Thursday, October 1, 2026
The dog pound was barking Thursday at Hewlett High School, as the host Bulldogs nipped Sewanhaka, 47-46, in a Nassau Class AA boys’ basketball first-round playoff thriller before a packed and energetic crowd.
Sophomore Gabe Bowery's layup with two minutes remaining put No. 7 Hewlett ahead for good. Sewanhaka had two chances to win it in the final 10 seconds but was unable to hit either shot attempt.
Hewlett senior Justin Ortiz was locked in from the opening tip, pouring in 15 of his game-high 22 points in the first half, finishing with five threes as Hewlett advanced to meet second-seeded Roslyn in the quarterfinals Tuesday at 5 p.m.
If the parking lot was in-bounds, Ortiz was pulling it and knocking it down with confidence and swagger all afternoon. He also added 5 assists.
“He has been the ultimate Bulldog,” Hewlett head coach Andy DeBernardo said of Ortiz. “He’s been with us for four years. He’s a great kid and an even better ball player. We love him to death. This was on his bucket list: A home playoff game and a win. He got both.”
After every bucket of his own or big play from his defense, Ortiz made sure to signal to the crowd to keep the energy at an all-time high.
“They [the crowd] make the biggest impact,” Ortiz said. “That’s the pound. They show out every single game and we don’t win a lot of games without them. They’re very important.”
Sewanhaka, the No. 10 seed, found a way to limit Ortiz’s shot attempts in the second half, but the All-County guard found a way to make his presence felt with and without the ball in his hands, as well as on the other end of the court. It was an emotional victory for him, as he is the only remaining player who got knocked out by the Ravens two seasons ago in the first round.
“It’s kind of like revenge for my brothers [teammates] that I was playing with,” Ortiz said. “You build bonds with people and they mean so much to you that you just want to get payback for them. We walked in their gym that day and it was really rowdy, and I just hope they felt what I felt when I was a sophomore playing at their place. I let their coach know after the game it was all love, but I had to get him back.”
It was a back-and-forth affair, as the two sides traded buckets. Senior captain Dante Anderson led the Ravens with 21 points, while the other senior captain Nehemy Fresnel added 15. They also clogged the paint with sophomores Nnamdi Amadike (6 points) and Lance Williams.
“This is their [Anderson and Fresnel’s] team,” Sewanhaka head coach Jay Allen said. “We wouldn’t have gotten to this point without those guys. So, although it’s a disappointing loss, those guys really carried us all season.”
Hewlett, which led 27-24 at halftime but trailed 41-38 after three quarters, gained some much-needed rim protection from Bowery, who recorded 9 points, 8 blocks and 13 boards in the win.
“He’s done that all year,” DeBernardo said of Bowery. “All year, he’s been blocking shots and that’s probably one of his lowest totals all year.”
Senior center Kobe Cox (5 points, 10 rebounds) and sophomore Brendan Spady (5 points) came off the bench and provided Hewlett a spark.
DeBernardo had his group switching between man and zone defense. He also went to junior guard Alan Tranktenberg in high-leverage defensive situations to cover Anderson, mostly. DeBernardo said: “We were just trying to confuse them.”
It was a full-team effort, as seniors Stefano Borsellino, Christian Champagnie and Maxon McKenniss contributed to Hewlett’s first playoff win in four seasons and DeBernardo’s first as its head coach.
“They played every second of that entire game,” DeBernardo said. “We lost to Garden City at the buzzer when we were leading the entire game the other night, and we said, ‘this game was about 32 minutes, not 31 and a half.”
