West Hempstead goes down fighting

After winning four straight games to qualify for the Nassau Class A boys’ basketball playoffs, West Hempstead drew Conference A-III rival Great Neck North in the opening round and was poised to avenge a pair of regular-season defeats.

The ninth-seeded Rams started slow last Friday night, scoring just six first-quarter points, but rallied to tie the host Blazers heading into the fourth where Alec Ludwig, Evan Dorman and Jonah Gorjian proved too much in crunch time. Ludwig had a game-high 17 points, including four free throws in the final 30 seconds, and Dorman and Gorjian scored six points apiece in the final quarter to lead No. 8 Great Neck North to a 50-42 victory.

“We were right there till the end,” West Hempstead coach Ed Cosgrove said. “They just made a few more plays in the fourth quarter than we did.

“I’m really proud of the way our guys hung in there, not just tonight but all season,” he added. “Three weeks ago our playoff chances weren’t great, but we won four big games to get here.” 

Junior Tyree Glascoe, who led the Rams with 16 points to cap an All-County campaign, raced the length of the court after a steal for a layup to cut the Blazers’ lead to 37-35 with 3:28 remaining. After Great Neck North coach Mike Holleran called timeout, play resumed with only four West Hempstead players on the court after a substitution by Cosgrove confuse officials and was disallowed. With an extra body advantage, Gilad Zohar drained a shot from behind the arc to put the hosts ahead by five.

Sophomore Darren Davy’s (eight points) jump hook and a Glascoe free throw cut the margin to two, but Gorjian’s layup off a feed from Ludwig, who passed up a wide-open trey, with 45 seconds left served as the dagger. Jared Lewis added nine points for the Blazers, and senior Ray Alexander had 10 for the Rams.

Great Neck North (14-4), which reached the Class A semifinals as the No. 15 seed last season, advanced to face top-seeded Lawrence in the quarterfinals. “I hope they go on to represent our conference well,” Cosgrove said of the Blazers, who lost to Lawrence in last year’s semis.

The Blazers swept the regular-season series, winning by 20 points at home Dec. 20 and by 10 at West Hempstead Jan. 27. In both cases, Cosgrove said, the Rams had a poor stretch where they struggled with turnovers. 

Cosgrove’s team played its best ball when the calendar flipped to February. The winning streak began on the road Feb. 3 with a 65-61 decision over eventual conference champion Glen Cove. Glascoe (22), Alexander (18) and senior Pat D’Haiti (12) all scored in double figures. Glascoe (21) and senior Vinny DiLorenzo (17) led a 55-54 victory over Floral Park four days later, and the final week of the regular season saw brought double-digit triumphs over Manhasset (62-47) and Lynbrook (51-40.)