Game Slips Away From East Hampton

This one stung.

East Hampton led for most of the second half before Old Lyme took the lead in the final two minutes, then hung on to defeat the Bellringers 50-47 in a boy’s basketball game in East Hampton on Tuesday.

The game came down to the final shot for East Hampton, with Matt Booth, who had hit four three-pointers in the game, launching one from the wing with two defenders closing on him. The ball rimmed the inside of the iron before popping up and out.

So close but not quite good enough. It has been that kind of season so far for East Hampton. An up and down first half, with play that has been as promising as it has been frustrating.

“We’re 4-6,” East Hampton coach Parker Strong said. “We’re halfway through and we’re not where we want to be. So we obviously have more work to do.”

After falling behind 8-1 on a three by George Logan, the Bellringers rallied to trail 12-10 going into the second quarter. A long two by Nick Bellas gave the Wildcats (6-5) a 14-10 lead. That was all about to change, however.

Down 16-12, East Hampton went on a 16-0 run including the final 10 points in a span of 2:24 capped by a putback by Kyle Adams to make the score 28-16 with 2:30 remaining in the half. Two of the baskets during the run were threes by Booth. Colin Parks had two baskets in the quarter and was strong on the boards. The Bellringers were looking good, everything was clicking … the offense, rebounding, defense, the bench. East Hampton was in control.

In the final two minutes, however, the Bellringers let that momentum slip away. Old Lyme had a mini 10-4 run of its own to close out the half with Logan scoring five of the points. East Hampton took a 32-26 lead into the break and would spend the second half searching for points and fighting off the Wildcats.

A long two by Jeff Pratt gave East Hampton a 34-26 advantage in the third quarter. Consecutive threes by Logan and Dylan Sheffield closed the gap to 34-32 before a driving layup by Matt Vasquenza and another three by Booth gave East Hampton some breathing room at 39-32. Spencer Daly added a three late in the quarter but Logan’s layup off a turnover just as the quarter ended brought Old Lyme to within 42-38.

Both teams struggled offensively in the fourth before Booth found Adams underneath for a basket and a foul. Adams didn’t convert the free throw, keeping the lead at 44-38 with 5:55 to go.

Old Lyme, though, slowly pecked away and closed out the game with a 12-3 run with Sheffield putting the Wild Cats up 48-47 with about 1:45 remaining and Andrew Tyrol making it 50-47 with just over a minute left.

Old Lyme gave East Hampton opportunities in the final minute, missing the front end of one-and-ones three times, but the Bellringers could not capitalize.

In the second half, East Hampton scored 15 points and went to the free-throw line only twice, missing both.

“We got plenty of looks, we just couldn’t get some of [our shots] down,” Strong said. “The real issue was turnovers. We had 27 turnovers. They didn’t even press us. In the halfcourt, to have 27 turnovers, it’s really tough to win. Old Lyme is experienced. The defending league champion, they’ve been there before. They put the clamps on us at times and some of them were bad turnovers, where we just kind of gave it to them.

“We had 12 more turnovers than they did today, which is obviously significant.”

As disappointing a loss as it was, Strong saw improvement and was pleased with his team’s effort.

“We’re improving. We took two charges today,” he said. “We dove on the ball and got a lot of extra possessions that way. From that standpoint, that’s improvement.

He also saw big contributions from his bench, which bodes well for the team if it continues.

“Booth did a great job today,” Strong said. “He was able to make some plays, had a hustle steal early on. Doing a nice job for us. That’s a positive. We’re getting more out of our bench than we would normally get. Colin did a pretty nice job. He had six rebounds at halftime. So, he’s crashing the glass. He’s contributing. Spencer did a nice job, too. Spencer gave us a lift at times. He hit a big three. He did a lot of things for us. Our bench was pretty helpful. So, if we continue to get that addition from our bench, we have room to grow as the season progresses. So, I feel pretty good about where we can be.”

Booth led the team in scoring with 14 points, Pratt added nine, Vasquenza eight and Adams six.

Logan led all scorers with 15.

“Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and build from it,” Strong said. “Our effort was good.”

East Hampton will play at Haddam-Killingworth on Friday.