Fun to Watch and Moreover They Won

The East Hampton High School boys basketball team not only was fun to watch in last Thursday’s game here with Kings Park, but — more to the point in its coach Dan White’s opinion — East Hampton won, by a score of 63-53.

It was the third game the Bonackers had played in three days, and given the fact, White said, that most of them play 25 to 30 minutes a game, their win, which evened East Hampton’s League V record at 4-4, was all the more noteworthy.

The good-size crowd was into it from the get-go. The home team trailed 30-25 going into the third period, but took it to the Kingsmen thereafter.

“It was the best defensive half we’ve played this season,” White said afterward. “And it was a total team effort.”

The visitors got some good looks from the corners in the first half, cashing in on four 3-point attempts, but thanks to the stepped-up defensive effort — a 2-3 zone with some man coverage mixed in — went 0-for-11 from long range in the second half.

It was the third loss vis-a-vis five wins for Kings Park, which as of Friday trailed East Islip (8-0) and Westhampton Beach (7-1) in the standings. Harborfields was also at 5-3 that day, with East Hampton, as aforesaid, at 4-4, after which came Islip, at 3-5, Sayville, at 3-5, Rocky Point, at 1-7, and Hauppauge, at 0-8.

Kings Park’s coach didn’t do his team any favors, drawing two technical foul calls in the hot-paced fourth quarter, the second of which resulted in his banishment from the game — a decision greeted with glee by Bonac partisans.

It looked near the end of the second quarter as if the visitors might be pulling away following a 3-pointer, a fast-break layup, and a turnover, which caused White to call timeout. When play resumed, Kings Park netted another basket, for a 30-22 lead, after which Chris Stoecker, one of Bonac’s big men, saw his layup go in and out. Malachi Miller finally got the home team on the board, with a 3, drawing East Hampton to within 5 points with two minutes to go, but neither team could score in the moments leading up to the halftime break.

Turner Foster, fed by Miller, netted a 3-pointer when the third quarter began. Kings Park hung on to the lead for a while, but midway through the period a 3-pointer by Miller tied it up at 37-37. The Bonackers, keeping the pressure on, were not to trail thereafter.

A fast-break layup by Foster, a jumper from the foul line by Bladimir Rodriguez Garces, and a rebound and coast-to-coast basket by Jack Reese treated East Hampton to a 43-37 lead going into the fourth. 

During the interim, White was heard telling his charges that the game would come down to how well they rebounded and defended in the final eight minutes. Working the ball around for 10 seconds, he added, would yield the open looks they were looking for.

Rodriguez Garces blocked two shots in the early going of the fourth, after which Reese drew a foul going for the hoop. He missed both tries. 

(It was not a great night from the foul line for him, but the senior point guard was a standout in every other respect, with eight assists for the game, and seven steals, according to one count, in the second half.)

A putback by Miller of a Reese miss made it 45-39, and after Kings Park’s big man, Andrew Bianco, missed two free throws, Jeremy Vizcaino, who played well off the bench, converted a pass from Reese for 47-39. 

Four minutes were left, and the gym was in a din as Kings Park called timeout. Randi Cherill, East Hampton’s trainer, said during the break that it was one of the more exciting games she’d seen here.

When play resumed, a foul shot by Reese and a pull-up jumper by him increased the lead to 50-39. 

Kings Park pulled to within 7 points with 2:36 on the clock, and amid a frenzied struggle for possession from which Reese emerged with the ball, the visitors’ coach was tagged with his second technical of the night, resulting in his eviction from the gym. Reese’s first attempt rebounded off the front of the rim, but the next two went in, after which East Hampton was given the ball to inbound. 

With just over a minute to play, Reese stole the ball and laid it in for 59-49. A free throw by Foster and one by Vizcaino, which he followed soon after with a fast-break layup, capped East Hampton’s scoring.

Miller finished with 19 points. Reese and Rodriguez Garces each had 15, Vizcaino, 8, and Foster, 6.

“It was a great game. It was an all-around team effort — what we see every day in practice,” said an elated White. “We’re starting to be a winning team.”

As for the playoffs, “we’re definitely in the mix,” he said. 

“And now,” he said, “we’ve got a lot of time off. What’s this? The 11th? We won’t play again until January 20. We’re all going, the coaches and the team, to the Knicks-Nets game on Monday [Martin Luther King’s Birthday]. We should show the Knicks how to play defense!”

In the other games last week, East Hampton easily beat Rocky Point 58-35, and lost what was said to have been “a barn burner” at Westhampton Beach, 84-75, a game in which four Bonackers — Reese and Foster, each with 18, Stoecker, with 17, and Rodriguez Garces, with 14, finished in double figures.

Other Action

In other action this past week, the Killer Bees of Bridgehampton ran their winning streak (following an 0-6 start to the season) to three in besting the Ross School (which remained winless) 61-44 in the Cosmos’ well-appointed gym in East Hampton Friday.

J.P. Harding paced the Bees with 21 points, a number of them scored in finishing fast breaks. Elijah White, the sophomore point guard, had 15, and Jonny De Groot, from underneath, and Nate DePasquale, largely from long range, each had 13. DePasquale hit three big 3-pointers for the Bees in the second half, during which they extended their 10-point halftime margin to 17.

When Ron White, the first-year coach, who as a student won state championships with Bridgehampton and national championships with Suffolk Community College-Selden, was asked to account for the Bees’ improvement, he said, “They’re running the sets, they’re gaining confidence, and they’re beginning to realize it’s just a basketball game,” i.e., not letting the storied Killer Bee tradition weigh too heavily upon them.

Ben Bijur, a senior, led the Cosmos with 14 points. James Merig had 13, and George Rao, 9.

The Bees, who were 3-6 over all as of Monday and 3-0 in League VIII, are one of three Class D schools in Suffolk, the others being Smithtown Christian, whom the Bees beat 76-65 recently in the Bee Hive, and Shelter Island. Bridgehampton is to play at Shelter Island tomorrow at 5:45 p.m.

Nygel Roach, a former St. John’s guard who is in his first year of coaching at Ross, said his players were putting in a good effort. “We’ll keep at it,” he said.