Playing aggressively, and with everybody getting into the scoring act, the East Hampton High School boys basketball team took it to the Mount Sinai Mustangs in the early going of their clash here on Jan. 10, but ended up losing to the visitors by 5 points. Two days later, they redeemed themselves with a 60-57 win at Bayport-Blue Point.
By halftime in the Mount Sinai game, Liam Fowkes had hit three 3-pointers and all of his teammates had chipped in with baskets, either from the field or from the foul line. The Bonackers led by 12 points near the end of the second quarter, and went into the break up by 10.
But that seemingly solid lead vanished in the early moments of the third as the revived visitors caused turnovers and knocked down some long-range shots that got them back into the game.
About three minutes into the fourth quarter the Mustangs, thanks to three successful free throws by one of their guards, Chris Paz, who had been fouled as he launched a 3-point attempt from the top of the key, took the lead at 45-44. It was tooth and nail the rest of the way.
A 3-pointer from the left corner by Luke Reese, East Hampton’s stellar point guard, who scored 10 points in the fourth period, made it a 2-point game with a minute left to play. Ten seconds later, he got the ball again, following a Mount Sinai turnover and, with defenders converging, dashed to the hoop where his layup, which would have tied the score, bounced off the rim.
With 30 seconds left, Drew Feinstein, the visitors’ senior point guard, drove the baseline for a 55-51 lead, and two more free throws by Paz made it 57-51, but with five seconds showing Reese hit another huge 3-pointer, prompting White to call timeout.
When play resumed, Mount Sinai’s players on the court were so well-guarded that the inbounder had to signal for a timeout lest he commit a 5-second violation and turn the ball over.
The second try, however, a long pass down the court, found the intended receiver, who was promptly fouled. That he made both free throws, for a 59-54 final, was moot insofar as East Hampton was concerned, but for the Mustangs, it was icing on the cake.
Reese finished with a game-high 24 points. Dickinson and Fowkes each finished with 11. Feinstein scored 16 points for the visitors, and Paz had 11.
Asked later where the 10-point lead went, Dan White, East Hampton’s coach, said in an email, “In the third quarter we made some defensive mistakes and they made some shots that they hadn’t made in the first half. Offensively, we became a little one-dimensional and passive. We needed to execute better down the stretch and didn’t. . . . It was a tough loss to swallow, though we had a great practice the next day, and I expect us to do better at the end of games going forward.”
No sooner said than done. Playing “exactly the opposite of the way we’d played against Mount Sinai,” the Bonackers won 60-57 at Bayport-Blue Point two days later, a game in which Jack Dickinson led the way with a career-high 27 points.
“We got off to a rough start,” said White by phone over the weekend. “Liam Fowkes committed three fouls in the first half, but we played very well defensively in the third quarter, and when we took the lead we didn’t play not to lose, but to win. It was great to see. Our best players made big plays and we made some big stops. Toby Foster, a freshman who came in when Liam got into foul trouble, played very well. He must have played 20 minutes in all. . . .”
Going into Monday’s game here with Eastport-South Manor, the Bonackers were tied with Southampton for the league lead, each at 6-1, and were, said White, “in a good spot.”
The night before the Mount Sinai-East Hampton boys game, East Hampton’s girls team faced off here against Pierson in a nonleaguer that was played as a benefit for the Katy’s Courage Foundation, named in memory of Katy Stewart, the daughter of Jim and Brigid Collins Stewart, who a decade ago died of a rare pediatric cancer at the age of 12.
East Hampton, which, as of earlier this week had wins over Smithtown Christian, Greenport-Southold, and Shelter Island, kept it close, though Pierson, led by its eighth grade point guard, Coco Lohmiller, ultimately prevailed 44-39.
Lohmiller finished with a game-high 21 points. Claire McGovern, East Hampton’s point guard, led the Bonackers with 11, including three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Concerning the 42-24 win over Greenport, Samantha James, East Hampton’s coach, who was a friend of Katy Stewart’s, said, “We played amazingly well — we started off strong and kept up the intensity for the entire game. Chloe Swickard scored 14 points, off of fast breaks. Kaili Moore, who had 14 rebounds and 7 points, and Katie Kuneth, who had 6 points and 11 rebounds, dominated the boards.”
James’s squad defeated Shelter Island 32-19, outscoring the Islanders 21-0 in the first quarter.