As High School Fall sports come to a close in Brookhaven, our winter sports season is just getting started. With every approaching season, we hear a common buzz resounding about a certain team, player, or a league, and there will be one to watch this season specifically. That buzz, particularly within Brookhaven, is about the William Floyd boys’ varsity basketball team.
The Colonials captured the League One title last season for the first time in eleven years after the disappointment of losing one of their Newsday Top 100 players, Jermaine King, to a broken ankle right before last season started. The Colonials pressed through, pulled together, and improved together as the season went on. King, now a Junior, who has been on the varsity team since the eighth grade, ended up returning shortly before the playoffs. Floyd surprised Hills East in the first round of last year’s playoffs with an exciting, second half come-from-behind win, but then went on to lose to a tough and sound Commack team in round two of the playoffs.
But this year, there is a lot of momentum coming with this team from last year. Floyd has solid and seasoned players; the kids know how to move the ball both up the court and around the arc. These kids drive well, get into the paint, and find good shots for themselves or for teammates that can make them. They are really dangerous from the three-point range. If taken lightly, this team will surprise a lot of the big names in Suffolk this year. A good stamp of approval for that was this summer’s Brookhaven basketball league. The trophy at the end of the summer ended up being handed to the boys from Mastic Beach.
As long as the team stays healthy, the buzz about these kids could end up being more than a buzz late into the winter. Look out Brookhaven for Jermaine King, Joey McLaurin, and Juwan Smith who – along with the Yourison brothers, amongst others – recently transferred back home after a season at St. John the Baptist High School. This year’s team could end up giving the better teams in the county a real headache.
Good luck Colonials!
