NEWS-REVIEW FILE PHOTO | Mike Ruth helped lead Riverhead to the Long island championship in 1995.

While Al Edwards and Ryan Creighton are the only two local boys basketball players to crack our list of the 20 Greatest Athletes in area history, there is actually a fairly rich history of local hoops.

Here are some other great area basketball players who warranted serious consideration for our list:

MIKE RUTH

Mike Ruth, Riverhead High School

Ruth joins Creighton and McClurkin on the very short list of local players who have led their team to an appearance in the state final four at Glens Falls.

An explosive 5-8 point guard, he was perhaps the most athletic high school hoopster in area history.

Ruth led Riverhead to a 79-76 win over Westbury in the 1995 Class B Long Island championship game. Known by teammates as “The Franchise,” he iced the victory with a pair of free throws down the stretch, en route to a 20-point performance.

Ruth averaged 23.3 points per game his senior year, enough to earn him USA Today All-American Honorable Mention status, a distinction given to about 20 players from each state.

He went on to play his college basketball at Suffolk County Community College, where he scored 910 career points, seventh best in school history.

JAIME LATNEY

Jaime Latney, Greenport High School

Few, if any, local players have had the same level of success on the college hardwood as Greenport graduate Jaime Latney. And the 6-foot-6 standout’s signature game at Fairleigh Dickinson University is preserved in the New York Times archives.

It was March 10, 1988 and Latney and his Knights teammates were one win from the NCAA tournament.

The senior forward put his team on his back in the East Coast Athletic Metro Conference Championship, scoring a career-high 39 points to set a tournament record in a 90-75 win over Monmouth. He scored 30 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the first half alone.

His coach called it the best performance in a half of basketball that he’s ever seen. He was named Tournament MVP.

Latney averaged more than 18 points and eight rebounds his senior season. He was a three-time All-ECAC first team selection and he earned All-Freshman honors in 1985.

As a freshman, he hit a layup that pulled Fairleigh Dickinson to within a basket late in the second half against No. 1 seed Michigan in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. While the Knights didn’t win the game, the four-point defeat is among the closest a No. 16 seed has ever come to winning a tournament contest.

Latney would go on to play professionally in the CBA and Europe.

He’s the only Greenport player to ever score 1,000 points in both high school and college.

WILL MCCLURKIN

Will McClurkin, Longwood High School

Perhaps the finest individual player to ever wear a Longwood boys basketball uniform, McClurkin also experienced a great deal of team success as a senior.

The 6-foot-9 inch forward helped lead the 1999-2000 Lions to the school’s only appearance in a state title game. He scored a school record 571 points that season, as Longwood’s season ended in a 76-69 overtime loss to Mount Vernon and future NBA star Ben Gordon.

McClurkin scored 900 points during his Longwood hoops career, fourth best in school history and the second most for any three-year player.

His best individual game was a 33-point effort in a playoff win against Southampton his senior year. Always steady, he averaged just under 23 points per game that year, while also setting a school record with 264 rebounds.

McClurkin is the only Longwood player to ever make an MSG All Tri-State Team, one of just seven  Lions to make All-State and Newsday’s All-Long Island squad.

He went on to play his first two years of college at University of Maryland-Baltimore County before transferring to Marist College.

He averaged about 15 points and eight rebounds per game in his senior season with the Red Foxes.

McClurkin ended his playing career with a  stint of professional ball in Ireland.

RONALD MANNING

Ronald Manning, Longwood High School

Manning is the only local player ever drafted by the NBA, though he opted for the ABA and never played a regular season game in either league. He was the final player taken in the 1972 NBA draft as an 18th round selection of the Chicago Bulls.

Manning accomplished a lot of firsts for Longwood during his  four-year career that ended in 1968. He’s the school’s first All-Long Island selection and the first to receive a Division I Scholarship.

His 815 career points rank him among the Lions’ all-time leading scorers and he’s one of just 10 Longwood players to average 20 points per game in a season. His career-high 35 points on Jan. 12, 1968 is the eighth best single-game tally in school history.

Manning played four seasons at Manhattan College.

He’s perhaps best known as a long-time school board member at Longwood.

WILL BROWN

Will Brown, Miller Place High School

While a senior at Miller Place High School in 1989, Brown averaged 35 points per game en route to All-State honors. He was also an All-Long Island selection and a three-time All-County player, playing for his father, longtime Miller Place coach and athletic director William Brown, Jr.

Will Brown played collegiate basketball at Dowling College, starting for three years. He finished his career as the school’s all-time leader in assists, 3-point field goals and free-throw percentage, and is the only player in Dowling history to score 1,000 points and tally 500 assists. He also played second singles on the school’s tennis team.

