Double OT win for Hewlett

After falling behind visiting Lawrence by 16 points late in the first quarter of last Friday’s Nassau Conference A-II boys’ basketball opener, Hewlett didn’t mind working overtime to overcome such a large deficit.

Or a second overtime.

The Bulldogs, who never led in regulation and trailed by nine points with 4:47 remaining, rallied to force overtime and eventually pulled away in the second four-minute OT for a wild 87-79 victory. They got a game-high 27 points and 20 rebounds from freshman Avery Feldman, 22 points from senior George Josiah and 21 points and nine assists from senior Josh Rivlin.

“It’s a great win,” said Josiah, who had two points at halftime as Hewlett trailed by 10. “We made some adjustments at halftime and got more aggressive.”

Josiah, who sank two shots from three-point range in the fourth quarter and two more in the first overtime, put the Bulldogs ahead for good, 74-73, with a traditional three-point play with 2:47 left in the second OT. Rivlin, who tied the game with 8.9 seconds to go in regulation with a driving layup, had seven points in the second OT.

“I’ve been in this district about 20 years and these kids never quit, whether it’s football, basketball or any other sport,” Hewlett coach Bill Dubin said. “We scouted Lawrence twice and had a good game plan. We’re very young. We got caught up in the moment early and it took us a while to settle down.”

The Golden Tornadoes, who got 25 points from sophomore Eddie Robinson and 18 from sophomore Clifton Lyerly, came out flying and held first-half leads of 24-8 and 31-15 but were outscored in the second, third and fourth quarters. They shot 8-for-27 (29.6 percent) from the foul line, where Hewlett struggled as well going 20-for-41.

“The way we played in the first half is how we’re supposed to play the whole game,” Lawrence coach Pete Linderman said. “We started out great but for whatever reason we lost some intensity and began to improvise on offense.”

After scoring just 29 first-quarter points combined in their first three games, the Golden Tornadoes (2-2) got off to the fast start they’ve been seeking and didn’t take but a few minutes to put the Bulldogs in the rearview mirror. With four of its five starters finding the rim, Lawrence scored 11 of the game’s first 13 points and held a 24-10 advantage after the opening quarter.

Hewlett (3-1) began to scratch away at the deficit in the second quarter as the young 6-foot-2 Feldman made his presence felt. Feldman keyed a 10-4 spurt with eight points and also added the final basket of the half to trim the margin to 41-31.

“He’s doing a great job and has a bright future,” Dubin said of Feldman, who has scored in double digits in three of his first four varsity games.

Josiah started to catch fire late in the third quarter and was clutch in crunch time along with Rivlin. The backcourt tandem combined to score 29 of Hewlett’s last 36 points.

“Avery carried us for a while, and Josh and George put us over the top,” Dubin said.