A Dream Come True: Southampton Defeats Valhalla To Punch Its Ticket to New York State Final Four

It was six years ago when then up-and-coming basketball players Derek Reed and Edgar and Alex Franklin made the trip to Binghamton to watch the 2017 Southampton boys basketball team compete in the New York State Final Four. Ever since then, Reed, the Franklin Brothers and the current cast of players made it a point to get the program back upstate.

On Friday night at Eastport-South Manor High School, that dream became reality.

Southampton defeated Valhalla (Section I-Westchester), 64-55, to win the Class B Regional Final and advance to the New York State Final Four next Saturday, March 18, at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls against Catholic Central (Section II-Capital District). The Mariners will play the first game of the day with a 9 a.m. tip-off, and should they win that game, will find themselves in the state championship the following day at 1 p.m.

The last time the Mariners competed for a state title was not lost on head coach Herm Lamison or his players.

“Every time I get interviewed, I say we dreamed about this,” Reed said after the victory. “We used to be at my Grandma’s playing basketball talking about how we’re going to go upstate when we were seniors, or when we’re in high school, in general. Senior year, had to make it count.

“These kids, they dreamed of this moment for a long time,” Lamison affirmed. “I still have pictures of the kids when we were up in Binghamton that year in the background over the top of the bench. These kids were watching and are now the same kids who are playing. All those beady-eyed kids always said, ‘I want to go upstate,’ and today they punched their ticket.”

Southampton has been consistently led all season by the strong combination of Reed and sophomore Naevon Williams. It seems as though each game in the postseason the Mariners have had someone else step up in addition to those two. Most recently, in their Long Island Championship victory over Malverne, it was freshman Alex Franklin and sophomore Nikai Pierson.

On Friday night, it was Tyler Blake’s time to shine, and he most certainly did. The junior provided more than just an offensive lift, he led the team in scoring with 17 points — nine of which came in a crucial third quarter — and corralled numerous rebounds in what was the biggest game of his young career.

With Southampton leading Valhalla by a slim margin, 31-27, to open the second half, that’s when Blake went to work. He grabbed his own offensive rebound after a miss, scored and was fouled and made the ensuing free throw to extend Southampton’s lead. Moments later, Williams did exactly the same thing which pushed the Mariners’ lead to double digits for the first time all night.

“We were playing for this every day,” Blake said. “We practiced very hard and coach told me I have to step up in order to get to this next level, so I’m happy and proud that I can get to this next level with my team.”

Lamison confirmed that he and Blake had a conversation the night prior. He called Blake his MVP on Friday night.

“I’m so, so proud of Tyler Blake,” he said. “We talked yesterday, and I’m just so glad he put it together, because he’s got so much ability. He just needs confidence and he came out and put it out there today.”

Southampton maintained a 10-point lead for much of the third quarter, but to Valhalla’s credit, it never let the Mariners get in front with an insurmountable lead. After scoring just two points in the first half, Devan Cooper started launching, and making, deep three pointers that got the Vikings back in the game. He made back-to-back threes in the final two minutes of the third quarter to make it a four-point game again, then when Southampton started to extend its lead back toward 10 points, Cooper made another three two minutes into the fourth to cut it back to a six-point game at 52-46.

At that point, Southampton had a hard time finding the basket and had scored only three points halfway through the fourth. After Basiaka Butcher (game-high 23 points) converted a traditional three-point play, Cooper (17 points, 15 in the second half) once again came through for Valhalla, which came into Friday night’s game, 24-1, scoring off a layup to trim Southampton’s lead to just one point, 52-51, the closest the game had been since early in the first quarter.

But Blake had offensive rebound and putback, and then Williams (15 points), Reed (14 points) and Franklin (13 points) got back into the scoring mix. Reed only made four of his nine free throws in the fourth quarter, but it was enough to continue to extend his team’s lead.

“Usually, when it’s a close game with another team, we tend to beat ourselves,” Reed explained. “Me, personally, I know I couldn’t shoot. I got roughed up in the Malverne game, my wrist is swollen. Naevon, Alex, Tyler, they all stepped up big time when we needed them.

“It was a tough game,” Blake added. “Our opponents were actually really good. They played good defense, but we toughed it out. We pushed through.”

Lamison reiterated that he has a young team overall and reminded his players during a late timeout that all of the games leading up to Friday night prepared them for the moment.

“We got a little tight. Listen, we’re still young and I just try and remind the kids, you’ve been here before. Even though it hasn’t been this particular game, but all those games we played thus far this season, those four games we played outside of our schedule, those playoff games, guys, you truly are battle tested now. Let’s just calm down, take a deep breath, get ourselves together, finish this game, and they did it.”

Every year, the different sections throughout the state get to host the regional games. For this particular season, it just so happened it was Section XI’s chance to host both the ‘B’ and ‘C’ games, which it chose Eastport-South Manor High School. Lamison said it probably gave his team an edge but gave credit to the Southampton faithful for coming out and making it feel like a true home game.

“I expect to see the same crowd at Glens Falls next week. They’re rolling — they’ll bring two charter buses and bring them, trust me,” he said with a laugh. “We’ve always had a good following, and our fan base — it’s just tradition. They love their Southampton basketball.

“I’m happy the game was here,” Lamison continued. “It took us 35 minutes to get here. It took them three hours to get here, so I’d rather take that 35-minute drive than take three hours on a bus to have to play. This year it was an advantage to us. Other years, it hasn’t been, where we’ve had to take the trip.”

Lamison said that once he finds out who his team’s opponent will be in next weekend’s semifinal, he will start to create a game plan — Catholic Central dispatched Potsdam (Section X-St. Lawrence Area) rather handily in its Regional Final. But having been to states multiple times, Lamison knows one of the biggest things he’ll need to do is get his players into a routine that makes them feel the most comfortable. And, who knows, maybe the next young crop of Mariners will make the trip and create the next motivated generation of ballplayers.

“It means everything,” Reed said of Friday’s victory. “It’s really just surreal. I can’t even think of the words right now.”