The Stony Brook School boys basketball team captures first NYSAIS state title
The Stony Brook School boys basketball team celebrates winning the NYSAIS state championship game against Dalton on Wednesday in Manhattan. Credit: Angelina Katsanis
Stony Brook School senior Orlando Morris replayed “every moment” as he walked alongside fellow senior captains James Augustine and Gabriel Walcott to collect the program’s newest hardware at Manhattan’s Spence School Wednesday evening.
Morris, a Westbury native, had torn his ACL in the state final a year ago in a loss to Albany Academy. It taught him “to stay positive” and tell himself “that everything was going to be fine,” aided by supportive teammates along the way.
Now, after Morris scored a team-high 16 points, he and his fellow Bears can say they did something no one had done before them as No. 1 Stony Brook (20-7) became first-time NYSAIS Division B state champions with an 80-66 win over No. 6 Dalton.
“Every loss, every win, every playoff win, every playoff loss, every experience I had during this high school experience,” Morris said. “That’s what I did it for. Everything came back to now, and we got our [championship].”
Injuries had always impacted Stony Brook, which had seen some of their best players become unavailable down the stretch over the last two seasons. Even Wednesday saw star junior forward Simon Ogwuche David go down with a right leg injury midway through the second quarter. David was leading all players with eight points at the time.
But 6-9 junior Matija Jevic stepped in for the second half and Stony Brook never wavered as the Bears outscored a 22-win Dalton team 23-12 in the third quarter to take a commanding 20-point lead into the fourth quarter.
Junior Jeremiah Coty of Huntington starred with 14 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals. He was one of eight Stony Brook players (20-7) to score at least five points. Augustine also scored 14 points.
“We knew this was our year,” Coty said. “It feels amazing, a team win.”
Both Augustine and Walcott, two of what Stony Brook coach Ron White called an “absolutely amazing” senior class, recorded two steals and the former adding a pair of blocks.
“These guys play the right way, and when you play the right way, things fall into place,” White said. “You can’t ask for anything else as a coach.”
To make the day even more memorable, Walcott’s father brought championship rings for the team and coaching staff. Each player proudly lifted a finger to the ceiling to celebrate an achievement that, combined with winning the program’s first PSAA title weeks earlier, commemorates the best season in Stony Brook School’s history.
“From training camp up until now, these guys just bought in,” White said. “We didn’t have to beg them to come and work out; they wanted to. I give it all to these guys.”
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.
