Commack girls basketball advances in playoffs as team honors fallen coach Bryan Bonin

The Commack girls basketball team has played for reasons beyond the court all season. And as the schedule enters the most exciting part of the winter, the Cougars continue to gain inspiration from their fallen coach.

Bryan Bonin, a former girls basketball and baseball coach at Commack High School, died Jan. 25 after a yearlong battle with melanoma.

"All season long, we’ve played for our coach," said Dave Moran, who took over as head coach this season. "Losing him on the 25th was pretty devastating for us and the whole community. But they know he would want them to do nothing less than play their best for him and they are really doing that."

The team proved that again Monday evening as host No. 4 Commack defeated No. 13 West Islip, 41-25, in the first round of the Suffolk Class AA playoffs.

Commack (16-5) hosts No. 5 Whitman in the quarterfinals Thursday. West Islip finishes 11-10.

"We’ve faced a ton of adversity throughout the season and we use it as motivation now," said Jordan DiPrima, who scored six points. "We have the support of our parents, friends and even other teams in the league have been supporting us. It motivates us to push this as far as we can go."

Commack started fast Monday, opening a 20-5 lead following a 15-0 run spanning seven minutes.

"I think we were just really excited to play today," freshman guard Sofia Vasselman said. "We have great team relationships and that really built us up in the first quarter and it showed on the court."

Vasselman led a balanced scoring effort with 14 points as Commack had seven different scorers, including six in the first quarter. Maya Khan added seven points and 10 rebounds.

"I think a team could watch film on us and pick out one girl that scored a lot of points that game, but then they’ll play us and someone else scores that much," DiPrima said. "We have eight girls who score at least five points a game and that makes us a threat. Other teams can’t pick out who to stop."

"I think that’s how a great team plays," Vasselman added. "You can’t just think of one person scoring because we’re all threats on this team."

Commack’s defensive intensity led to a 24-11 halftime advantage. Commack held West Islip to seven points or fewer in every quarter.

"Everything starts with defense," DiPrima said. "If you can’t play defense, you can’t play offense."

Commack looks to win its fourth county championship since 2015, with its last coming in 2018.

"We want to live up to that [reputation] Commack’s had in the past and get back to where we’ve been," DiPrima said. "And that’s at the top."

And they hope to accomplish that in Bonin’s honor.

"It’s all the inspiration," Moran said. "They loved him and so did the baseball guys and so did the coaches, myself included. He was an inspiration while he was here and he’s our inspiration now unfortunately that he’s passed away. We love him and we know he’s still watching and holding us to the high standards we know he would."

Said Vasselman, "Everything we do is for him."