Mensch Scores Big in Westhampton Beach Boys Basketball Team's Overtime Loss to North Shore

Once Westhampton Beach junior Andrew Mensch hits a three-pointer, it’s easy for them to keep falling.

He racked up four of them last Thursday, December 29, to help him to a team-high 19 points in his boys basketball team’s 61-57 overtime loss to visiting North Shore.

“If you hit one early, you gain some confidence in your shot,” he said. “I felt good. I think our ball movement and unselfishness the whole game was not only working for me, but the whole team.”

Mensch swished his first just two-and-a-half minutes into the contest. He was fouled driving to the basket just over a minute later and added a free throw off of the chances at the charity stripe. After grabbing his second rebound, Mensch hit his second three-pointer to give the Hurricanes (2-6 overall, 0-4 in League IV) their first lead, 11-10, with 2:40 left in the stanza.

“We moved the ball very well around the court and limited turnovers compared to our previous games,” the junior said. “I think we competed well.”

Senior Quinn McCormack was also key in keeping his team in it. He recorded nine points in the first half — four in the first quarter — though North Shore led, 30-27, heading into halftime. The two teams were knotted at 15-all after the first eight minutes.

But McCormack (13 points) rolled his ankle late in the second, and sat through most of the second half.

“Not having our main scorer was a big part of the loss, but our team’s ability to keep it close without Quinn showed a lot,” Mensch said. “North Shore is a good team and our guys didn’t give up and kept fighting until the end.”

Stepping up in his place were senior Avery Merrihew (nine points) and sophomore Jorden Bennett (10 points).

Merrihew grabbed a pass from Mensch under the basket and scored to make it a five-point game, and Mensch secured a rebound and took it all the way for a score to close to gap to two, 34-32, with 5:08 to go in the third. The junior swished back-to-back three-pointers with 18 seconds left to retake the lead for the Hurricanes, which led 44-41 at the end of the third.

“Andrew has always been my guy. He’s definitely a big contributor to our team,” Bennett said. “He’s just always been the energy of the team and really brings out the best in the team when he’s on the floor.”

But Bennett brought similar energy late. He hit two free-throws after being fouled and took a rebound for a score that took back the lead for Westhampton Beach, 56-55, with 2:39 left in regulation. His and Mensch’s rebounds late also eventually led to Merrihew getting an opportunity with 16.1 seconds left. The senior secured an offensive rebound and was fouled going back up to give his team a chance to win. He sank his first free-throw to send the game into overtime with the teams knotted at 57.

“Jorden and Avery have been big parts of the team the whole season,” Mensch said. “We’ve been in every game we have played, we just need to work on closing the game better.”

Both were also big players in the four-minute overtime session, grabbing rebounds and chances to score, but none fell Westhampton Beach’s way. North Shore’s Vasilis Triantafyllou nailed two game-clinching free throws at the end of overtime to go along with his game-high 26 points to lead North Shore (7-3 overall, 2-1 in League II).

Despite it being the Hurricanes’ fifth straight loss, Bennett said there’s a lot of positives for the team to take away from its latest defeat.

“This was, by far, one of our better games on the season,” he said. “We played some real good defense, and on offense, I think we moved the ball around faster and made the smarter play rather than us playing basketball for ourselves.”

The sophomore said what helped him, personally, was the energy from the bench.

“The intensity definitely amplifies us,” Bennett said. “In the past, we would break down and argue, but we’ve evolved as a team and learned that all that nonsense won’t get us anywhere. We’ve learned that keeping our composure is going to keep us on the right track — so we don’t let the game get away from us. I think we definitely have a few things to work on, but we’re coming together nicely and you should see things turning around for us the second half of the season.”