Long Island high school basketball spotlight: This year, Lynbrook's Brooke Mazzei's goal is Nassau title
‘1’ GOAL.Senior point guard Brooke Mazzei leads hungry Lynbrook team going for its first county title since 1978. Credit: James Escher
Brooke Mazzei is making up for lost time.
The Lynbrook senior point guard is one of those players who rarely comes off the court. Especially in a game’s crucial moments, Mazzei is the one the coaches and her teammates seek out to create a play for herself or facilitate someone open. But last year, Mazzei was pinned to the one place no athlete wants to be, especially during the playoffs.
The sideline.
Mazzei, a four-year varsity basketball player who is committed to play lacrosse at Temple, suffered a season-ending foot injury in the second-to-last game of the regular season. She was heartbroken to learn the injury would cost her the postseason, and Lynbrook, despite entering as the top seed, lost to No. 4 Wantagh in the Nassau Class A semifinals.
“It was really challenging,” Mazzei said. “I would sometimes walk into practice and the games like, ‘This is terrible; this isn’t even fun and I don’t want to be here.’ But I had to shift my mentality day in and day out and tell myself this isn’t about me anymore. It’s about the team.”
Mazzei acted as another coach from the bench last postseason but this year, she’ll be where she’s at her best — on the court. Mazzei is healthy. She played an integral part in Lynbrook entering the Nassau Class A playoffs with the top seed yet again. Lynbrook (19-2) plays No. 4 Seaford (15-6) at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Farmingdale State in the semifinals.
“I often refer to her as fire,” coach Koren Pena said. “She plays with so much passion. She’s probably one of the most dynamic players in all of Nassau County. Her speed, her court sense, her leadership, she’s basically an extension of me on the court and everything runs through her, and to not have her there last year was certainly a disadvantage to us.”
Mazzei is determined to have a different ending.
“I have so much to make up for and we kind of have the perfect team this year,” Mazzei said. “We went in Day One knowing this was our only goal, winning a Nassau championship, and that’s what we have to do.”
The combination of seniors like Sophia Dwyer, Cate Jennings, Kaitlyn Benedict and Mazzei have the Owls in a position to win the program’s first county title since 1978.
“This year, all the pieces are fitting,” Mazzei said. “We’ve gone through adversities. Obviously, every team every year has, but we’ve been able to push through every single one and we only have a couple weeks left to finish what we need to do. It would be amazing if we could win a championship for the first time in that long.”
Augustine rises at SBS
James Augustine made a splash with highlight-reel dunks during The Stony Brook School’s run. Credit: Bob Sorensen
James Augustine doesn’t have a whole lot of experience playing team basketball. But it was hard to tell when he was playing for The Stony Brook School in the PSAA championship game against Long Island Lutheran Regional on Feb. 14.
Augustine scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the 71-70 overtime loss.
The athletic 6-6 junior forward — aka a stretch three — from Abuja, Nigeria, put on a dunking display along the way. Augustine flew in for one eye-opening jam, stuffed twice on alley-oop plays and rose to throw down a pair of offensive rebounds. He finished with six dunks overall.
He had delivered a season-best 29 points, along with 13 rebounds and four blocks, in a 81-68 victory over Portledge in the semis.
Augustine finished his first season here with averages of 8.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and three blocks for a Bears team that ended up at 18-7 after bowing out in the NYSAIS semifinals. His averages stood at about 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocks for the final seven games.
“This guy has been in the country for (six) months now, never played organized basketball,” coach Ron White said. “We began to empower him from the day that he was here of who he could be. He’s now believing in himself.
“The Stony Brook School has really mobilized behind him to give him what he needs to progress, one of the stronger academic schools in the country. He’s an honor roll student and has certainly made a print on the conference and USA basketball right now.”
