Slow starts hurt Rams, Mules

Poor starts ultimately doomed both the West Hempstead and Malverne boys’ basketball teams in their games during the second day of the Hank Williams Memorial Tournament on Dec. 29.

In the tournament’s championship matchup, West Hempstead allowed Farmingdale to score the game’s first 14 points in just 4:21. The Rams were never able to recover from their rough beginning, and suffered a 61-39 loss to the Dalers. 

“They’re a real strong and athletic team,” Rams head coach Ed Cosgrove said. “What we’ve been doing the last two weeks, where we’ve had success, they took us out of it tonight. We couldn’t do much on offense.”

Farmingdale, the defending Nassau Class AA champs, nailed four three-pointers in the first quarter. West Hempstead was held scoreless for nearly the first five minutes of the contest, and trailed 16-3 after one.

In the Rams’ opening game of the tourney they also struggled early, falling behind by 10 points against Port Washington. West Hempstead rallied to pull off a 54-45 win against the Vikings behind Bobby Smith’s 18 points, and 16 from Darius Francis.

“We just gotta come ready to play,” Cosgrove said about his team’s slow starts in the tournament. “Sometimes with some recent success that you’ve had you think that it’s gonna happen automatically. We come out, and we’re a little bit less than aggressive, and sometimes the other team takes it to us.”

Francis, Anthony Beaubrun and Greg Schultze finished with eight points apiece for the Rams (5-3 overall) in the championship game. Dan McKeon had a game-high 11 points for the Dalers.

For Malverne (2-5 overall), in their consolation game matchup against Port Washington, it was a similar story. The Vikings jumped out to a 20-6 lead on the Mules, powered by strong outside shooting.

Late in the third quarter Malverne trailed 54-29. But the Mules remarkably found their way back into the game, thanks to strong play off the bench from Richard Holland and Justus Hemingway. 

Sharp outside shooting from the duo allowed Malverne to go on a 22-3 run and cut Port Washington’s lead to just six points, with 3:41 remaining in the game. But, that would be as close as the Mules would get, as they fell 68-56.

“We dug ourselves a hole,” Malverne assistant head coach Walt Aksionoff said. “We made a run, but you know if you live by the jumper, you die by the jumper. We didn’t take advantage inside.”

Aksionoff said he felt the two tournament games were helpful in preparing his squad for what lies ahead. “We try to play better teams, disciplined teams and different styled teams to get us ready for when the league starts,” he said. “Hopefully when the league starts we get everyone together, and everyone healthy and be the best that we can.”

Cosgrove, who saw his team receive a runners-up trophy, agreed the tournament was a valuable experience.

“We love coming here,” Cosgrove said. “It’s always good competition. We haven’t won (the tournament) in a few years, but it’s always good to be in the championship game.”