Brown is perhaps best known as the men’s basketball coach at Albany, where he led the Great Danes to their first two appearances in the NCAA tournament. He has 219 career collegiate coaching wins.

He is a member of the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame.

gparpan@northshoresun.com

SUFFOLK TIMES FILE PHOTOS | Ryan Creighton (left) and Al Edwards led the Greenport boys basketball teams to league titles in separate decades, both becoming Suffolk's all-time leading scorer along the way.

Al Edwards and Ryan Creighton.

Ryan Creighton and Al Edwards.

The names are inextricably linked in Greenport High School boys basketball history. Not only are they the Porters’ top two all-time scorers, but they shared the golden era of Greenport basketball when the Porters reached the New York State final four — something they had never done before — three years in a row. With Edwards as coach and Creighton as star player, they shared the glory of capturing the small village’s imagination by bringing Greenport’s name to the basketball world beyond Long Island.

The 20 Greatest Athletes in area history is a Times/Review countdown series that will take place over the next three weeks. Each day, a different athlete will be unveiled leading up to the No. 1 athlete of all-time Aug. 17.

As players, Edwards, 57, and Creighton, 21, shared notable similarities. For one thing, both were record scorers for the Porters.

Edwards set a Suffolk County scoring record. He became the first Suffolk player to score 2,000 points over a four-year high school varsity career. By the time his career in Greenport ended in 1972, he had 2,117 points next to his name on the all-time ledger — and that was before the three-point shot was introduced to high school basketball. That record stood for 17 years until Kenny Wood of East Hampton broke it during the 1988-89 season. Edwards’ name on New York State’s all-time scoring list is above those of notable players such as Albert King, Lew Alcindor (now known as all-time leading NBA scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Christian Laettner and Elton Brand.

Edwards’ school record stood until Creighton came along. Over five varsity seasons, concluding in 2008-09, Creighton collected 2,799 points, making him Long Island’s all-time leading scorer and No. 2 on the state’s all-time list behind Lance Stephenson of Abraham Lincoln (2,946 points), who like Creighton played in high school from 2004-09.

READ THE SUFFOLK TIMES STORY FROM WHEN EDWARDS BROKE THE RECORD

Edwards and Creighton could play any position on the floor. They both were relied upon by their teammates to lead the way. They could both dominate a game. They both handled their fame on the basketball court with humility. They both put winning over individual achievement, as considerable as some of those individual achievements were.

And then there were differences.

Edwards, a 6-foot center for the Porters who later grew a couple of inches, went on to play NCAA Division I ball for East Carolina on a full basketball scholarship. The 6-2 Creighton, who probably played more as a power forward than anything else, played seven games for Franklin Pierce University (N.H.) before leaving the NCAA Division II school, saying he had no desire to play basketball any longer.

They played in different eras, in different gyms, and had different ideas about shooting.

SUFFOLK TIMES FILE PHOTO | Al Edwards broke the Suffolk County scoring mark in the final game of his junior season, an 80-68 playoff loss to Islip. He'd finish the game with 25 points and the season with 1,522 for his career.

Edwards liked to shoot. Playing in Greenport’s tiny old gym with its short court, Edwards’ shooting range was described as being from two steps over the mid-court line and in. He wasn’t shy about pulling the trigger.

His younger brother, Dave Edwards, recounts times when he and teammate Tom Shedrick were open under the basket, desperately waving their arms for a pass, only to see Edwards pull up for a jump shot — and hit it.

“Sometimes I’d get mad at him, but he hit the shot,” said Dave Edwards, whose voice sounds disarmingly like his brother’s. “I said I had to get the ball before he’d get it. If he got the ball, he’d shoot.”

And usually score.

Chuckling at the notion and sounding as if it were the first time he had ever entertained the thought, Dave Edwards said, “I can’t really even say that Allen had a bad game.”

The basketball beginning for Al Edwards included playing as a youngster in the backyard and with friends at the park. Sometimes they played on dirt courts. “After rain, your hands would be all muddy,” he recalled. “We had a good time.”

Early on, Edwards played for the St. Agnes Catholic Youth Organization team in Greenport and for the junior high school team. He said the game came naturally to him and he enjoyed it. “You just go out and you play and have a good old time,” he said.

Edwards was also an all-league defensive back/split end for the Porters, the No. 2 runner on the cross-country team and a jumper for the track and field team. But his future was in basketball.

Edwards became the centerpiece of talented Greenport basketball teams coached by Dude Manwaring that won two league championships. He averaged 30 points per game as a freshman and went on to lead the county in scoring for three seasons.

It was an exciting time for the Porters. They were the talk of the town. Spectators packed into Greenport’s cramped gym. Tickets were in high demand. Fans wanted to see the show that featured Edwards, the sharpshooter, and the fastbreaking Porters, who routinely scored in triple digits.

