Scary Good: Southampton Is Dominating, but There Is Room for Improvement Still

There are no ifs, ands or buts about it: the Southampton boys basketball team is the best small school in Suffolk County. It’s not debatable, just pure fact.

After defeating Babylon, 76-47, at home on Friday night, and with just one regular season game left to be played Tuesday against Center Moriches, the Mariners had won all 11 of their League V games up until that point and have done so in dominating fashion. Against fellow Class B teams, the Mariners have won by an average point differential of 29.8 points per game.

Babylon, which Southampton head coach Herm Lamison agreed will most likely be his team’s biggest threat to winning a county title next week, gave the Mariners a good run through the first half of last week’s game. Southampton only led the Panthers, 38-29, at halftime, before it turned things up in the second half, as it’s done throughout the season. The Mariners went on a 9-0 run in the third quarter leading to outscoring the Panthers 21-11 in the frame, and a lopsided final score.

Derek Reed, a senior, was two rebounds shy of a triple-double with 25 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. Tyler Blake, a junior, was the next most consistent player on the floor for the Mariners on Friday night leading to a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Naevon Williams added 16 points with a strong second half, and after a cold first half, sophomore Tyson Reddick found his shot in the second half, finishing with 12 points. Babylon senior Eric Hoffman scored a game-high 29 points, and if it wasn’t for a number of three-point plays from him — from beyond the arc or being fouled — the game could have been that much more lopsided.

While postseason brackets were not filled out as of press time, and most likely won’t be official until Friday at the earliest, Babylon will most likely play Mattituck in an outbracket game for the right to face Southampton in the county championship. The Suffolk County Class B Championship is set for Wednesday, February 15, at St. Joseph’s University in Patchogue at 7:30 p.m.

“Babylon is solid. There’s a pretty good chance we see those guys again for the B championship. If we don’t play at the top of our game it’s going to be a problem,” Lamison said after Friday night’s victory. “Happy with the way the kids came out and played with the energy that we need to. A couple of our kids didn’t play well … Tyler Blake had his best game of the season. He really played like we wanted him to play. That’s what he’s capable of doing. We’ve just been waiting for it to happen. Hopefully, he grows from it.”

Blake went on spurts throughout the game, in which he would score back-to-back baskets easily, then grab a defensive rebound on the other end and kick the ball out into transition. He had a few key offensive rebounds as well to keep drives going.

“Feels good,” to contribute to the win, Blake said. “I feel like I had to play a part. When my teammates weren’t doing good, I had to step up. Looking forward to doing that in the future.”

What’s somewhat eye-opening, and something Lamison pointed out, as successful as Southampton has been, it hasn’t necessarily been firing on all cylinders in every game. Reed has been the one constant every night, with contributions from Blake, Williams, Reddick and freshman Alex Franklin here and there. Lamison is waiting for it to all come together.

“We’re still trying to get better,” Lamison said. “I tell the kids every day — tomorrow we have to be better than we were yesterday — and that’s what I really believe. In everything that we do, we have to be better, and we can be. Everyone hasn’t played up to where they’re capable of playing at the same time, which is good and bad.”

Both Blake and Reed — the latter being one of three seniors on the team with Ayden Eleazer and Edgar Franklin — acknowledged that not everyone has been on top of their games at the same time and that it’s a work in progress. At the same time, both, who were on last year’s team that reached the Long Island Championship, realize they don’t want to peak too early.

“I don’t want to say we look past these games, but, we’re preparing ourselves for states. We have the potential for that if we keep getting better,” Reed said. “We have to prepare for each night to do the best we can do. We know the competition is going to keep getting harder and harder so we have to keep getting better and prepare for it. But right now the sky is the limit.”