Gabe Gibson scores 27 points to spur Smithtown Christian to Suffolk Class D title
Smithtown Christian guard Gabe Gibson drives the paint for two points against Shelter Island on Friday, February 14, 2020 in the Suffolk Class D Finals at East Hampton High School. Credit: George A. Faella
Smithtown Christian has penned the great rags-to-riches story of the 2019-20 boys basketball season.
An abysmal 1-16 just one year ago, the Knights awakened this season to hit a new high. Smithtown Christian rode a career-high 27 points from senior forward Gabe Gibson and 10 points and nine assists from junior point guard Josh Mangum on Friday to capture the Suffolk Class D championship with a 57-37 steamrolling of Shelter Island in the title game at East Hampton High School.
The second-seeded Knights (9-10) will be playing in their first state tournament on March 9 in a subregional game against the Section IX champion at Southampton. They also earned a spot in Suffolk’s overall championship tournament and will face Southold, the winner of Friday night’s late Class C title game, next Wednesday at Centereach High School.
“It’s history,” Smithtown Christian coach Daniel Skarita said. “What they’ve done is unbelievable. They were tired of losing, they believed they were capable of competing and they did something about it. They put in work this summer like they never have.”
“We actually wanted to win something and a bunch of us were going to be seniors,” Gibson said. “So we decided to work out together all summer and play together in summer league. Other summers we didn’t even stay in contact.”
Smithtown Christian laid the foundation for the victory early as Mangum drove to the basket and, in the face of the collapsing Indians defense, dished the ball to Gibson on the low block for a layup.
“He came to play and he was a monster,” Mangum said. “I could see it in his eyes, so I just kept feeding him. He was hungry.”
The first time it erased Shelter Island’s only lead – 2-0 – and the third time made it 10-4 and the Knights were off to the races. They led 13-6 after the first quarter and, with Mangum scoring five and Gibson four in the second quarter, were up 26-14 at the break.
Shelter Island (10-11) got as close as eight points twice in the third quarter but the usually smooth-shooting Indians were cold across the board. Shelter Island was 3-for-25 on three-pointers and 10-for-27 on free throws. Lucas Quigley-Dunning scored 12 points and Walter Richard had 11 points for the Indians.
“It’s as poorly as we’ve shot this season and they did a good job of getting to the basket,” Indians coach Jay Card said. “Their ability to penetrate and score or pass out of it was the difference in the game.”
Gibson said he didn’t feel like the biggest game of his career was in the pipeline in the moments leading up to the game.
“I was nervous, but once I touched the ball, that all went away and now it feels amazing,” he said. “We put in a lot of work to reach this moment. We applied ourselves to being the best team we can be, and it’s great for it to pay off.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
