Bonac Boys Are Hoping for the Playoffs

When asked following Saturday’s easy home win over Westhampton Beach, a game in which East Hampton High’s boys basketball team knocked down nine 3-pointers, if the Bonackers weren’t leading the county in 3s, Dan White, East Hampton’s coach, said he wasn’t sure, but that the team was probably the county’s worst rebounding team.

Actually, White’s charges, who smothered the Hurricanes with an energetic full-court man press in the first half, rebounded quite well that day, with Christian Johnson, Malachi Miller, Turner Foster, Max Proctor, and Jeremy Vizcaino all doing their part in the continued absence of the 6-foot-3-inch Bladimir Rodriguez Garces, who, owing to a foot injury sustained early in the season, is out for the rest of it. 

A 3-pointer by Max Proctor got the home team off on the right foot, and one by Vizcaino soon after made it 6-0. By the end of the first quarter it was 11-4, and by the end of the second, during which Foster and Vizcaino each hit two 3s and Miller one from beyond the arc, it was 33-15.

And so it went, though White called off the dogs in the second half, dropping back into a 2-3 zone. Even so, East Hampton continued to extend the margin. As the fourth quarter began, with the Bonackers leading by 26, Westhampton’s coach was heard to exclaim, “This is the most embarrassing game we’ve played all year.”

White substituted freely in the fourth, with Liam Leach leading the way offensively, with 8 points, including two 3s. The final was East Hampton 58, Westhampton Beach 26, the Hurricanes having scored their 20th point by way of a Riley MacDonald foul shot with four and a half minutes remaining to play.

“We played well . . . we rebounded consistently and took charge early,” White said afterward, adding that “we’re 5-7 now. We have to win three of our last four [versus Sayville, Mount Sinai, Wyandanch, and Amityville] to make the playoffs, which is doable. It would be a big accomplishment if we do.”

Earlier in the week, Miller Place, a tall, solid team that East Hampton was hoping to best — having been trounced by 34 at the Panthers’ gym earlier in the season, “the worst game we’ve played,” according to White — defeated the Bonackers 70-59.

It was a 7-point game with about three minutes to go, after Miller, with Foster getting the assist, drained a 3 for 64-57, but it was not to be as the visitors made two free throws and capped two fast breaks, one following a turnover, while the Bonackers, outscored 6-2 going down the stretch, came up empty twice from 3-point range and once in traffic. East Hampton finished with 11 3-pointers — five by Miller, three by Foster, two by Vizcaino, and one by Proctor.

As of Monday, Miller Place led League V at 11-2, with Mount Sinai at 9-2, Wyandanch at 9-2, Amityville at 8-5, and Sayville at 7-5, after which came East Hampton at 5-7, Bayport-Blue Point at 3-9, Shoreham-Wading River at 1-11, and Westhampton Beach at 1-11.

East Hampton was to have played at Sayville Monday, and was to be at home to Mount Sinai yesterday, is to be home to Wyandanch tomorrow, at 6:15 p.m., and is to finish up here Monday with Amityville, also at 6:15. 

The girls also played here Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m., with Miller Place, and though they wound up losing 66-37, it was a season-high point total for Krista Brooks’steam, which, she said, was missing four players that day.

“We played really well — the girls worked hard,” the coach said. “They were executing their plays . . . over all, they did a great job.”

Five games remained, Brooks said, with Amityville (4-8), Wyandanch (1-13), Shoreham-Wading River (7-7), Mount Sinai (10-3), and Bayport-Blue Point (9-5). 

Paige Cardone, Brooks’s daughter, led East Hampton Saturday with 13 points, a season-high, and Kailey Marmeno had 9, also a season-high.