The best thing about suffering a gut-wrenching defeat in any sport is knowing that the opportunity to redeem yourself is just days away. After a fourth quarter collapse resulted in a loss to Plainedge last week, Hewlett got back in the win column with a convincing 56-38 home win over cross town rival Lynbrook on Tuesday.
Sophomore forward Weldon Irvine scored 18 points and pulled down 26 rebounds as the Bulldogs improved to 3-3 in Conference A-II, 5-4 overall. Freshman Avery Feldman added 14 points, six rebounds, and four assists for Hewlett. Freshman guard Michael McVeigh scored 12 points to lead the Owls. Lynbrook fell to 2-8, 1-4 in league play.
Lynbrook head coach Chris Rube knows that Irvine was the difference. “Irvine played real tough. We needed to keep him off the boards and he just outworked us,” Rube said. “We are missing our three starters in the frontcourt, so that definitely hurt us on the boards and in the post, and it led to easy hoops inside. We have a tough league, we’ve had many injuries, but those are built-in excuses to not have a good season. We didn’t play well, but we didn’t play hard.” The Owls played without starters Pete Lecce, Zach Sobel and John Emmerich.
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Neither team could get much going at the start of the game. The Bulldogs got five points from George Josiah in the opening quarter as Hewlett took a 9-5 lead after eight minutes. Irvine started to heat up in the second quarter to lead the Bulldogs to a 21-10 halftime lead. Irvine led all scorers with eight points at the break.
The Owls came out with a little more energy in the third quarter. Junior guard Rocco Scibelli opened things up with a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and Lynbrook looked set to make a run. But, each time the Owls got close, Irvine, Feldman and company responded. Feldman scored six and Irvine added four as the Bulldogs went on an 11-3 run to take a commanding 43-29 lead.
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Lynbrook cut the lead to 47-36 on a traditional 3-point play by senior Steven Marrandino, but the Owls never got closer. Hewlett sewed things up with a 9-2 run. Lynbrook senior Kendall Bruton scored 14 points.
Hewlett head coach Bill Dubin was happy with the play of his young guys. “We started a freshman and two sophomores tonight,” Dubin said. “We are young, and we’re just hoping to improve as the season goes along. We knew we’d take our lumps this year. Weldon is really starting to play well. The next few years are looking promising for us.”
It won’t get easier for Lynbrook which will take on Lawrence, Sewanhaka and South Side over the next two weeks. Rube is hopeful that he’ll get a better effort from his team.
“Having guys out gives opportunities for others,” Rube said. “Some guys have shown flashes of doing well; we need them to be more consistent. If they play their absolute hardest, and do the things we work on in practice, than the wins will come. I don't feel that we have given our best effort and consequently, we have not had many wins.”
Lynbrook will host Lawrence on Saturday, Jan. 29. Tip-off is set for noon.
