Amir Dickerson scores 28 points as Amityville wins Suffolk AA championship
Amir Dickerson of Amityville gets double teamed by Smithtown West during the Suffolk Class AA boys basketball final at Farmingdale State College on Friday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
The sentiment among the Amityville boys basketball program is that it is back where it belongs.
“That’s exactly what it is,” junior guard Amir Dickerson said. “We got to keep going. We can’t stop right here.”
Dickerson has been as vital to Amityville’s success as anybody. He scored 28 points, including seven in the final 3:13, to lead No. 5 Amityville to a 60-57 win over No. 3 Smithtown West in the Suffolk Class AA championship game Friday at Farmingdale State.
Amityville (16-7) won its 20th county title and its first since 2020. Coach Jack Agostino, who coached at Amityville from 1987-2014 and from 2022 to now, won his first county crown since returning.
“I’m so happy because we practice so hard, and I don’t know if you keep hearing me say it, we just want to have one more practice,” Agostino said. “So now we get three more practices. They were all cheering because we get three more practices.”
Amityville earned a spot in the Long Island Class AA title game at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Farmingdale State. It awaits the winner of Saturday’s Nassau Class AA final between Elmont and Baldwin.
Dickerson hit a layup with 3:13 left and converted a three-point play 44 seconds later to break a 52-all tie and give Amityville a five-point lead. Michael Cascione (22 points) responded with a three-point play to cut it to 57-55 with 1:44 left.
Dickerson’s floater extended the lead to 59-55 with 57 seconds left.
“He’s super-talented, obviously, because that’s a lot of physical skills that you look for in a big-time guard. He already comes with [them],” said Amityville assistant and former NBA player A.J. Price. “It was just working on his mind, changing his habits, in the gym as well as working on the game.
“So it’s a total package of a lot of different things, but he had to put the work in. He had to buy in.”
Said Agostino: “A.J. Price deserves all the credit in the world for Amir.”
Luke Brown’s putback layup cut it to 59-57 with 2.6 seconds left. Wes Flythe’s free throw made it 60-57 with 2.2 seconds to play, and the Bulls’ half-court heave missed at the buzzer.
Smithtown West (18-5) went on an 8-0 run to take a 50-49 lead with 4:17 left. Cascione had 10 fourth-quarter points.
“He doesn’t have any fear of failure,” said Smithtown West coach Mike Agostino, Jack’s younger brother. “It’s all about how good something can be.”
It was the first county final between Mike and Jack.
“During the game, I didn’t think of it,” Mike said. “Before the game, obviously everyone was asking me about it. You keep trying to say, ‘It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter.’
“But it does matter. You’re playing against your brother, and although you want to see him do well, you still want to beat his team. It’s constant conflicting emotions, I think is the best way to describe it. Now that he won, I’m happy he won over somebody else.”
Said Jack: “He’s one of the best coaches on Long Island, so he will get his time. His time will come, and he really deserves it.”
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
