the form of its first Long Island Class A championship since 2019, and fifth Nassau county championship overall.

On March 12 the Indians played Suffolk champ Kings Park for the right to advance to the state tournament in Glens Falls, and Manhasset got it done again, beating the Kingsmen, 72-57 to claim the crown.

With the win, Manhasset will now play Saturday, March 19 at 9 a.m. at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls in the Class A state semifinals.

“It’s exciting, and quite an accomplishment for these kids,” Bruns said. “Manhasset is a lacrosse school, so for our basketball team, it’s pretty special. This team is very capable of winning more games.”

The two big recent victories came in different ways: The Indians (24-1) rallied from an early 16-point deficit against Garden City in the Nassau title game on March 5 to capture the crown, 55-48.

Not only was it a 16-point hole, but Garden City scored the first 16 points of the game, threatening to run Manhasset out of the gym.

“Yeah it was surprising, but we knew the game wasn’t over and we could come back,” said senior Matthew Perfetto. “You gotta keep working, and we told ourselves it’s only the first quarter.”

One of the biggest reasons Manhasset had the poise to come back, Bruns said, was the leadership of his seven seniors. Bruns said all were disappointed the way the last two seasons were interrupted by Covid and that they came into this year with a renewed focus.

“Those guys really took ownership of the team and took it upon themselves to lead,” Bruns said. “From 1 to 18, we’ve got such a great group of kids, people have said they’ve never seen such a great group, everybody supporting each other from the bench and helping each other on the court.”

Then on March 12, again playing at Hofstra, Manhasset was in a tight battle the entire first half, leading only 27-23 at the break, before tearing the game open with a huge third quarter, building an 18-point lead, 54-36.

Michael Notias poured in 22 points, while Connor added 18.

Connor said after the summer workouts went so well, he had a feeling the Indians would be special once they played in a fall league in Hicksville. Competing against the likes of Port Washington Schreiber, Plainview, and Oyster Bay, Manhasset went undefeated and saw the potential.

“It was just a big confidence builder knowing we had the talent and the ability to win,” Connor said.

In addition to Perfetto and Connor, the team is led by brothers Michael and James Notias, and Liam Buckley.

Connor also said the team has taken inspiration from the tragedy that struck the Manhasset community last summer, with three young people tragically killed in a car accident.

“We all knew the families and my brother goes to school with Michael Farrell, so it’s a personal thing for all of us,” Connor said. “We know Mr. and Mrs. Farrell come to the games, and there’s always a bigger meaning behind everything we do.”

And now, with two more games to go, who knows, maybe Manhasset can win a state championship.

That would certainly make those brutal August mornings all the more worth it.