Boys Basketball Set To Open Season

The MacArthur boys basketball team is set to begin its season on Dec. 1, by hosting a Danish opponent in the opening round of the Jeff Shaw Memorial Basketball Tournament.
In what has become an annual tradition, students from Hemley Sports Boarding School of Ringe, Denmark, not only participate in MacArthur’s season-opening tournament, the visiting students also attend classes with MacArthur players and stay overnight with their families.
MacArthur hosts Hjemly at 5:30 p.m., with Division playing Bellmore JFK at 7:15 p.m. in the other opening-round game. The consolation and championship games will be played at MacArthur the following day.
The annual tournament is played in memory of Jeffrey Shaw of Levittown, who was an electrician working on the 105th floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11.
The Generals graduated starters Mike Creaven and Tom Epp from the 2015-16 squad, but MacArthur nonetheless returns 62.4 percent of its scoring from last season. That includes point guard Benny Orlando, who averaged a team-best 9.4 points per game, as well as regular contributors Kyle Acquavella, Kyle Cunningham, Jack Leogrande, Mike Manfredo, Nick Purcell and Andrew Sweeney.
Although its conference opponents mostly will look familiar, the Generals have moved from Class AA to Class A this season because of a drop in school enrollment. The league includes programs from both classifications—Calhoun, Great Neck South, Herricks, Long Beach, Manhasset and Mepham. MacArthur will need to finish in the top three in the seven-team conference, or otherwise have a .500 league record, in order to qualify for the Class A playoffs.
The Generals also welcome a familiar face back to the program. Brad Griminger, a 2011 MacArthur graduate, returns as head coach Eric Rubin’s assistant. Nick Slevin, formerly the varsity assistant coach, now will lead the junior varsity squad in order to gain head-coaching experience.
—Tribune Staff