West Hempstead halts losing skid

Coming into the 2015-16 boys’ basketball season, there were a lot of unknowns at West Hempstead. With very little experience, and no proven scorers, it was hard to gauge how the Rams would fare in a conference that didn’t appear to have an outstanding team.

West Hempstead head coach Ed Cosgrove expected his team to have difficulty scoring, but was hopeful that it would be able to find ways to grind out victories. But, wins have been few and far between for the Rams.

While times have been tough for the Rams, they snapped a six-game losing streak with a 45-38 road victory over Mineola, last Friday night. Junior Christian Martinez led West Hempstead with 13 points. Jordan Lewis scored eight points and pulled down 10 rebounds, and Paul Drysdale grabbed 11 boards.

The win marked the second time that West Hempstead knocked off Mineola. The team won 45-36 when the Mustangs came to town in December. Martinez led the way with 13 points and six assists.

Martinez has been the team’s top threat from the perimeter. He scored a career-high 30 points when the Rams beat Malverne 57-47 in the opening round of the Hank Williams Holiday Memorial Tournament.

Despite having just three wins, West Hempstead, which has given up just 51 points per game, has been competitive in nearly every contest. The team has found ways to hurt itself, especially down the stretch of close games,

“We’ve turned the ball over far too many times, and that has hurt us,” Cosgrove said. “We have had games where we have had over 30 turnovers. It’s tough to win like that. We’ve been right there with the top teams in the conference, and we’ve struggled with the teams at the bottom of the league as well.”

The Rams proved that they’re no pushover when they hosted first place Island Trees. Despite trailing by 14 points when the teams took the floor for the fourth quarter, West Hempstead battled back, forced overtime, but fell by a score of 64-58. Martinez (18) and senior guard Dayquan Crawley combined for 35 points.

West Hempstead suffered one-point losses at the hands of both Seaford and Locust Valley. Point guard Noah Beaubrun, who buried five free throws down the stretch in the most recent win over Mineola, scored 10 points in the loss to Locust Valley. 

With upcoming games against Friends Academy, Seaford, and Clarke to close out the season, the Rams hope to finish the year on a high note.

“I want the guys to take it one game at a time,” Cosgrove said. “Let’s try to get the next one, and maybe string together a few wins. We have a few games at home, so it means our rims and our crowd. We’ve played better of late. Hopefully, we’ll play hard and defend our home floor.”

Friends Academy travels to West Hempstead this Friday afternoon for a 4:30 p.m. start.