Some might call the newer, larger gym at Greenport High School the gym that Al Edwards built, but he never played for the Porters in that gym, in which his framed No. 33 jersey hangs.

AL EDWARDS COURTESY PHOTO | A Suffolk Times account of the game when Al Edwards became Suffolk' all-time leading scorer notes Edwards had a sad look about him, since his Porters were trailing when he set the mark.

Grainy black-and-white photos of Edwards in action in the early 1970s don’t relay the athleticism and fluidity of his game. With tremendous leaping ability, he could soar for rebounds and guard taller opponents.

“He had that Dr. J. move where he had hang time and he could float in the air and he could whip his arms around and put it right in the basket,” said Shedrick, a friend and former teammate who has known Edwards since they were in kindergarten.

Shedrick said Edwards was better than any of the players among Greenport’s opponents, which included future NBA players Toby Knight of Port Jefferson and Mitch Kupchack of Brentwood. “Al would always stand out against the best in the county,” he said.

All the while, Edwards kept his cool. Teammates said they have never seen him angry on the basketball court.

When given the opportunity to shoot, Edwards didn’t hesitate. “I was the type of player who was hungry for points,” he said.

He also had an insatiable hunger for winning.

“Winning was his big thing,” Shedrick said. “He was totally focused on winning. Winning meant the most to him.”

Edwards said the biggest satisfaction he got was being around good people and winning. “I don’t think the points were that big of a deal,” he said.

East Carolina backed up its interest in Edwards, a New York Daily News all-American, with the offer of a full ride. Edwards accepted. He played four seasons for the Pirates, captaining the team his senior year.

It was a college career that was nearly cut short. During his freshman year, Edwards came home for the Thanksgiving break and thought about not returning to East Carolina. He was homesick. But his parents, Sarah and Charlie, as well as Manwaring, talked him out of it.

Edwards went on to play four seasons for East Carolina. His last two were the most productive, averaging 5.7 points per game as a junior and 10.7 as a senior.

Edwards studied special education. After college, he landed a job at BOCES I (now called Eastern Suffolk BOCES) in Westhampton, a job he holds to this day. The Greenport resident teaches physical education for special needs students.

GARRET MEADE FILE PHOTO | Al Edwards took over for his former coach at Greenport, where he has paced the floor for more than 30 years now.

Edwards also got into coaching in Greenport. He served briefly as an assistant to Manwaring before becoming the Porters’ varsity coach in 1979, a post he still holds 32 years later.

As a coach, Edwards has made his mark. Records are incomplete, but a review of The Suffolk Times’ archives found Edwards to have won at least 321 games and lost at least 238. That takes into account a 19-3 season in 2000-01 when the Porters were later found to have used an ineligible player, and those 19 wins were declared forfeits.

Edwards even got to coach his grandson, Dantré Langhorne, who graduated this year after scoring over 1,400 career points for the Porters.

Reflecting on a lifetime in a sport he loves, Edwards, who was among those in the first class inducted into the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame, remarked, “I was always surrounded by good people.”

And good players.

That would include Ryan Creighton. If there was a criticism of Creighton, it was that he didn’t shoot enough.

A consummate team player with all-around skills, Creighton was the Porters’ central figure over five varsity seasons, ending in 2009. Ironically for a player whose game couldn’t be defined by scoring alone, Creighton left Greenport as Long Island’s all-time scoring king, claiming the record that Kenny Wood had taken from Edwards 20 years earlier.

But really, it might have been everything else Creighton did on the basketball court besides score that elevated him above others. As one coach put it, Creighton was about “we, we, we, not me, me, me.”

A phenomenal passer, he got teammates involved in the game. It was not uncommon for a first quarter to end with Creighton having taken no more than a few shots and netted a few points. But when his team needed him to score in crunch time, he usually came through. By game’s end, he would have around 30 points next to his name.

“I was pretty much just out there having fun,” he said.

GARRET MEADE FILE PHOTO | Ryan Creighton scoring a basket in his final game as a Greenport Porter.

Creighton scored a lot of points, but he could have scored more if not for his unselfishness. Sometimes he sat out a quarter or more of games that were blowouts.

His uncle, Rodney Shelby, an assistant coach for the Porters, was one of many who appreciated Creighton for his selfless play.

“Everybody knows he had a tremendous career, but what people don’t really know about Ryan is that he was a very unselfish player,” Shelby said. “I know for a fact that he could have scored close to 3,000 points if he was a selfish player. He was always about the team, and that’s what I liked best about him.”

In addition to points, Creighton also produced in all the other facets of the game. For a couple of seasons he led the Porters in assists, rebounds and steals in addition to points. Appreciated by coaches and fans for his humble attitude as well as his work ethic, Creighton seemed unfazed by his fame and was described as an ideal teammate. Mattituck Tuckers Coach Paul Ellwood once observed that Creighton works just as hard as the last player on the bench.

