Southampton Wins Another County Title, Reed Eclipses 1,000 Career Points

There was a collective gasp when word spread throughout Southampton High School that its best boys basketball player, Derek Reed, had suffered a sprained ankle in a scrimmage against East Hampton, just days prior to the Suffolk County Class B Championship against Babylon on February 15.

Southampton head coach Herm Lamison said the injury was so severe he didn’t expect Reed to suit up at the Danzi Athletic Center at St. Joseph’s University in Patchogue. The team even practiced without him in the days leading up to the county final.

But there was too much on the line for Reed to miss the game.

Not only were the Mariners battling for a county title, but Reed needed just 20 points to hit the all-important 1,000 career points milestone. It wasn’t until minutes before opening tip-off that Lamison put Reed in the starting lineup, and while the senior was obviously not himself, whatever percentage he was playing at was more than enough.

Southampton defeated Babylon, 62-42, for yet another county championship and Reed hit his career milestone mark on a driving layup with 1:51 remaining in the game. He actually eclipsed it at 1,001 career points, his 20th and 21st points of the game.

With the victory, the Mariners will play the Nassau County Champion in the Long Island Championship on March 7 at Hofstra University at 6 p.m. They also advance in the Section XI Tournament and will play the winner of Pierson/Bridgehampton in the B/C/D Qualifier at East Hampton High School this Saturday, February 25, at noon.

Play was stopped so Reed could be recognized for his feat. He took a picture with Lamison, his mother Nishew Williams and a homemade banner. He then took a seat with his teammates on the bench for the rest of the game.

There are a handful of players each season that hit the 1,000 point milestone — LeBron Napier was the last Mariner to do it last season in the Small Schools Championship — but Reed’s is significant in the fact that, according to Lamison, he is the quickest player in Southampton’s storied history to achieve it. After playing just six games due to the shortened pandemic season his first year on varsity as a sophomore, Reed played in 22 games last year and last week’s county final was his 21st this season, making it 1,001 career points in just 49 games. That’s an average of just over 20 points per game in his entire career.

Lamison couldn’t say enough about his star player and where he ranks among Long Island’s top players.

“One of the best,” he said. “Not just from his athletic ability, he’s just a phenomenal person. There’s not a person that would say anything bad about him — teachers, people in the community. He’s just an awesome kid and awesome all the way around.”

Reed said his ankle injury was, “a pain I hadn’t felt in a while, actually. I was more shocked, if anything.”

Right before getting on the bus to head to Patchogue, Reed said he worked out with trainer Karen McNeill Deleski and he was comfortable with how it felt by the time the team left. Then in warmups, he tested his ankle and it was good to go.

“I was nervous,” he said. “I knew once the adrenaline kicked in I would be fine. I’ve done it plenty of times before.”

Lamison said it was really tough to allow his best player to play injured, but all concerned parties gave him the thumbs up.

“Derek’s our leader. He’s just the glue,” Lamison said. “He does so much more than just scoring the basketball out here. He controls everything out there for us, from the defense to the offense — he is me on the court — and when you lose a guy of that much importance, potentially losing a guy like that … like I said, we worked without him all week and I was okay going into the game without him, but I wasn’t really comfortable.

“Our trainer is awesome, Karen. She’s been treating him all week,” he added. “Thank God she got him together, patched him up, and mom was okay with him going.”

It was obvious things were off for Reed and the Mariners as they only led Babylon, 8-6, after the first quarter. But they seemed to get on track in the second, and that included Reed, who’s layup just before the buzzer gave Southampton a 27-16 lead at halftime.

Reed and the Mariners went back to work in the third quarter, where they started to open things up a bit. Reed’s layup and ensuing free throw after he was fouled stretched Southampton’s lead to 41-22, and it led, 45-22, by the time the third quarter came to a close.

Someone was going to have to step up with Reed nursing his ankle injury and that was sophomore Naevon Williams. After scoring 10 points in the first half, Williams picked things up in the second half and really started to take things over the fourth quarter, in which he scored nine of his game-high 24 points, taking a lot of the responsibilities away from Reed.

Williams said he “felt hungry.”

“I really wanted [another county title] so I kept attacking,” he said.

Lamison said Williams has all of the makings of being the next Mariner to reach 1,000 points.

“Naevon is just scratching the surface,” he said. “He is probably one of the best athletes on Long Island. He has the ability to take over a game, he just doesn’t realize how good he is, he’s only 15. If he continues to play the way he’s capable he could be the all-time leading scorer.”

Reed said that he’s “satisfied” now that he’s reached 1,000 points, but his ultimate goal is a state title. He realizes how important he is to the team so he’s agreed with Lamison to shut things down for a while so his ankle can heal and he can be ready for the Long Island Championship. A win there would put the Mariners in the Regional Final, one win away from reaching the state Final Four.

While that means not playing in Southampton’s B/C/D Qualifier, or possibly the Small Schools Championship after that, so be it, both Reed and Lamison said.

“I’m fine with it,” Reed said. “As long as I’m 100 percent, that’s where I want to be.

“Oh, we’re shutting him down until March,” Lamison said. “We have bigger fish to fry. He’ll heal up sooner than that, maybe. We’ll see how he feels. It’s up to him.”