Offense leads West Hempstead's strong start

West Hempstead’s boys’ basketball team is off to a very strong 6-2 start, sitting at 3-1 in conference play after their 72-46 win over Evergreen Charter on Dec. 22.
Isaiah Blunt had a team-high 22 points, followed by Chris Young with 15 and Evan Wilson with 14.
The offense has been the strong point so far this season for the Rams, with the team averaging 66.8 points per game. The most points the team has scored so far was 76 in a victory over Herricks.
Leading the charge on offense is Anthony Graffeo-Jackson and Isaiah Blunt who are both averaging 14.4 points per game.
“[Graffeo-Jackson and Blunt] have been great for us and it’s really nice that we have a lot of guys capable of scoring,” Rams head coach Eric Rubin said. “In fact, a sophomore off the bench, Jonathan Houston scored 20 at Locust Valley and played terrific. Our offense is there and I think it can only get better. When you have players coming off the bench and scoring 20 points or more, it’s definitely a comfort.”

On the defensive end, Gavin Lee and Joey Thomas have been leading the charge while taking charges. They have been incredibly efficient in forcing opponent’s into mistakes which leads to foul trouble for some of their best players. A prime example of this was when Evan Wilson took a charge against Wheatley that sent one of its best to the bench for a majority of the game because of foul trouble.
“[Lee] and [Thomas] have definitely been our best defensive players so far this season,” Rubin said. “They’re drawing a ton of offensive fouls and that lifts our defense as a whole, but it’s a part of our game that we would like to improve upon.”
West Hempstead has had some big victories and close losses, which is very promising for the season going forward. A key moment in a close game was when Isaiah Blunt went six for six from the free throw line in the fourth quarter to close out a 32-point game and a narrow three-point victory over Hewlett.
“Of course we want to take it one game at a time, but hopefully we can make a run the playoffs,” Rubin said. “That’s the long term goal, but in the short term we have to improve on defense and and show steady improvement. We want to peak in February, not to peak in December.”
A key matchup the Rams are looking forward to is their rematch against Locust Valley on Jan. 26. West Hempstead lost the first matchup 68-61 and hope that with more experience and comfortability with the defensive system they can avenge their lone conference loss.
“[The Locust Valley game] will be a really good measuring stick to see where we are at and how we’ve improved in the last month,” Rubin said.
West Hempstead travels to Cold Spring Harbor Jan. 4 to resume its conference schedule. The Rams are back home Saturday to face Valley Stream North in non-league action.