“I was glad he was on my team,” said Al Edwards, who ranks Creighton among the best players he has coached, along with Jamie Latney, George Jackson and Gerald Crenshaw, Creighton’s cousin. “He didn’t have a whole lot to say. He said a lot of words with his actions.”

Creighton joined the varsity team as a starting eighth-grader and immediately proved that he was up to the challenge. Physically mature at a young age, Creighton had the strength to overpower opponents under the boards, the speed to race down the floor, the athleticism to hop for rebounds, and a long shooting range.

Still, Creighton had to grow up fast. He made a big jump the summer before his eighth-grade year, playing for an Amateur Athletic Union team and raising the level of his game. “I was playing basketball nonstop, and I was constantly playing top competition,” he said.

It was good preparation. Creighton went on to become a dominant player.

After watching Creighton become only the second Greenport player to break the 2,000-point mark with a dunk against his team in February 2008, Smithtown Christian Crusaders Coach Bill Casey said: “In all honesty, I think he’s one of the best basketball players I’ve ever seen, because he’s not selfish. He’s a great player. He has all the tools — rebounding, passing, three-point shooting — yet if you watch him during a game and he’s driving down [the court] … he’ll dish it off to a teammate who’s more open. A class act.”

More milestones followed.

After passing Al Edwards to become Greenport’s all-time scoring leader, Creighton found another place for himself in the record books late in his senior season. In his final game in the Greenport gym, he scored 25 points in a win over the Shelter Island Indians.

That gave the former Greenport ballboy the Long Island scoring record and bumped him ahead of former NBA player Kenny Anderson on the state list.

READ THE SUFFOLK TIMES STORY FROM WHEN CREIGHTON BROKE THE RECORD

In retrospect, Creighton acknowledged that he may appreciate the accomplishment more as years pass. “At the time it was just a scoring record,” he said.

Creighton was the go-to player during the Porters’ golden years. Prior to Creighton, the Porters had never won a regional championship, never reached the state final four. With Creighton, they went to Glens Falls three years in a row for the Class D final four. Each time, though, ended in disappointment for him and his teammates. In 2007, the Porters, making their first appearance in a state semifinal, were trounced by the Charles G. Finney Falcons in a game that Creighton had a hard time making his mark in.

That only made the Porters more determined the following season, which ended for them with a three-point loss to the Chateaugay Bulldogs in a state semifinal. Then, in March 2009, a great high school career ended. Playing in the state final in the Glens Falls Civic Center, the Porters saw their dream of a first state title crushed with a four-point loss to the South Kortright Rams. The thing Creighton said he wanted the most — a state title — had eluded him.

“It was just over, done,” the four-time all-state player said. “No more chances. That was it.”

GARRET MEADE FILE PHOTO | Ryan Creighton is consoledby his mother, Angela Smith, after playing his final high school game. He'd end up No. 2 on the list of all-time leading scorers in New York State history.

A photo that ran in The Suffolk Times captured the moment splendidly, showing an emotional Creighton being consoled by his smiling mother, Angela Smith.

During Creighton’s five seasons with the Porters, they went 86-20 and advanced at least as far as to a regional final each year.

But his basketball-playing days weren’t over. Creighton, the only male four-time winner in the 26-year history of Times/Review Newsgroup’s athlete of the year awards, went on to accept a full basketball scholarship from Franklin Pierce.

Creighton looked like a good fit for Franklin Pierce, but his connection to the Ravens didn’t last long. After starting all seven games that he played for Franklin Pierce, Creighton provided stunning news when he decided to leave the school during his freshman season. He said he was burned out. “I really don’t have the desire to play basketball any more,” he said.

Creighton’s departure from Franklin Pierce prompted puzzlement and speculation. Asked recently if he has given up on playing college basketball, Creighton, who currently lives in Riverhead and does security work for a ferry company, replied, “To be honest, I really have no idea.”

Over the course of his career, Creighton was in the spotlight, under the microscope. His game performance was studied. When he left school, it made news.

Recently asked how he felt about being under such scrutiny, Creighton answered: “At times, I was just like enough is enough.

Anybody who knows me, I’m not really a talkative guy like that.”

What may come as a surprise to some is that basketball isn’t Creighton’s favorite sport; football is. He played halfback and outside linebacker for the Porters in his freshman and junior years.

“He could have been, in my eyes, a better football player, than he was a basketball player,” said Shelby.

But what he did on the basketball court — and how he did it — will be talked about in Greenport for many years to come.

