Herm Lamison, who coaches Southampton High School's boys basketball team, said after his Mariners had routed the Pierson (Sag Harbor) High School Whalers 87-54 in the county B-C-D game at Longwood High in Middle Island Tuesday that his players had done everything he'd asked them to.
And perhaps more. Southampton's vaunted run-and-jump press was even more impressive than it had been when, on Jan. 20 in Pierson's gym, the Mariners won a regular-season showdown 64-54, pulling away thanks to near-perfect foul shooting, in the final minute and a half.
This time, however, it was pretty much over by the halftime break, at which point Southampton led 42-19, and by which point Derek Reed, the Mariners' junior point guard, with 20 points, had outscored Pierson's entire team.
Reed was to finish with a game-high 30 points, but it wasn't just him: LeBron Napier, a 6-foot-3-inch junior who was pretty much unstoppable after he got the ball down low, Andrew Venesina, a senior ball-hawking guard who can also shoot, Naevon Jenkins, a freshman guard with a deft touch, and Ryan Smith, a lanky senior who could always be found near the basket, did plenty of damage, offensively and defensively, too.
Will Fujita, Pierson's young coach, who a decade ago was playing on Southold's team, welcomed the rematch, inasmuch as it would help his charges -- who remain formidable despite Tuesday's setback -- prepare for what they hope will be a long run in the state Class C tournament. It is to begin for them on March 9 at Centereach High School, when the Whalers are to meet Carle Place for the Long Island Class C championship at 4 p.m. Southampton's game is to follow at 6.
Southampton led 17-9 after the first quarter, during which Pierson turned the ball over eight times. (There were to be 21 Pierson turnovers in all.) Things continued to go south for the Whalers in the second quarter. Reed got it going for Southampton with a jumper in the paint and a subsequent steal and layup for 21-9, and the Mariners, whose ball movement was dizzying, and whose harrying defense discombobulated their Pierson peers, especially in the early going, went on from there.
It should be noted, however, that there were at least two highlights that delighted the Sag Harbor school's fans -- when Leo Butler, who had let fly a long pass for an open teammate under the basket midway through the first quarter, saw his pass bank in off the backboard, and when, in the opening minutes of the third quarter, Dom Mancino came off the bench to spark an insurgence of sorts that chopped 7 points off the Mariners' 23-point lead before the county's Class B champion drew away again.
In addition to Reed's 30 points, Napier had 23 and Venesina 11 for the winners. Wilson Bennett led Pierson with 20, Mancino had 9, and Cecil Munshin 8.
Southampton, which last played in a state final -- as a Class A team -- in 2017, certainly looked on Tuesday as if it had the wherewithal to go all the way this year, perhaps in the county tourney too. The Mariners are to play Kings Park, the Class A champion, in the county small schools championship game Friday at Sachem East High School in Farmingville at 6 p.m. The overall county championship game is to be played at Longwood on Monday at 7.
The state tourney, at Glens Falls, is to be played over the March 18-19 weekend.