The East Hampton High School gym was rockin’ Friday night with the kind of energy usually reserved for playoff games. West Islip, which handed the Bonackers their first loss of the season last month, was in the building, and both boys varsity basketball teams were ready for a rematch. East Hampton would eventually lose 60-44 but led for much of the game, playing some of its best basketball of the season in the first half.
The highlight of the game came early. In the first quarter, with the two teams tied at 11, Toby Foster, Bonac’s senior point guard, scored his 1,000th career point on a 3-point shot to put East Hampton up 14-11. Play was stopped to acknowledge the achievement and present Foster with a commemorative ball hand-painted by the school’s art department.
“These are milestones that don’t happen every year,” said Kathy Masterson, East Hampton’s athletic director, who commissioned the ball art. “It’s something that should be celebrated.”
Point guards are known as the offensive leaders of their basketball teams. Commonly called “floor generals,” they bring the ball down the court and set up plays, determining how teams pass the ball as they try to score. Foster plays that role both on and off the court.
“So proud of him. Great accomplishment,” Dave Conlon, the head coach, said after the game. “He’s the most dedicated kid on the team and puts in the most time after practice and in the off-season.”
One of the things Foster has been working on lately is his 3-point shooting, which makes his 1,000th point from beyond the arc all the more notable.
“That’s what I work on all the time. So it was a special moment,” Foster said. “I’m on the shooting machine after practice, before practice. I’m always working. I’ve kind of always been like that. I’ve always just loved playing basketball, love getting shots up — it just makes me feel good about myself for the rest of the day.”
That practice is making a difference. Foster struggled with 3-pointers in past seasons and has shown improvement this winter. He changed his approach and is seeing results.
“Just reps. Just a ton of reps,” Foster said. “I think that was my main problem in the past years. I wasn’t as good of a 3-point shooter as I wanted to be and that’s because I just focused on my mechanics. ‘Am I doing this right? Am I doing that right?’ Now it’s just straight reps and that’s all I’m really worried about, just getting a lot of shots up.”
At the risk of sounding like a reporter questioning Allen Iverson’s dedication to the game in his famous “practice” press conference, practice might actually help the Bonackers salvage the rest of their season. After today’s home game against Hauppauge, they have just three more opportunities to win: Saturday at Eastport-South Manor, Monday at home against Westhampton Beach, and Friday, Feb. 6, at home against Harborfields.
“It really comes down to just practice,” Foster said. “I feel like our last few practices have been a little lackadaisical. We joke around too much in practice and that needs to change. If the intensity in our practices changes, the intensity in the game will change.”