“I’m definitely proud of Ryan with his basketball career,” Shelby said. “I believe he handled it with grace and dignity. One of the most disappointing things to him was that he didn’t win a state championship, but definitely Ryan made me proud.”

bliepa@timesreview.com

RELATED STORIES

What is this 20 Greatest Athletes list?

Best of the rest: The area’s top boys basketball players of all-time

Ron McEvoy’s Top 5 Greenport High School athletes

UCLA COURTESY PHOTO | Nicole Kaczmarski had one incredible year at Longwood High School, before moving on to Christ the King, Sachem and eventually UCLA.

Alicia Conquest is largely considered the greatest Longwood High School girls basketball player.

Cheri Eleazer is the school’s all-time leading scorer.

But neither of those All-Long Island players would hold those distinctions if another former Lions star played each of her high school seasons at the school.

Fifteen years later, people forget that Nicole Kaczmarski, considered by many to be Suffolk’s all-time greatest girls basketball player, actually played her freshman season at Longwood.

“What a season that was,” recalls former Longwood girls basketball coach Pierce Hayes, now the coach of the Lions boys team. “We played in packed gyms everywhere we went.”

Kaczmarski made a huge splash leading Sachem High School to a state championship in her eighth grade season of 1994-95, when at just 13 years old the 5-5 point guard was named Suffolk Player of the Year.

Late in the season rumors began to circulate that the phenom, whose father Peter had won custody of her in a divorce dispute, would be playing elsewhere the following year.

Most reports had Kaczmarski heading to city power Christ the King that fall. But Newsday would later report that after Peter couldn’t sell his home in Middle Island, Kaczmarski, who shot up to 5-9 that offseason, would play for Longwood instead “because there was no place else for her to go.”

Kaz, as she was known, would end up leading Longwood to a 10-2 league record and a three-way tie for the league title. She combined with Eleazer that season — on a team that featured just one senior — to form an incredible freshman duo.

But when Longwood was shocked 46-38 by No. 7 Walt Whitman in the quarterfinals of the Class A playoffs on Feb. 25, 1996, Kaczmarski had played her final game with the Lions.

Despite never attending classes at the high school — back then Longwood ninth graders went to junior high — Kaczmarski was an All-Long Island selection for the second time and a USA Today All-American honorable mention in ’95-96. But come summer time, it was announced that she would finally make the jump to Christ the King.

It was a great single season with the Lions. Kaz scored 390 points, second-best on Long Island, and averaged 21.7 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists as Longwood went 16-4. She scored in double figures in all 20 games and hit 35 3-pointers that season.

It was during her time with the Lions that “Kazmania” began to take hold. Coach Hayes told Newsday in February 1995 that he had received letters about his freshman star from more than 50 schools.

“She was probably the most talented basketball player I have ever seen at that age,” Hayes recalled in an interview last week. “It was because of how hard she worked at it. She would stay after practice and work on her jump shot for hours when she was only a ninth grader. She released perfectly, it was almost like a textbook jump shot.”

Kaz would play only briefly for Christ the King before transferring back to Sachem, where she would finish her storied career with a then-Long Island record 2,583 points. She was the Gatorade National Player of the Year her senior season of 1998-99, a season that saw her named to every high school All-American team.

Hayes says he doesn’t think much about what could have been.

“It is what it is,” he said. “I’ll always remember her as a great kid.”

gparpan@northshoresun.com

COURTESY PHOTO | Today, Alicia Conquest is a teahcer at an inner-city school in West Philadelphia. Seventeen years ago, she was among the best girls basketball players in Suffolk County and a 6-foot rebounding machine.

Alicia Conquest played basketball Tuesday.

Now 35 years old and teaching in West Philadelphia, the former Longwood basketball great laced ‘em up for a friendly game with other members of the faculty at her school’s summer camp program.

When the game was over, another teacher walked up to her with a look of curiosity: “You played in college, didn’t you?”

It was that obvious.

More than a dozen years removed from her final season at Wagner College, where she finished her senior campaign among the nation’s top rebounders, Alicia Conquest can still play a little ball. And that’s no surprise to those who knew her way back when.

“She’s the best big I ever coached,” recalled former Longwood girls basketball coach Pierce Hayes, now the coach of the Lions boys team. “She played with an incredible intensity about her every single game.”

The 20 Greatest Athletes in area history is a Times/Review countdown series that will continue over the next 18 days. Each day, a different athlete will be unveiled leading up to the No. 1 athlete of all-time Aug. 17.

Standing 6-feet tall, with a naturally muscular and athletic physique, Conquest helped put the Longwood girls basketball team on the map in the early 1990s.

A rare four-year varsity player at a high school with more than 2,000 students, Conquest stood out even as a young player, averaging more than 11 points and 14 rebounds as a sophomore starter.

By the time she finished her junior campaign, she was an All-County and Newsday All-Long Island selection.

