Floral Park boys basketball earns first Long Island title after going on big run before halftime
Floral Park celebrates after defeating Mount Sinai in the Long Island Class A boys basketball final on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, at Farmingdale State. Credit: Kelvin Loarca
The Floral Park boys basketball team got figuratively punched in the mouth early against Mount Sinai in the Long Island Class A championship game, trailing by 10 with 3:23 left in the first quarter.
The game was a rematch of the title game a year ago, one where Mount Sinai won its first Long Island title. Floral Park took that 10-point deficit and went on a 29-10 run into halftime — allowing just four second-quarter points — and made sure the Knights would be the ones celebrating a historic first for the program.
Floral Park defeated Mount Sinai, 76-60, to lift its first Long Island title at Farmingdale State Tuesday night. Junior Collin Murphy, the Knights’ sixth man, had a game-high 21 points and a team-high five assists.
“I knew all season it might come down to [Mount Sinai],” Murphy said. “They’re a great team, they play hard, but so do we. The extra motivation from last year fueled us the whole year.”
Murphy dedicated his performance to a late childhood coach, Tim Fox of Floral Park, who died on March 4.
Murphy: “We all love him, we play for him and we came away with the dub.”
Clutch shooting from senior Joe Prestia — who scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half — helped make that scoring run possible. Coach Sean Boyle praised Prestia and senior Declan Lally and Prestia for their on-ball pressure. Junior Ryan Terwilliger and senior Brady Croon also led a strong defensive effort against Mount Sinai star Brian Vales.
“[Croon] was fronting him; I was backing him,” Terwilliger said. “So, when the ball got in the paint, I was there for it, no worries. We did great together and got it done.”
Terwilliger also had a game-high 14 rebounds, with eight coming off the offensive glass, plus 10 points, three blocks and two steals.
Sophomore Andrew McNeely led Mount Sinai (21-3) with 17 points and four steals, and Vales had 16 points and five rebounds. Senior Alex Campanelli provided terrific defense against Floral Park star Brendan Martin, limiting him to nine points, and added 13 points, six assists and two blocks.
“In the last two years we’re 44-6,” Mount Sinai coach Ryan McNeely said. “These guys set the tone and put us on the map … They do everything the right way on and off the court.”
Floral Park (22-2) won’t be leaving Long Island just yet as the Knights will meet Section I’s Tappan Zee in the Southeast Regional Final, 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Farmingdale State.
Boyle said he won’t ever forget Tuesday’s date as it happened to be his wife’s, Sarah, birthday. Their son, Quinn — titled by Boyle as “the assistant of the assistant coach” — stood proudly in front of the team with a basketball net draped on his head.
“As much as we talk about small goals — winning the conference and then winning the county and then getting this opportunity to be here against the same opponent — it was storybook,” Boyle said.
Michael Sicoli covers high school sports for Newsday. He graduated from Quinnipiac in 2022 and left with a master’s degree in sports journalism in 2023.
