Southampton Avenges Loss at Bayport A Year Ago

The Southampton boys basketball team took its loss at Bayport-Blue Point last season a bit personal. Aside from it being their first league loss in multiple years, the Mariners didn’t take kindly to the words that were said to them by the Bayport-Blue Point student section, among other things.

The Mariners weren’t going to let any of that happen for a second year in a row when the two teams met on Thursday, January 16.

Despite the host Phantoms taking a very early 10-2 lead, and dealing with yet another boisterous student section, Southampton led for a large majority of the game and wound up winning, 78-64, avenging last year’s loss.

“It was personal, for sure,” junior Alex Franklin said after the game. “Last year, their student section said some things to me and Naevon [Williams] that we couldn’t let slide. We had to come back to avenge that.

“It was big motivation because that was an unexpected loss last year,” Williams added. “We came in here a little too cocky. This year it was different. Not too cocky, we didn’t underestimate them, played our game.”

Franklin, who finished with a game-high 28 points to go with 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals, scored the game-tying basket to make it 10-10 off a steal at halfcourt and ensuing layup with 2:50 remaining in the first quarter. After a three from Bayport senior Cormac Love put Bayport back on top, Southampton senior Tyson Reddick responded with a three of his own to give the Mariners their first lead of the game, one they wouldn’t relinquish and only add on to throughout the game.

With just under five minutes remaining in the first half, Southampton junior Saevion Ward, fresh off the bench, drove to the basket and made his layup through getting slapped on the arm, which led him to putting his arms up and flexing in the direction of the Phantoms’ student section. Another steal and layup by Franklin put Southampton up by 10 and Reddick followed with another three-pointer.

Although Bayport dug into Southampton’s lead a little bit at times in the second half, it never became close enough for the Mariners to have to scramble. An easy two-handed dunk by Williams, who finished with 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and three blocks, early in the second half showed Southampton was not going to let off the gas.

“Once we actually slowed down, saw what they were doing and analyzed what they were doing in the second half, we just capitalized on that,” Williams said.

“They came out and hit some shots,” early on, Franklin said. “Dylan Craig, amazing player — congrats on his 1,000 career points — he got to the basket well, but we made our adjustments, and we started moving the ball, talking more and our game improved from there.”

Southampton head coach Herm Lamison wasn’t happy with his team’s turnovers, especially early on in the game, which aided in Bayport taking that early lead. Turnovers happen over the course of the game; Lamison understands that, he said, but “we just weren’t locked in 100 percent, and we can do better and we will do better.”

As for last year’s loss being any more motivation for his team, he wasn’t quite sure about that. Instead he gave a lot of credit to Bayport head coach Charlie Peck, who at one point coached the men’s basketball team at Southampton College.

“Listen, when you’re playing a good team, there’s always motivation,” Lamison said. “All we do is try to come out here and put our best foot forward and just try to win games. Charlie runs a great program here. His kids are always prepared and ready to go. We know it’s a tough environment to play in, but it’s good to get a win here because it’s a home court advantage for them, for sure.”

The win last week at Bayport was also big in that it gave Southampton (6-0 in League VI, 13-1 overall) a leg up in the standings on the Phantoms, who were also previously undefeated in league play. Last season, Bayport lost unexpectedly at Pierson, then lost at Southampton, allowing the Mariners to win the league title outright.

Lamison said his team has a whole half of the league season left to play, and that it hasn’t won anything yet. And it’s still getting healthy with some players battling a few injuries. Davon Palmore, the junior who had broken his elbow over a month ago, did return last week and slid right back into the starting lineup. He scored 11 points in the win at Bayport after having scored 14 against Babylon in his first game back on January 10.

Southampton played at Pierson on Tuesday and is scheduled to host Mattituck this Thursday, January 23, at 6 p.m. before playing at Center Moriches on Saturday, January 25, at 6:30 p.m. The Mariners will then host Bayport on Monday, January 27, at 6 p.m.

“We can’t control who we play in our league schedule,” Franklin said, “but we have to keep ramping up in practices and keep intensifying them. That’s our way to state.”