And the Longwood girls were seeing team success like never before. The Lions won their first-ever League I title that year, going 11-1 during the league season.

Players like co-captain Gladys Caro and sophomore Beth Raptis played a major role in getting Longwood to where it needed to be, but nobody denies it was Conquest who set the team apart from the rest of the pack.

“She dominated the boards and had an excellent drop step move down low, that was extremely hard to defend,” Caro remembered. “Her hard work down low made it easier for us guards, enabling us to quickly run out for the outlet pass, because we knew she would end up with the rebound.”

“Looking back, she had to have known that she was better than most, yet she never acted in that manner. She treated everyone, even people she didn’t know with respect.”

It was during that junior season that Conquest really began to build a reputation as someone who could put a team on her back.

The Lions were trailing by a bucket inside the final minute against Patchogue-Medford on Jan. 19, 1993 when Conquest scored off an offensive rebound to send the game into overtime. Later that season she’d hit the winning basket in the final moments of a victory over Floyd.

Longwood would go on to reach its first Class A County Final in ’92-93 after Conquest scored 19 points in a semifinal win over East Islip. She scored 17 of her points in the first half.

Conquest was simply a winner at everything she did athletically. While to this day basketball is still her favorite sport, she ultimately just loved to compete.

“I would have tried any sport,” she says.

She doesn’t even remember how one summer during her high school years she played goalie on an Olympic Festival handball team.

It was just one more way she could compete, another avenue to unleash some of that intensity.

In the fall, she’d play on the Longwood volleyball team. And after basketball season was over she’d throw shot put and discus on the track team.

She even won a gold medal in the discus at the Empire State Games after both her sophomore and junior years.

COURTESY PHOTO | Alicia Conquest was two-time all Long Island player and a USA Today All-USA honorable mention during her years at Longwood.

But it was basketball, the game her father John ­— a longtime administrator and assistant basketball coach at Bellport High School — taught her to play, that she always loved the most.

The Lions would fall to unbeaten Northport, 53-37, in the 1992-93 Class A title game. It was that heartbreaking loss that would set the stage for Conquest’s signature games of her high school career.

The Longwood center entered her senior campaign on a mission. After watching the Lions improve from 9-9 in her sophomore season to 16-5 as a junior, Conquest had revenge over Northport on her mind in her final season.

The Tigers were the premier girls basketball team in Suffolk County at the time. They had won the previous four Class A championships and six titles dating back to the 1985-86 season.

Having already dialed up her leadership role on the team with the implementation of “pride jogs,” runs Conquest came up with where the squad would do laps for 20 minutes after every single game, she took her senior captaincy particularly seriously, teammates remember.

“She always challenged herself to do more and be better,” remembers Erin Vilar, who played that season with Conquest. “On top of all of that, she always motivated and challenged us as teammates to do more. She was a captain in every sense of the word, a true leader.”

And it all paid off when Conquest got her chance to exact revenge on Northport in the second round of the Suffolk Shootout tournament.

The motivated senior scored 29 points and pulled down 18 rebounds in the game, which was hosted by Northport, and Longwood went on to win 67-53. It was the first time in almost five years the Tigers had lost to a Suffolk team and coach Hayes said at the time it was the school’s biggest win ever.

But Conquest saved her best for the last game of the tournament.

On Dec. 29, 1993, the Lions entered halftime of the Shootout final down by 12 points to Sachem. Not just satisfied with a win over Northport the night before, Conquest let her coach know she wouldn’t let this one get away.

“She came to me at halftime and said ‘Coach, don’t worry about it,’ ” Hayes would tell Newsday.

She wasn’t kidding.

Led by an unrelenting Conquest, the Lions held Sachem to just six points in the fourth quarter. When the final buzzer sounded, she had scored a school record 35 points and grabbed 22 rebounds, leading Longwood to a 63-56 win and tournament title.

“She just wasn’t going to let us lose that night,” Hayes recalled in an interview this week.

The Lions would go on to finish the league season with their second straight title and an 11-1 record. But Conquest’s high school career would be cut short of where she’d hoped it would end when the Lions were shocked by No. 7 Commack in the quarterfinals of the Class A playoffs.

Conquest led all Suffolk players with 22.5 points and 18 rebounds per game her senior season. She would finish her high school career as Longwood’s all-time leading scorer with 1,029 points, a record that stood five seasons until being broken by another four-year starter, Cheri Eleazer. Conquest was just the 42nd Long Island girls basketball player to ever score 1,000 points.

COURTESY PHOTO | Coaches and teammates of Alicia Conquest (top row, second from left) all described her as a special person who got the most out of her abilities and inspired others to do the same.

The fact that she scored so many points, despite always being the center of attention on the court, still amazes her teammates.

