Southampton Boys Basketball Defeats Westhampton Beach As Both Teams Return To The Court

It had been roughly two weeks since the Southampton and Westhampton Beach boys basketball teams played a meaningful game prior to meeting for a nonleague contest Friday night, December 17, in Southampton.

The Mariners had to deal with half of the team’s players out due to positive COVID-19 cases, which forced the Hurricanes to scrimmage some teams while their game with Southampton was pushed back a full week. Both teams, needless to say, were happy to get their seasons back underway, and it came in what was a competitive game.

Despite not playing since December 4, Southampton (2-1 overall) came on firing on all cylinders and led Westhampton Beach, 40-25, at halftime behind a big first half from senior LeBron Napier, who scored 20 of his game-high 30 points in the game’s first two quarters.

Napier, who also finished with 12 rebounds and six steals, and the Mariners slowed down a bit in the second half, though, while the ’Canes picked it up. They outscored the Mariners, 32-24, through the third and fourth quarters, but their first-half deficit proved to be too much as they succumbed to the home team in the 64-57 final.

Southampton head coach Herm Lamison said it was certainly nice seeing his team back on the court after having had to quarantine, but was still shorthanded. Freshman Naevon Jenkins missed the entire game due to a personal matter, and senior Derek Reed showed up 15 minutes prior to tip-off dealing with a personal matter of his own. Reed still managed to score 11 points in the game and dish out seven assists.

Lamison liked what he saw from his team overall, particularly from Napier, who he said may have lost some steam in the second half from having not played in so long. Ryan Smith had a game-high 17 rebounds and Lamison also liked what he saw from both seniors Saintino Arnold, who hit some big shots, and Seven Smith, who also got some meaningful minutes off the bench. And senior Andrew Venesina came into Friday night with no practice time whatsoever the past two weeks and was second on the team in scoring with 13 points.

“We didn’t really come out with the same level of intensity that got us that lead in the first half,” Lamison said. “We made some mistakes, made some decisions that we shouldn’t have made. And they played well in the second half and closed the gap on us. That was pretty much it. We were able to hold onto it down the stretch. They’re a good team.”

Westhampton Beach (2-2 overall) welcomed back two of its arguably strongest players in seniors Cameron DePetris and Nick Waszkelewicz. Friday night marked the first time the two ’Canes were on the same floor at the same time this season and showed flashes of what they can provide for the team. But DePetris got himself in trouble early with a pair of fouls in the first quarter and then another in the second. Waszkelewicz is slowly making his way back from a foot injury he suffered early in the fall while playing on the football team. He was able to show off his skills a bit, draining four three-pointers and finishing second on the team in scoring with 14 points, but head coach Tim McDermott said the senior is inching his way to being 100 percent.

Junior Quinn McCormack led Westhampton Beach with 17 points and senior Christian Killoran chipped in with 10.

“Definitely a tale of two halves that game,” McDermott said. “Cameron DePetris got into foul trouble early and he’s a really strong interior defender who alters a lot of shots. Without him on the floor, LeBron was able to get inside and have his way a little bit, use his strength and good body control. He played really well in the first half, and there was a period where we just struggled to get a bucket and just not make shots for a while.

“Second half we were a completely different team,” he continued. “We had a different energy and clawed back in. There was a great crowd on hand there in Southampton. I’m a Nassau County guy originally, but spoke to some alum and people close to the rivalry between Southampton and Westhampton and there was a good crowd. It was a nice Friday night game, the boys were all excited about it and a lot of fans turned out for it. It was a good night of basketball.”

Both teams are looking forward to getting their full teams back out on the court and are hoping that happens sooner rather than later. Southampton played its first League VIII game at Center Moriches on Tuesday before heading into the holiday break, then it will host the Mariner Athletic Club Holiday Classic on December 27-28. Arch Bishop Molloy will play Riverhead in the first game at 5 p.m. on December 27, then Southampton will play East Hampton directly following. The consolation game will be the next day at 5 p.m., with the championship game directly following.

Westhampton Beach, meanwhile, played its first League IV game at Hauppauge on Tuesday and is scheduled to participate in the Coaches v. Cancer Tournament at Hampton Bays on December 28-29. The ’Canes will play the opening game of the tournament against The Knox School at 3:30 p.m. on December 28, with consolation and championship games to follow the next day.

McDermott said these games prior to the new year are important because when his team gets back from the break, it’s going to get into league play with two to three games per week.

“At this point, you’re still putting everything in and tweaking here and there. Once you get back, you’re really focusing on strategy to try and game plan for opposing teams and what they run, so practices are a little different,” he explained. “It’s going to take a while for us to build chemistry because you’re adding in new players, two starters basically, two very key players for us. So it’s going to take a little time to develop that chemistry on the court. This team is very close, on and off the court, so they already have good chemistry and it should be something they can pick up pretty quick.”