Southampton boys basketball three-peats as county champs with win over Bayport-Blue Point in Suffolk Class A final
Southampton's Alex Franklin puts one up over Bayport-Blue Point's Brendan Waters in the third quarter during the Suffolk Class A boys basketball final on Saturday at Longwood. Credit: Bob Sorensen
The oft-heard saying in sports is that you do not want to peak too early.
The Southampton boys basketball team seems to be reaching the mountaintop at just the right time.
Guards Alex Franklin and Dominick White each scored 17 points, guard Naevon Williams added 12 points and the No. 2 seed Mariners led for all but 2:24 en route to a 60-46 victory over No. 4 Bayport- Blue Point in the Suffolk Class A boys basketball final Saturday at Longwood High School. Southampton held Bayport-Blue Point to a season-low in points.
“We executed our defensive plan nearly flawlessly,” Southampton coach Herm Lamison said. “They’re a great offensive team, you see that during the season, they’re averaging almost 70 points a game . . . You hold a team 24 points under their season average, I think everything else speaks for itself.”
Southampton (19-4) secured its third straight county title and will meet the Nassau Class A champion Friends Academy in the Long Island championship at 1 p.m. next Saturday at Farmingdale State.
“Just all the hard work you put in, now you really get to finish it out at the end of the season,” Franklin said. “We did a lot of preparation, the last two weeks have been unbelievable. This feels great.”
Guard Robby Maurer had 19 points for Bayport-Blue Point (18-5), which hit nine threes in a quarterfinal win over Mount Sinai and seven threes in a semifinal win over Glenn. The Phantoms hit just five threes Saturday, including one with 18 seconds left.
“We had to really shoot the ball to stay in the game, and we really didn’t shoot the ball well,” Bayport-Blue Point coach Charlie Peck. “. . . They’re a very good defensive team. They switched on us, screens and everything. They did a good job defensively throwing us out of it, but we just didn’t make enough baskets.”
The Mariners’ last two county titles came as a Class B school, and they lost in the state semifinals last year. White, who scored 15-plus points for the 12th time this season, is new to Southampton after previously attending Westhampton.
“Personally, this is my first-ever county championship, so I’ve never had anything like it,” White said. “I wouldn’t want to do it with another group of guys.”
The Mariners and Phantoms split their two Suffolk League VI meetings this season. Bayport won by seven at home on Jan. 17 and Southampton won by 12 at home on Feb. 9.
On Saturday, Southampton went on a 10-0 run late in the second quarter, grabbing a 32-18 halftime lead. Franklin scored 13 first-half points, including 11 in the first quarter.
Southampton attacked the rim and crashed the offensive glass early in the game, something that resulted in 11 first-half layups. The Mariners finished with 19 made layups.
Lamison admitted this year has been “a bit of a struggle” with players missing time because of injuries and sickness. Franklin, White and Williams are all playing well at the same time now, creating untapped potential for Southampton.
“I don’t know, they haven’t been clicking yet,” Lamison said. “I’m hoping they all start clicking. When the three of them started clicking, it’s another level for us.”
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.