“We played against some tough teams and she would sometimes have double or even triple coverage,” Vilar recalled. “She never let that get to her. She always remained dignified and focused. A true athlete.”

Added Caro: “Average was never good enough. She practiced harder, and loved the game more than anyone else I knew. She was a true leader on the court, both in games and at practices.”

Conquest made her second All-Long Island team in 1994 and was a USA Today All-American honorable mention that year.

Not just a great performer in sports, she would graduate her senior class ranked No. 16 out of 600 students.

As she looked to take both her athletics and academics to the next level, Conquest turned down a Big East offer from Providence and instead enrolled at Wagner, a Division I program playing in the Northeast Conference.

Before heading to college, Conquest realized she needed to develop her game to revolve around her natural strengths. Never a great jump shooter, Conquest could still be an elite scorer in high school.

But at the college level, she knew her ability to rebound is where she could help her team most.

It was John Conquest who taught his daughter to go after it with everything she had for every moment on the court.

Rebounding was his game, and he made sure she played the game the same way.

“He would tell me that if the ball was there for me to grab, I better go get it,” Alicia recalled.

“She just loved to play defense,” Hayes said. “She loved to rebound. She realized that’s where her strengths were and she developed her game that way.”

It didn’t take long before former Wagner head coach Pam Roecker, who called Alicia “one of a kind” in an e-mail this week, noticed that her freshman forward could make a difference on her Seahawks team.

By the fourth game of the season, Roecker had already inserted Conquest into the starting lineup. By February she was already averaging more than 10 rebounds per game, tops in the NEC and 27th in the nation.

Asked to explain her phenom’s ability to rebound the basketball in a Newsday interview, Roecker said: “She makes up her mind that she wants the basketball more than anyone else.”

It was a pattern that would continue throughout Conquest’s career, even as knee injuries began to slow her down some by her junior season.

To this day, Conquest is fifth all-time in rebounding at Wagner and her 1,106 rebounds rank her higher than any Seahawks player in the past two decades. She averaged more than 10 rebounds a game in all four years there.

The Wagner teams Conquest played on in her junior and senior seasons won a total of 35 games, and both campaigns rank in the top 10 for winning percentage in Seahawks program history.

Conquest would finish her senior year as an All-NEC player and the nation’s sixth best rebounder.

Remarkably, Conquest continued to participate in track and field during her time at Wagner. Even though it was only considered her second sport, she won the 1996 NEC shot put and discus titles, and she briefly held the school’s shot put record.

Being a two-sport performer didn’t slow her down any in the classroom, as she was the valedictorian of the Wagner College Class of 1999.

Even today, Alicia Conquest-Bulgin is still receiving honors.

In 2008, she was inducted into the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame.

And just last February she was honored with a State Farm “Teacher as Hero” award, for her work teaching Spanish at West Philadelphia’s School of the Future — a collaborative educational project between the Philadelphia school system and Microsoft.

In nominating her, principal Rosalind Chivis called Conquest, who also runs the school’s Saturday detention program and serves as athletic director, “the best kind of educator you could have.”

Fittingly, she coaches the same three sports at School of the Future as she played in high school. In the Fall, she leads the girls volleyball team, in the winter she helps coach girls hoops, and in the spring she works with the track team’s shot putters.

And she’s enjoying some success in the coaching ranks. The school’s basketball team reached the playoffs for the first time this season, and her prized thrower hit one of the best marks for a sophomore in Pennsylvania state history.

Still, coaching has been a challenge for Conquest.

Leading a group of inner-city youths leaves her with a difficult task her coaches didn’t have to deal with as much. She says she spends as much time trying to get her kids to focus and stay positive than she does instructing.

“Their home life and the environment they’re growing up in is very different,” she said. “It’s been challenging. I can’t coach with the same intensity my coaches had. I have to water it down for my kids.”

Toning it down is something Conquest says she’s had to do a lot more of lately. She jokes that she can’t even be as competitive when playing games at home as she was on the basketball court.

“My husband doesn’t like to lose and I don’t like to hurt feelings,” she said with a laugh.

But that competitive fire still burns from time to time.

When asked if she dominated this week’s faculty game at School of the Future, she wasn’t shy.

“Ohhhh, yeahhh,” she said with a flair. “Not scoring, but rebounding.”

Some things just never change.

gparpan@northshoresun.com

RELATED STORIES

What is this 20 Greatest Athletes list?

No. 20 Ryan Creighton and Al Edwards

No. 19 JoAnna Judge

GEORGETOWN COURTSY PHOTO | Jim Christy in his Hoyas playing days.

The basketball courts at Forest Park in Queens were not much different than many other basketball courts in New York City. They had four baskets (with no nets), a concrete playing surface, and a small wading pool was nearby where players could walk in to cool off a bit with water up to their ankles.

