Southampton Basketball Team's Season Comes to a Close With Loss in State Semifinals

In the final minute or so of the New York State Class B semifinal, with his team staring down at an impending loss, Derek Reed turned to teammate Tyson Reddick and said, “It’s been a good run, man. I’m happy I played with you.”

Although Southampton made comeback attempt after comeback attempt throughout Saturday morning’s game at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls, Catholic Central (Section II-Capital District) had an answer for everything. Included in that was making its free throws in the waning minutes, which led to a 65-52 victory for the Crusaders, and the end of the season for the Mariners.

Catholic Central returned to Cool Insuring Arena on Sunday afternoon to face Westhill (Section III-Central New York), and it was the Warriors who claimed the Class B state title with a 66-61 victory over the Crusaders. It was Westhill’s first state championship since 2017, but fifth since 2010.

Reed said when Catholic Central kept making its free throws down the stretch, it was clear the end of his team’s season, and his own career, was coming to an abrupt end.

“You can say you’re sad to see it come to an end, but happy that you got to that point,” he said. “We had a young team overall, and while that might have meant it was going to be hard for others, we still made it further than most on the island. I think we came into this season overlooked, but I think we opened some eyes and put some respect on their name to the point where a lot of people will be looking to this team next season and after that to see what they do.”

The Mariners’ run comes to an end after a very successful season that included winning the Suffolk County, Long Island and Regional Class B titles, among other highlights such as defeating Kings Park for the Small Schools Championship and reaching the Section XI Championship against Class AA school Brentwood. Following the game, after some quick reflection, Southampton head coach Herm Lamison drove that point home even further, dating the season back to when the team won its summer league, then winning East Hampton’s Kendall Madison tournament just before the Mariners won their own host tournament and then going undefeated in League V to win that title.

“I’m super proud of my kids,” he said. “I’m not happy that we lost the game, but you know what? If we have to lose a game, I’d rather lose in Glens Falls. The only thing better would have been winning today and winning tomorrow, that’d be golden. That didn’t happen for us today, but as I just told the kids, when you look back from where we started … these kids are champions, on multiple levels.”

Catholic Central, which only needed to make the hour or so trip from nearby Troy, proved to be a worthy opponent for the Mariners on Saturday morning, having led the entire game and only relinquishing the lead once in the third quarter. That was when Southampton came back to tie the game at 37-37 after Naevon Williams made a pair of free throws and Tyson Reddick made a three-pointer with 2:17 left.

But Sei’Mir Roberson, who scored a game-high 24 points that included six threes, made the front end of a pair of free throws, grabbed the long rebound off his miss and dished it to Xavyjon Arroyo, who hit a bank-shot three to extend Catholic Central’s lead, which was 45-39 going into the fourth quarter.

Roberson continued to launch threes in the fourth quarter, and after he and teammate Nick Riley hit a pair of them, the Crusaders led by 10 points about midway through the fourth. But Williams, who scored 15 of his team-high 19 points in the second half, made a three of his own, which sparked another comeback attempt for Southampton. After a pair of layups by Williams and Reed, the Mariners only trailed by five, 56-51, but were in a situation where they were short on time and thus needed to foul Catholic Central with the hope that it would miss some of its free throws, but that didn’t happen. The Crusaders made 14 of its 18 free throws throughout the game, and its two main scoring threats, Roberson and Darien Moore, who scored 22 points and also had a game-high 10 rebounds, were a combined 9 for 12.

In addition to his team-high 19 points, Williams also had a team-high eight rebounds for Southampton. Tyler Blake scored 10 points and five rebounds and may have been the Mariners’ most consistent player, not just on Saturday morning, but in the Mariners’ last two games, the Regional Final victory over Valhalla included.

But overall, as a team, it was a tough game shooting wise for Southampton, and both Reed, who only finished with six points, and Lamison said that’s more or less where the game was won and lost. Sophomore Tyson Reddick scored eight points and freshman Alex Franklin finished with six points.

Reed is one of three seniors who are graduating this June, along with Ayden Eleazer and Edgar Franklin. Reed was the quickest in school history to reach the 1,000-point career milestone mark. He said he has had some Division II and Division III colleges interested in him playing for them, and now that the season is over, he’s going to make his visits to them and figure out which school he’ll be attending to continue his basketball career.

“I think I solidified my name among some of the greats who have played here,” he said. “I know I accomplished more than people thought I would. I just have to keep moving on.”

Lamison said he’s going to be sad to see all of his seniors move on, including Reed.

“We’ve been together for quite some time,” he said. “This is one chapter of his life and it’s time to open the next chapter of his life. He’s going to do very well because he’s a well-mannered young man and he’s a very talented young man. The next chapter of his life is going to be just as good as this one.”

In terms of his program, Lamison continued that sentiment, that next season is the next chapter, but he likes what he has returning, with the large majority of the team still intact and expected to return.

“We’ll turn the page, we’ll let this sink in, all of the accomplishments these kids have gotten this year. We’ll be ready in a couple of months to start it up for next season.

“Very, very fortunate to have the bulk of the team back next year,” he continued. “Our core kids are freshmen and sophomores. Tyler is going to be so much better next year. You see him starting to break out this year and the end of the season.”