West Hempstead seeks consistency

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At the onset of the 2017-2018 boys’ basketball season, one of the few things for sure at West Hempstead was that there was a lot of uncertainty. The Rams were coming off an up-and-down season, and had just two returning starters and a roster filled with players with limited varsity experience.

The results have not been all that rosy for West Hempstead through the team’s first 12 games. After last Saturday afternoon’s road loss to Island Trees, the Rams fell to 3-9 overall, 2-3 in Nassau Conference A-IV. Senior captain John Granholm scored a season-high 15 points to lead West Hempstead. It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Rams.

West Hempstead head coach Ed Cosgrove believes the lack of experience has played a big role in the team’s inconsistent play. “We’re really haven’t been able to put together a full four quarters,” Cosgrove said. “We have spurts where we play well for a quarter or a half. Unfortunately, there have been more bad spurts than good ones. We just don’t have the experience that most of our opponents have. Turning the ball over has been our Achilles heel. In the games where we’ve been successful, we had few turnovers than our opponents.”

The season actually got off on the right track for the Rams when they welcomed in Valley Stream North on opening night. The Spartans were coming off an 18-4 season that took them to the county semifinals, but they lost a lot to graduation. West Hempstead, which got 13 points each from seniors Chris Jean-Louis and Tim Williams, lost a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, but held on for 57-49 victory.

The team lost its next three non-league contests, but came out on top in its league opener at North Shore. Jean-Louis, who is leading the team with an average of 13.3 points per game, scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Rams to a 62-61 win. Junior guard Michael Parnell scored the team’s last five points. The Vikings got a game-high 26 from Liam Kunkel.

The Rams stayed unbeaten in league play when a feisty Clarke team came to town on January 3. Jean-Louis, who typically registers double figures in both the scoring and rebounding columns, scored a game-high 16 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead the way. Parnell added 13 points, including a pair of free throws to give the team a three-point lead in the closing seconds. Junior Kobe McMillan scored seven points.

“We need to be more patient on offense and not just settle for the first look we get,” Cosgrove said. “We can’t get frustrated when things break down. That comes with experience. We’ve shown improvement. Hopefully, we learned something the first time around against everyone in the league. It’s going to be a fight for the last playoff slot.”

West Hempstead is back on the court when North Shore visits this Thursday 4:30 p.m.