The boys’ varsity basketball team hosted its first home game against the Hewlett Bulldogs on Saturday, Dec. 9. Senior Timothy Mingo related, “It was exciting to play my first home game as a senior, especially with all the crowd support; it’s always fun.” When asked about how it felt to play as a sophomore on varsity, Jake Prince said, “I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to play on varsity, and it is an honor to represent Lynbrook, and I’m grateful that my hard work is paying off.”
It was a very quiet first quarter, with only 19 points being scored, and the Bulldogs were up 11-8. That trend continued into the second quarter; Hewlett was up 19-16 with just three minutes left in the half. Sophomores Prince and Cooper Cordes led Lynbrook on a 6-0 run to close out the first half and go up 22-19 heading into the third quarter.
The third quarter started, and the Owls came out strong by going on a 13-2 run and taking a 12-point lead with just three minutes remaining. The Bulldogs’ defense could not find a way to stop the electric offense from the Owls, and Lynbrook went into the fourth quarter with a 45-31 lead.
In the opening minutes of the final quarter, the Bulldogs finally started to press, and it paid off. Justin Ortiz of Hewlett scored a key three point shot and then another basket after forcing a turnover. This cut the Owls’ lead to just five with six minutes remaining, and momentum was with the Bulldogs. Lynbrook went two for six on free throws, and Ortiz and Justin Olgilvie anchored a comeback for Hewlett. With just two minutes remaining in the game, the score was tied 52-52. Olgilvie scored five points, and the Bulldogs were up by four points with just 40 seconds left. By pressing and figuring out Lynbrook’s offense, Hewlett went on to win the game 58-55.
Mingo finished with 13 points, and when asked about what the team can take away from this game, he said, “We have a very young team with a lot of talent, [and as] Coach Donny always says, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day,’ so I think we go back to work, and we are going to have a good, fun season.” Prince finished with 11 points and commented, “I think we as a team can go back and see what we can do better.” Junior James O’Donovan scored 11 points, and Cordes scored 7.
The Bulldogs’ Olgivie scored 23 points in total, 11 in the fourth quarter, and Ortiz finished with 21, including 13 points in the fourth quarter and four three-pointers.
When asked about how he can keep his players positive and motivated after a loss, Lynbrook’s head coach Brian Donaldson said, “What we emphasized as coaches is this was a non–league. While every game is important, this loss won’t affect if we make the playoffs or not. We played a great second and third quarter but didn’t play a great full 32 minutes. We are young and going to have growing pains, but we can take what we are struggling with in non–league and grow from it into league play.”
Donaldson also added that “What this game showed was that as a team, we need to play a full 32 minutes. Being up 15, your opponent isn’t just going to give up. They are going to try and speed us up, and we need to value the basketball.”
