Reed's 31 Powers Southampton Boys Basketball To Victory Over Pierson In B/C/D Qualifier

When the Pierson boys basketball team hosted Southampton earlier this season, the Mariners found themselves in an unfamiliar setting, with many of their players, even seniors, playing in the tight confines of the Sag Harbor gym for the first time.

Although Derek Reed had what he called one of his worst games ever, Southampton still managed to win the tightly contested mid-season clash of what was at the time the only two remaining undefeated teams in League VII.

Fast forward to Tuesday, with both teams meeting up once again, this time in the B/C/D qualifier of the Section XI Tournament at Longwood High School for, more than anything, bragging rights as to who would take the crown as the top East End team.

Reed took it as an opportunity at redemption. And that’s exactly what he did.

Behind a game-high 31 points, Reed, along with his senior teammate LeBron Napier, who scored 23 points, led the Mariners to a lopsided 87-54 victory over the Whalers, firmly cementing themselves as the top East End team, at least for this season. With the victory, Southampton advanced to the Small Schools Championship, where it will play Suffolk County Class A Champion Kings Park at Sachem East High School Friday at 6 p.m. Kings Park defeated Deer Park, 60-52, proceeding the Southampton/Pierson game.

Both Pierson and Southampton still have their Long Island Championships to be played as well. Pierson will play Carle Place this Wednesday, March 9, at Centereach High School at 4 p.m. with Southampton’s game to follow against an opponent that’s still to be determined. Bridgehampton, meanwhile, will play its Regional Semifinal game against Chapel Field Christian School on March 8 at 5 p.m.

Both Napier and Reed were well aware of how the last game went between the two teams and how they wanted Tuesday’s game to shake out.

“Last time we played them at their place, the environment was insane for us,” Napier said. “First time playing there for me, [as a] senior. My partner here, Derek, he had a shaky game last time. I stepped up, and this time he stepped up with me and we did it together.

“Yeah, I knew I had to get back from the last game,” Reed said, smirking at his teammate’s comment. “It was one of the worst games I’ve ever played, so it was stuck in my head.”

With three minutes left in the first quarter, and all five of its starters already on the score sheet, it was clear that Southampton was going to have a strong offensive night. The question was how Pierson, who can match up with just about any team offensively on most nights, was going to respond. But the Mariners’ full-court press proved to be a lot for the Whalers, who failed to score in the final two minutes of the opening quarter. Senior Wilson Bennett, who was the only Whaler forcing any type of offense, scoring 12 of the team’s 19 first-half points, eventually ended his team’s scoring drought with about six minutes remaining in the second quarter.

But Napier responded to Bennett’s basket with a three, then Southampton went on a run, where it seemed that every shot, no matter who took it, was going in. Reed scored 12 of his 20 first-half points in the quarter, including a pair of threes down the final stretch of the first half and the Mariners led 42-19 at halftime.

Pierson came out of the locker room to start the second half a bit more relaxed, it seemed, than at the start of the game. Senior Cecil Munshin (eight points) scored his first two points about 30 seconds in, then sophomore Dom Mancino and junior Logan Hartstein nailed a pair of three pointers. Mancino (nine points) finished off another three-point when he drove to the basket, made his layup, which he was fouled on, and made the ensuing free throw. That cut into Southampton’s lead slightly at 48-32, but that was really as close as the Whalers would get. With just over 4 minutes remaining in the game, Pierson head coach Will Fujita subbed out his best player in Bennett, who finished with a team-high 20 points, and Southampton head coach Herm Lamison slowly subbed out his starters in the final minutes.

“Coming off of eight days of rest, we played pretty well,” Lamison said of his team. “I think the first half was really telling for us, and we really wanted to get out to a really good start because this is a good team. Make no bones about it, Pierson is a good club. They’re rated number one in the state in the Cs for a reason.”

With his team’s only two losses coming this season at the hands of the Mariners, it had been quite a while since the Whalers (21-2 overall) felt a sting of a loss. Whether or not that would be play a part in the upcoming Long Island Championship, which is an elimination game, Fujita was confident his team would come out of Tuesday’s game okay.

“We don’t feel pain from this,” he said of the loss. “I thought there were a lot of things in the first half that we could have done to make our lives a bit easier. But I think this will be a good learning experience for everyone, myself included. I think we came in understanding that this was going to be a game that we were going to grow from and we were little bit slow to make adjustments to the pressure that they threw at us.

“We’re just excited to be playing basketball in March,” he added. “I think that, like I said, this is a great opportunity for us to learn, be vulnerable, watch film, adjust to pressure. I think that we will be able to get our heads right and get ready for Carle Place.”

Southampton (20-2 overall), which now hasn’t lost since December 29 against Riverhead, will face its stiffest test to date on Friday against undefeated Kings Park, now 21-0 after its victory over a solid Deer Park team. The Mariners said they will be up to the task.

“Just looking forward to the next game that’s on the schedule,” Lamison said. “Nassau, Suffolk, it don’t matter, you got to come ready to play basketball.

“Every game we look to win, regardless of who our opponent is, and we prepare for everybody the same,” Napier said.

“I feel we’re in a great position to win it all,” Reed added. “Everyone contributes, bench especially. The bench give us all our energy.”