East Hampton's Upset Bid Falls Just Short

This much is certain one game into the boys’ basketball season: East Hampton is a far different team than a year ago.

Down by 21 points in the first half, the Bellringers battled back to lead by four deep into the fourth quarter only to have Cromwell rally late for a 66-62 victory in the season opener for both teams in front of a raucous crowd in East Hampton.

The gym was abuzz early, perhaps in anticipation of what type of team new coach Parker Strong would be putting on the floor.

“We got a lot of support.” Strong said. “The students were wonderful. We had the pep band here. We’re really trying to create a basketball atmosphere.”

But East Hampton stumbled out of the gate. A series of turnovers and hot shooting by the Panthers had the Bellringers down 14-2 not even three minutes into the game.

East Hampton’s offense settled down some after that but Cromwell’s Pat Sirois and Colin Burkhart kept lighting it up from the outside. The two seniors combined for six three-pointers and 28 of the Panthers’ 42 first-half points.

“We rushed a couple of shots,” said Strong, who admitted his team might have been a little jittery. “They came out with more intensity than we did. It took us a while to respond. We knew Cromwell was really good, we know they have a really good coach, we knew it was going to be a battle. We didn’t come out with the intensity I would have hoped. Eventually it kicked into gear but we spotted them too much early on and that ended up coming back and hurting us. The first quarter we lost by 16 and that’s tough to overcome, usually.

The Bellringers, however, did overcome it.

Down 38-17 with 6:12 remaining in the first half, East Hampton’s up-tempo style began to click. A three by Jeff Pratt got the Bellringers started on a 20-4 run. Kyle Adams’ quick outlet to Matt Vasquenza resulted in a layup and foul to cut the score to 38-23. Colin Parks got in the act with a putback and Nate Heroux drilled a three to make the score 42-30 with 2:20 remaining. Two free throws by Heroux and a nice post move by Adams cut the deficit to 42-34. Cromwell was reeling, perhaps undone by the frenetic pace, and the Panthers limped into the locker room with a 42-37 lead.

“I thought we had control of the game pretty much right through the middle of the second quarter, then they kind of made a few shots, we couldn’t make any, we turned the ball over,” Cromwell coach John Pinone said.

Intermission didn’t kill the momentum East Hampton had built. Marvin Gorgas hit a three to start the third quarter to pull the Bellringers within two. Burkhart had an answer with a three of his own and Cromwell went on to extend its lead to 47-40. East Hampton continued to push the ball up court, however. Heroux found Vasquenza for a length of the court drive that the sophomore finished with a nice underhand layup, then Pratt hit a three to pull the Bellringers within two again. A free throw by Adams made it 47-46 then Pratt hit another three for a 49-47 lead.

With the score tied at 49, East Hampton regained the lead when Parks hit a baby hook and the Bellringers went into the fourth quarter with a 53-49 advantage.

The pace slowed some in the fourth as East Hampton fought off attempts by Cromwell to retake the lead.

With the score tied at 56, Matt Booth hit a three to get East Hampton back on top but with 5:08 to go Sirois again hit a three to tie the score. The Bellringers took a two-point lead when Vasquenza drove into the paint and found Adams, who was fouled on the play. Adams hit both free throws. After a turnover by Cromwell, Vasquenza again found Adams underneath, but he missed. After a wild series of offensive rebounds and putback attempts, Adams was sent to the line where he again converted both free throws to give East Hampton a 60-56 lead with 3:18 left.

Gone was the 21-point deficit. The sloppy play in the early minutes, a distant memory. Both were replaced by visions of a huge upset dancing in the heads of the East Hampton faithful.

It just wasn’t meant to be.

With 2:14 remaining, Burkhart used a nice pick to find an opening to the right of the free-throw line and took it strong to the basket for a layup. Sirois (24 points) followed by taking a rebound the length of the court for another layup and just like that the score was tied at 60.

Vasquenza pushed the ball up the court and went hard to the basket to get a foul called. It was ruled a non-shooting foul, though. No matter, Heroux found Pratt off the inbounds pass and the bank shot gave East Hampton a 62-60 lead with 1:32 left.

With the ball in Burkhart’s hands, he again got a pick at the top of the key but this time settled for a three-point shot. He missed, but Brendon Walker, who had a good first half offensively only to seemingly disappear in the second, reappeared with a huge rebound and was fouled on the putback attempt. Walker made 1 of 2, missing the second shot. Cromwell caught a big break when in the ensuing scramble for the loose ball, a tie ball was called and the possession arrow gave it back to the Panthers with 1:13 to go.

Burkhart (20 points) was clearly who Cromwell wanted to have the ball with the game on the line. Again using a pick at the top of the key, Burkhart drove to the basket and was fouled. His two free throws gave the Panthers a 63-62 lead. It was without the ball, however, that Burkhart turned in what proved to be the deciding play. With Vasquenza out near the top of the key, the sophomore point guard began to drive to his right before dishing to Gorgas. Burkhart read the play, intercepted the pass, and lobbed the ball to Brett Director who took it in for the layup and a 65-62 lead.

“We just couldn’t put them away,” Strong said. “For a team, where we’ve been recently, that’s something we have to learn. We haven’t had as many successful seasons as we would have hoped. So, maybe that’s something that comes with the experience. Hopefully we learn from this and continue to get better.”

Said Pinone: “We picked it up. We found a way. Down four in the fourth quarter we didn’t panic.”

It was a disappointing end for the Bellringers, but not one they should be hanging their heads over. It was a tremendous effort that filled the gym with excitement. If this is a standard they can meet, if not exceed, each game, good things will come of it.

“The kids are really excited for the season,” Strong said. “Every day in practice, they’re here ready to go. They give me everything they’ve got. I think we have a really good team if we start putting some of the little things together. I’m really excited for the outlook.”

Pratt also has a positive take on what the future could hold for this team.

“As a team, we played pretty well,” he said. “There’s a few things that have to be worked out, but toward the end of the year we should be in pretty good shape.”

Pinone had mixed emotions. He was happy for the victory but unhappy with his defense. A perennial contender for the Shoreline title, he is optimistic as to how good his team can be, saying they have the potential to be very good.

“Our defense was not very good tonight,” he said. “We did not defend very well. It’s going to take us a little while. We’ve got guys who just got here three days ago from football. It’s going to take some time. … You know what, we’ll take it.”

East Hampton was led by Vasquenza with 16 points, Pratt had 15 and Adams, 12.

“We got contributions from a lot of guys,” Strong said. “Vasquenza was doing an excellent job of finding people on drives. He did a really excellent job of playing team basketball. He was feeding Adams all the time and those were key baskets for us. He pushes the ball and he’s tough to contain. Our bigs did what they were supposed to do. Pratt and Adams did a nice job of being tough inside and crashing the glass.”

Pratt was one of those who played a big role in East Hampton’s come-from-behind effort with three three-pointers, but the understated senior wasn’t interested in taking any credit.

“I’m just here to contribute and everyone can have their night and we’re all going to play great,” he said.

Next up for East Hampton is a game at Westbrook on Friday. The Knights defeated Hale-Ray 39-24 on Wednesday.