3 Photos
East Hampton senior Luke Reese finds some open space under the rim for a basket. KYRIL BROMLEY
East Hampton junior Liam Fowkes spots up a three pointer at ESM on Monday evening. KYRIL BROMLEY
East Hampton junior Michael Locascio drives to the basket. KYRIL BROMLEY
The past few years have been rough on Luke Reese. His sophomore season on the East Hampton varsity boys basketball team was cut short due to the pandemic. And while the Bonackers returned to the court for a full slate of games last season, that was cut short for Reese again, after he tore his meniscus in the first league game against Kings Park.
Heading into this season, Reese was talking to his older brother Jack Reese, an East Hampton graduate himself who played at Baruch College, and he gave him some sage advice.
“You’ve got to live this last opportunity up in high school right now,” Luke Reese said his older brother told him. “It’s the most fun that you’re ever going to have. I grew up with a lot of the guys on the team and it’s going to be the last time I play with them.
“Honestly, this season has been really, really fun — I love this team,” he said. “I have really high hopes for what we can do in the playoffs.”
Those hopes may even be higher after Monday’s games.
After the Bonackers defeated host Eastport-South Manor, 65-48, on Monday evening, they learned that Bayport-Blue Point had defeated Mount Sinai, 53-48, putting them in first place in League IV and in the driver’s seat heading into the postseason
If East Hampton (11-1 in League IV, 13-3 overall) can win out its three remaining games against Rocky Point, Westhampton Beach and Comsewogue, it will secure the league title outright and with it a first round bye in the Suffolk County Class A playoffs and a second round home game.
The Bonackers are also now all but a lock to share the League IV title with Mount Sinai. East Hampton and Mount Sinai only played once this season — Mount Sinai won — but since they aren’t playing each other twice, both teams will have to share the league title, according to head coach Dan White.
Much of the team’s success this season has been because of how it’s been able to stay healthy, and White has said all season, if his team can continue to stay healthy, it will be right there at the end of the season with the best teams.
And the players believe in themselves, too.
“We’ve got a great group that’s been around for a long time,” senior Jack Dickinson said. “It was tough when we got the bad news that we lost Luke in our first league game last season to the knee injury, so we’ve just been praying for everyone to be healthy. Coach has done a great job with us and it shows how much hard work we’ve all put in.”
Reese said that he’s been playing with Dickinson since about the first or second grade. Then fellow senior Finn Byrnes joined the group early on, followed by Mike Locascio and Liam Fowkes, a pair of juniors. All of whom make up the team’s starting lineup and all have contributed along the way this season.
Toby Foster, a freshman, has been the newest welcome addition to the team this season and is finding his groove of late. He scored a team-high 20 points in Bonac’s 66-53 win at home over Sayville on Friday. Reese had 16 points, Dickinson had 12 and Byrnes earned 10.
But both the players and White said this season and its success all lies within Reese, who is a basketball player through and through. It’s the only sport he plays, but he plays all year long.
“Luke is just putting kids on lockdown defensively,” White said. “And Luke is a guy who could be scoring 25 points a game for us, but we need him to be that type of lockdown defender. He’s holding these kids who are walking in getting 28 points a game, like Mt. Sinai’s Drew Feinstein, or Kazmin Johnson from Hampton Bays, to 16 points, 10 points. And they’re not only not shooting the ball well, they’re not even getting shots off because of Luke. He’s pretty impressive. He’s not that big, but he’s quick, he’s smart and he has that rare ability because it’s hard to play that type of defense and also contribute the way he is offensively.”
Reese’s teammates and friends are just happy he’s healthy.
“I’m super happy for him,” Dickinson said of Reese and how he’s been able to stay healthy. “We’ve been best friends for so long, played on SYS teams together. He works his ass off all year, he plays all summer, and so I’m happy that we’ve been able to have a great year for him.
“It’s going to be emotional these last couple of games, but I’m looking forward to them a lot,” Reese said. “I thought we all really came into this season with high expectations for the team. Everybody really wanted to win, they all came to open gyms and workouts before the season, and I think we’re getting better now to the point where our expectations are to win all the way to states. We want to win there.”
