Southampton Boys Basketball Finds Its Rhythm, Claims This Season's Kendall Madison Tip-Off Classic

The Southampton boys basketball team opened its season at the Kings Park Tournament on December 2 - 3 against some of the top Class A schools in Suffolk County. The Mariners lost both of their games to Kings Park and Mount Sinai — both of which they had a shot of winning and were even leading at times.

Coming in to this past weekend’s Kendall Madison Tip-Off Classic at East Hampton, Mariners head coach Herm Lamison wanted to see some consistency out of a team that is considered, by many, the favorite to repeat as county Class B champs. He got it.

After defeating East Islip, 59-39, in their first game on Friday, the Mariners defeated host East Hampton, 79-44, the night after to win the two-night tournament, and they were led by their two top players in senior Derek Reed and sophomore Naevon Williams. Both scored 25 points apiece. Reed was two rebounds shy of a triple-double with 10 assists and eight rebounds and was named to the All-Tournament Team. Williams, coming off a game-high 20 points in the win over East Islip, also had eight rebounds and four assists in the finals victory and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

Lamison said that the experience Reed and Williams got from playing in championship games last season — which included county, Small Schools and Long Island championships — has really helped them early on this season.

“They’re hungry,” he said of his players. “It’s nice to see when you work so hard at something for it all to come together. I’m just hoping this gets us on a roll and keeps us going.”

Many on the East End were anticipating these two teams that have a little bit of a rivalry that goes back decades to face off in the finals of the tournament. The Mariners have been a bit of a powerhouse over the years and the Bonackers are healthy and have a very talented team this season. Neither team disappointed in the first half, as just one point separated the teams at halftime with East Hampton leading, 30-29.

The Bonackers, though, quickly found themselves in foul trouble early in the second half, and when senior Jack Dickinson was called for his fourth foul with 5:06 remaining in the third, Southampton found an opening to take over the game, took it and never looked back.

Williams made a basket that he was fouled on and made the ensuing free throw to give the Mariners a 42-36 lead with 2:23 left in the third, and they just poured it on from there. Sophomore Tyson Reddick stole the ball at midcourt shortly after and found Williams, who converted his layup and was fouled once again. After a timeout was called by East Hampton, Williams made his free throw, then Reed came down and nailed a three-pointer to put Southampton up, 48-36. Williams then finished the quarter with a buzzer-beating layup and the Mariners outscored the Bonackers, 27-9, when all was said and done in the third.

Lamison said he really liked what he saw from his team in the second half, especially on the defensive end. He said the third quarter was easily, through his team’s four games so far, the best he’s seen his team play this season.

“We’ve been struggling, we’ve been up and down, inconsistent, and we just really tried to get some consistency, some traction, so we can start moving forward,” he said. “I was very happy to see it come together in the third quarter tonight. Nip and tuck the first half, I really thought it was going to be that way in the second half, too, but for us to explode the way we exploded, thrilled. If we can put quarters like that together — and East Hampton is a very disciplined team — the fact that we can create that type of disruption to a team that’s that disciplined is more rewarding.”

After playing its first League V game of the season at Port Jefferson on Wednesday, Southampton will host its own tournament this weekend, the Mariner Athletic Club Holiday Classic, starting this Friday night when East Hampton will play Archbishop Molloy at 5 p.m., with Southampton hosting what will be its home opener to follow against Riverhead. The consolation finals will be held the following night at 4 p.m. with the finals to follow shortly after.

This will be the first time all four teams are showcased since 2019, following the pandemic and last season when Archbishop Molloy came down with a positive COVID-19 case just days before the start of the tournament last year. Without being able to replace Molloy on such short notice, the tournament was changed to a round-robin format and Riverhead beat East Hampton to claim it. Lamison said he wouldn’t be surprised if a team like East Hampton returned the favor to his team this weekend.

“Tables could be totally turned if we play them again. We hope not, but at the end of the day, we just want to get some traction, get on a roll and then not look back. That’s our goal. Kids are working hard practicing, that’s all we can ask.”