Easthampton boys basketball slows down its game in win over Hampshire
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WESTHAMPTON - Brian Miller decided to slow down his team's usual track meet and showed off another weapon at his disposal Tuesday night.
The Easthampton boys basketball team, which usually plays an up-tempo style, went into its half-court offense in the final five minutes and pulled away to a 60-47 victory.
"We decided to slow it down for a while there and run plays. We got what we wanted. When (junior center Chris) Starcun came back in the game, we got six easy points down low off designed plays. It's good to see us execute.
"You usually think of us as up-and-down, up-and-down, but now we're able to slow it down and score where we wanted to score and also use the clock."
Hampshire had gone on an 8-2 run to make it a 10-point game at 53-43 with 4:57 left when Miller slowed things down and the team went to designed plays.
Starcun (11 points, 11 rebounds) scored five of his team's final seven points and Casey White (22 points, six rebounds) added the other two as Easthampton (5-0) pulled away to end the game.
"We're always going to be a track team," Miller said. "We're always going to be up-and-down, but we've got Starcun inside. You've got to use that. We've never really had a post presence and now we do. We have to get used to using that."
Sam Garcia added 12 points in the win. Jeff VanOudenhove had six assists and two points, while Kenny Lumpkin finished with six points, four steals and four assists.
Hampshire (2-3) fell behind by double digits in the first quarter for the third straight game and worked hard to cut the deficit to 34-29 early in the third quarter.
"We need to take a look at that and make some changes," Hampshire coach Claud Salomao said. "Hopefully, that will jumpstart us into better starts. If that happens, it's not so helter skelter and we can play our game."
Shane Andrews led Hampshire with 18 points, while Keith Cotnoir had 17 and 12 rebounds.
Cotnoir scored 16 of his 17 in the first half.
"We talked about how we were going to defend the high ball screens and stuff, but it's really just the kids stepping up and taking it personally," Miller said of defending Cotnoir in the second half. "Sam and Dan Brandt did a great job getting up, working the whole time, not letting him get position, getting a hand up on his shooting hand and just playing good defense. Effort, really, was the difference."
White scored 16 of his points in the first half as well and Hampshire picked up the pressure on him throughout the second. That focus and the effort put out to get back into the game in the first half helped Easthampton control things down the stretch.
"Our kids are a bunch of fighters. We were down 15 in the first half and fought back to be down five," Salomao said. "We did a nice job of going at it. But unfortunately, you fight back like that against a good team like that, you end up with tired legs at the end."
Miller said his team's versatility and depth have been key to its strong start so far.
"Going into the season, I would have said talent-wise we aren't what we have been," Miller said. "But now I'm looking at it that we may not be as talented, but we're able to run an offense that can score when we want it to. We're deeper than we normally are. Guys come in off the bench and do a better job than (bench players) have in the past. And we have Casey, so that always helps."
Jim Pignatiello can be reached at jpignatiello@gazettenet.com.
