Floral Park boys basketball's Brendan Martin propels Knights to second straight Nassau Class AA title

Floral Park beat Friends Academy by 19 in a low-stakes game in early December. Now these basketball teams were finally having a rematch in a high-stakes game in early March — the Nassau Class A final.

The Knights had been here just last year, and they earned a county championship plaque for the first time in 20 years.

Now they own their second one in two years.

Friends Academy hung with Floral Park for a quarter or so Friday night at Farmingdale State, but this was one very talented and smooth-running unit that the fourth-seeded Quakers were facing. The No. 2 Knights began to pull away and then walked away with a 70-53 victory.

“Tremendous group of young men,” Floral Park coach Sean Boyle said. “A lot of leadership from last year’s group spilled over to this year. It’s never been done in school history, going back-to-back. So to do that is remarkable. They set a school record tonight with 21 wins.

“They’ve accomplished so much this season, and they’re so humble about it. They’re never satisfied.”

And they have a reason not feel satisfied at this point. They want more, especially because they all remember tripping over the next step last March, falling to Mount Sinai in the Long Island championship game.

That has driven them this season.

“I feel like we don’t want to be sent home this year like we were last year,” standout senior guard Brendan Martin said after helping fuel this win with a team-high 24 points.

Floral Park (21-2) will play for the Island title in Class A at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Farmingdale State against the winner of Saturday’s Suffolk final between Mount Sinai and Kings Park.

“It was heartbreaking last year,” said junior small forward Collin Murphy, the sixth man who contributed 18 points to the cause. “Now we’re in the same position. Hopefully, we can go get that win this time.”

Friends Academy (14-9) is moving on, too.

Nassau County, Section VIII, gets an at-large ticket to a Class A regional semifinal this season. So the Quakers are scheduled to play at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at Johnson City. They will face the winner of Sunday’s Section IV title game between Maine-Endwell and Oneonta.

“It’s a nice feeling to lose this game but still know we have a practice tomorrow,” coach Matt Johnsen said. “I don’t know those teams up there, so we have to do a lot of scouting.”

Martin said he “was looking to be aggressive” early on. He canned two threes and scored 11 in the first quarter, helping the Knights take a 15-11 lead.

“He’s a special, special player in Floral Park history,” Boyle said.

The Knights expanded that advantage to 13 by scoring 15 of the next 21 points. Declan Lally drove the lane for two and followed with a three, making it a 30-17 game.

“They’re such a good team,” Johnsen said. “Something was going to go wrong.”

Chase O’Brien, who scored 18 for Friends Academy, converted a layup and put in his offensive rebound, cutting it to nine at halftime.

But the Quakers’ comeback hopes then took a quick hit. Joe Prestia drilled a three and followed with a layup and Lally sank a three — an 8-0 Floral Park run in the first 1:42 of the third.

The lead was 17, just like that. The Knights were bound for a repeat.

“Of course, it means a lot,” Murphy said. “Last year, we did it. It’s just a standard that we’ve worked for all year. The job’s not finished. We’ve still got to get that LIC.”