Valley Stream North's Tristan Mitchell does a bit of everything in win over North Shore
Valley Stream North's Tristan Mitchell goes up for a shot under basket against North Shore on Friday. Credit: Howard Simmons
Valley Stream North junior Tristan Mitchell prides himself on exactly what coach Michael McVeigh preached during the team’s home game against North Shore on Friday night: defense.
Sure, Mitchell — one of Nassau’s most dynamic two-way players — scored 20 points, 14 in the second half. But he also had four steals and 10 often-contested rebounds as the Spartans pulled away for a 65-52 non-league boys basketball win over North Shore.
“It feels great after a rough loss on Wednesday against Roslyn,” he said. “We just came out, got back to practice and got our minds right to come back harder.”
Senior Vincent Rienzie looked unstoppable, gliding through traffic to finish with 17 points. Still, Valley Stream North led by only three at halftime.
“We really focus on the defensive end. That’s where we’re going to leave our mark,” McVeigh said. “The offense is going to come and go, but we got to stay locked in on defense all the time. It wavered today — it wasn’t consistent — but we hope to improve that going forward.”
Junior Kaisei Sasagawa-Fields drilled four three-pointers and finished with 16 points for the Spartans (2-1), who outscored North Shore 11-2 and 12-4 inside the first four minutes of the third and fourth quarters.
“It feels like when I let the ball go, it just feels like it’s going to go in,” he said.
“Kai has been one of the hardest-working players all summer, and I’m glad he got to show it today,” McVeigh said.
Seniors Noah Obukwelu and Matthew Hunt were solid defensively as the starting five accounted for all of Valley Stream North’s 65 points. Sophomore Marco Camps had 15 points and five assists for North Shore (0-2).
Obukwelu got the crowd on its feet with a flashy no-look assist to Sasagawa-Fields, who put in a contested layup. It’s moments like that that remind Rienzie just how much fun it is to play with his guys.
“It makes me so happy,” he said. “It’s just great to see because everyone cares about it. You see everyone working throughout the summer, in practice, so when you make plays like that in a game like this, you love to see it.”
Michael Sicoli covers high school sports for Newsday. He graduated from Quinnipiac in 2022 and left with a master’s degree in sports journalism in 2023.
