Westbrook Pulls Away From East Hampton in Second Half

The good feeling that came with a gutsy and determined effort in a close loss to Cromwell earlier in the week made way on Friday night for a dose of humility and a clear message that East Hampton has work to do if it wants to contend in the Shoreline Conference.

Westbrook broke open a close game early in the third quarter and was never threatened after that as the Knights pulled away for a 65-51 victory at home against the Bellringers in a boys’ basketball game on Friday night.

“We have offensive weapons, we can score the ball. The problem is defense,” East Hampton coach Parker Strong said. “We had a lot of trouble defensively today. Westbrook came in ready to play, fought hard, they deserved to beat us. We can’t keep giving up 66, 65 … we need to bear down. Going through all of our scrimmages and all of our games so far, it’s been one good game followed by a bad game. It’s frustrating that we’re not able to focus consistently. “

East Hampton (0-2) fell behind quickly 9-3, but consecutive steals and layups by Matt Vasquenza tied the score 9-9. A three-pointer by Sam Grigo gave the Knights the lead back.

Westbrook (2-0) was up 18-13 in the second quarter before Matt Booth hit two straight threes to give the Bellringers a 19-18 lead. The teams battled from there with East Hampton’s Kyle Adams tying the score at 24 on a nice putback.

Grigo, however, wasn’t done. The sophomore, who scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half, hit a three then was fouled making a driving layup. His free throw put Westbrook up 30-24, a lead it would not relinquish.

Trailing 32-26 entering the third quarter, East Hampton cut the deficit to 34-30 when Adams scored on a nice assist from Jeff Pratt, but Westbrook went on a 15-5 run to take control. The Knights were led by Torin Wood, who scored eight points in the quarter. The junior finished with 18.

Strong wasn’t displeased with his offense, which showed flashes of what it can be this season, and was on Wednesday night against Cromwell. The Bellringers turned the ball over less but also shot more deep balls.

“I think we settled for threes too easily,” said Strong, whose team finished with nine three-pointers. “They were trying to get us to shoot from the outside, trying to get us to shoot contested threes. We thought there were gaps and there were plenty of times we got the ball inside and good things happened, but we didn’t look inside enough.”

In the end, however, it was all about the defense for Strong.

“For me, first and foremost, its 65 on the defensive end,” he said.

The Bellringers were consistently beat off the dribble in the third quarter leading to easy points for Westbrook, allowing the Knights to build its lead and quickly snuff out any attempts at a comeback. Westbrook scored 19 third-quarter points.

“We wanted to pressure the ball, we wanted them to go to the hole, we also wanted to get help, too,” Strong said. “We didn’t get that help. They’re going to the hole and there’s nobody there to help and it’s just a layup.

“We thought if we pressure the ball we’d get some turnovers. We forced some turnovers with our pressure but once they broke that initial pressure there was no one to rotate over to help us. It’s frustrating because our focus every day has been defense.”

Though one game won't undo the optimism aurrounding the team, it doesn’t get any easier for the Bellringers, who will play Hyde in New Haven on Monday. Strong is contemplating making changes if he continues to not like what he sees, beginning with practice on Sunday.

“As a coaching staff, we’re going to think about maybe making some changes,” he said. “We’ll see who is ready play. You got to stay focused for 32 minutes. You can’t give me 18 or 24 or 26 because then you’re going to lose the game.”

Booth led East Hampton with 15 points on five three-pointers. Pratt added 11.