A Strong Second Half Gives the Baymen Another Win

Hampton Bays (5-3) expected to defeat Bishop McGann-Mercy (1-8) on Friday night; however, a strong first half start from the Monarchs surprised the Baymen, forcing Hampton Bays to make a second half resurgence.

The Baymen were able to do just that, dominating the second half and winning the game 75-52.

“You can’t come out and try to do too much against a team you know you’re a little better than,” Hampton Bays coach Pete Meehan said. “In the first half we were trying to do too much, too soon."

Monarch head coach Mike Clauberg said, “I’m happy. We came out good offensively and had a solid first half. We let up a little bit in the third quarter.”

The “too much, too soon,” play from Hampton Bays led to a game where both teams ran the court all night.  Players Pat Stepnoski and Dan Hartman kept Mercy in the game with 6 and 9 points respectively in the first half.  Going into halftime, Hampton Bays led 36-28.

The first half leader for Hampton Bays was senior guard Andrea Assis. With 15 points in the game, 13 in the first half, Assis kept the Baymen on top during the team’s slow start.

“Our whole team thought this was going to be a blowout,” he said after the game, “But then we realized they’re not just going to give us the game.”

“We started off well because I think we noticed we can score on them,” Mercy’s Dan Hartman said. “They’ve beaten good teams, so I guess we were self-conscious. But we are a pretty a good team. I think we felt, ‘we can take these guys.’”

In the second half, the Baymen came out flying.  Junior guard Luke Mercurio who had 2 points in the first half, racked up another twelve in the second half. While the Baymen soared, the Monarchs struggled to get shots to fall. The Monarchs, as a team, shot 18-43 from the field.

“I was upset we weren’t flashing to the ball. We weren’t denying passing lanes on defense,” Clauberg said. “After you say it so many times and go it over in practice and do it and do it – they had 6 straight points because we weren’t flashing to the ball and turned the ball over.”

“We played a good 3 quarters. In the fourth quarter we kind of went back to our old ways. We keep getting better and better every game, then take a step back,” Hartman said.

Hampton Bay’s ability to shoot the three kept Bishop McGann Mercy from being able to close the gap. Every time the Baymen’s lead began to shrink, another three pointers would be made to push the Baymen’s lead back up. Senior guard Cameron Booth made five three pointers in the game. He led the Baymen with 19 points in the game.

“In the second half, we knew we had to respect them more than we had,” he said.

Next up for Hampton Bays is Mattiuck on Tuesday night.  Assis said, “We will be the underdogs in that game. They shoot really well.”