2 Photos
Hampton Bays senior James Salas hauls in a rebound.
Hampton Bays junior Kazmin Pensa-Johnson comes flying in to try and swat a three-pointer by Bridgehampton junior Scott Vinski.
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, Noah Brown is in love.
After his first full season in the books as the head coach of the Hampton Bays boys basketball team, Brown professed his love for his team and his position following a scrimmage against Bridgehampton he and his team hosted on February 2.
“I’m in love. I love doing this. If I could do this as a year-round profession, I obviously would,” he said. “This group of guys is unbelievable. We have a cast of characters. I don’t know if you could see it, if it translates on the court, but there’s a lot of love and camaraderie, and I couldn’t be happier with that.”
The Baymen defeated Miller Place, 56-49, to send off their six seniors on a winning note on Thursday, February 3. Brown admitted that his team’s 3-8 League VI and 4-13 overall records, with the season finale on Tuesday at Bayport-Blue Point still to be played, may not be sparkling, but he did say there were a couple of tough losses to some good teams that were decided by a play here and there. Overall he likes the direction the program is heading.
“The kids are growing each and every game,” he said. “The bulk of these guys are coming back next year, so I’m excited.”
Senior co-captain James Salas led the charge in the Senior Night victory for the Baymen with 17 points, while junior Kazmin Pensa-Johnson had 13 points and 13 rebounds and junior Isaiah Lattanzio added 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Salas leads a group of six seniors along with fellow starter and co-captain Chris Sanchez, co-captain Stephen Sutton, James Clinton, James Kiernan and Dillon Ottati. Brown couldn’t speak any more highly of his first departing group as head coach.
“They are polite, they are courteous, they have a sense of humor and they are the smartest group,” he said. “If you look at the colleges some of these guys are going to, Stephen Sutton is likely going to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Everybody else — Salas, Sanchez and Kiernan — Penn State, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia, like, great schools. They are top-notch kids, top-notch human beings. I’m going to miss that group, absolutely, 100 percent.”
That being said, the core of the team is returning next season, with starters Pensa-Johnson, Lattanzio and sophomore Patrick Donahue, who found his way into the starting lineup late in the season, all returning, with a handful of players who got some good minutes off the bench this season.
Brown didn’t pull any punches when talking about his expectations for next season.
“As soon as I took this position last year, I was looking to next year as being a playoff team. If we are not a playoff group next year with that group of kids and Johnson and Lattanzio with three years of varsity experience, and [James] Powers and Donahue with two years, it will be an unsuccessful season, I’ll say that right now. It’s got to be playoffs or bust next season.”
