Orlando Morris scores 16 in fourth as Stony Brook School boys basketball rallies to defeat Knox

The Stony Brook School faced a problem inside The Knox School’s gym, looking up from the bottom of a 10-point hole after three quarters. But the Bears had a basketball problem solver on their side.

“My team encouraged me to step it up because when we’re having a drought or we’re headed downhill, we need somebody to pick us up,” Orlando Morris said. “So I had to get my team involved and get myself involved, and we had to come back and win the game.”

The 5-10 junior point guard erupted for 16 of his 21 points in Wednesday’s final quarter, including four in a late run. The Stony Brook School ended up winning, 80-72.

“Orlando is a special player,” coach Ron White said of the Westbury resident, who added eight assists. “The county and the people that rank does not give him the fair just (due). He is one of the top guards on Long Island. And I keep trying to push him every day to show that.”

Jayden Hernandez hit seven threes and topped the winners with 23 points. Simon Ogwuche David, a 6-8 sophomore forward from Nigeria, contributed 14 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks. And Michael Favaloro delivered four threes and 14 points.

So the Bears are 9-1 overall and 4-0 in the PSAA. They fell in the league final and in the NYSAIS semis last season. They’re thinking now about ultimately ruling both tournaments.

“I feel like our whole team, we have a lot of pieces all across the board,” Hernandez said.

Knox, which had taken five of its last six after falling in double overtime to the Bears, dropped to 5-6 and 1-3. Coach Gordon Thomas won his 100th game on Saturday against Copiague, including 95 across five seasons at Amityville.

“It meant a lot,” Thomas said. “ . . . But I’m not going to brag about that for me. It’s the team that actually did it for me.”

This time, his team got 25 points from Ahmad Giles and 22 points and 12 rebounds from Dell Mance.

Giles, a sophomore point guard and Christ the King transfer, drove to put Knox up 68-64 with 2:31 left.

But Favaloro countered with a three. Morris followed with a fast-break layup and two free throws. It became a 12-0 run, good for a 76-68 advantage with 34.3 left.

“Our guys fought hard,” Thomas said. " . . . But we’ve just got to finish the games.”

The Falcons led 58-48 after three, but Morris nailed two corner threes among his 10 points in a 16-6 run to open the fourth, tying it at 64.

“It showed some fight,” White said, “being down 10 coming into the fourth quarter and these guys just not quitting.”