The features of the courts weren’t anything special, but it was a special place for longtime North Fork resident Jim Christy.

Forest Park was really where it all began for Christy’s successful basketball career. Located a couple of blocks from the Glendale home where he grew up, Christy spent countless hours there playing the game he loved. He was a Forest Park regular from the time he was 7 or 8 years old right up to the time he headed off to play for Georgetown University.

It was at Forest Park where Christy honed his game. Nothing was organized. It was almost all half-court pickup games of three on three or four on four. Rarely were full-court games played. The half-court games helped players develop the concept of proper spacing and moving without the ball, said Christy.

“You arrived [at the courts] at 8 in the morning and you might not get home until 5 or 6 at night,” he recalled.

The four baskets represented a tier system. “There was really one that you wanted to play on,” Christy said. “There was one basket where all the best players played. … Court No. 1 was where all the hot shots played.”

Forest Park had no referees, but plenty of life lessons for a young player. The incentive to win was strong. Players had to earn their playing time.

“The beauty of it was if you lost, you probably had to sit 45 minutes before you got back on the court,” Christy said. “That made for some very competitive games.”

Of course, Christy played elsewhere as a youth. As a high school student, he got to play against college players sometimes in Rockaway during the summer. He played in open gyms during the winter months and played in Catholic Youth Organization games on Friday nights and Sundays.

“The competition in the CYO was really outstanding,” he said, noting that all five starting players on one of his CYO teams all went on to play NCAA Division I basketball.

But Forest Park was Christy’s home court, his first basketball school, his home away from home.

“It was a great place,” Christy said. “It was so much fun. It was so much passion. … Everything mattered.”

Forest Park launched a playing career for Christy, who became an all-New York City player for St. Pascal Baylon High School in St. Albans, Queens. (He was selected as one of the top 100 high school players to have played in New York City by the New York Daily News about 10 years ago.)

Christy could shoot. He once scored 78 points in a game for St. Pascal. His late father, Tom, would keep track of his son’s shooting percentage by putting a penny in his left sweater pocket for every field-goal attempt that his son made and one in his right sweater pocket for every one he missed.

When it came time to think about where Christy would attend college, he had a discussion with his father about basketball being a means to an end, not an end in itself. As Christy saw it, his college choice was a no-brainer.

“Georgetown academically was the perfect fit,” he said. Plus, it was located in the nation’s capital, a major city, and not far from home.

The college game was much different back then. There was no shot clock, no three-point shot, and freshmen were not permitted to play for varsity teams. But Georgetown’s coach at the time, Tom O’Keefe, gave Christy a vote of confidence when he was a sophomore, telling him that the starting point guard job was his.

Thus began a tremendous college career. Christy played alongside teammates such as James Barry, the brother of former professional player Rick Barry; Paul Tagliabue, the former National Football League commissioner; and retired Gen. James Jones, who was a United States Marine Corps commandant.

By the time Christy graduated, he was the school’s No. 2 all-time leading scorer with 1,101 points (he has since dropped to 33rd on the list). Over the course of his time at Georgetown, he averaged 15.5 points per game, including 17.4 as a junior and 17.5 as a senior. His free-throw percentage of 81.6 percent ranks him second in school history.

It was during his senior year, Christy said, when the notion of a professional basketball career crossed his mind as pro teams expressed an interest in him. He evidently didn’t consider it for long, though. He responded to letters from the Baltimore Bullets and the New York Knicks, telling them he was not interested.

Nonetheless, the Knicks made Christy their 10th-round draft pick in 1964, after selecting Howard “Butch” Komives and Willis Reed in earlier rounds. But Christy never attended a Knicks camp. He had made plans to marry his wife, Betty, and raise a family after his college graduation. “Those were the areas that were much more important to me,” he said.

It was three years later when the American Basketball Association was formed, creating more opportunities for players. Regardless, Christy said the all-consuming, travelling life of a pro basketball player wasn’t for him.

“You wonder if things would have been different,” Christy said. “I don’t regret it for a moment. You wonder [about] the road not taken. I can’t imagine that it would be any better than the way things have been.”

Christy took a job in the Mattituck-Cutchogue School District in 1969. He never left the school district until his retirement as the director of guidance in 2003.

Christy, 69, who splits time between homes in Mattituck and The Three Villages, Fla., coached numerous sports at Mattituck. He remains the coach of the Tuckers’ girls varsity tennis team.

In 1975, Christy was inducted into the Georgetown Hall of Fame. Another big honor followed in 2007 when he was selected to Georgetown’s all-century team in conjunction with the school’s 100th anniversary, joining the likes of Eric “Sleepy” Floyd, Patrick Ewing, Michael Jackson, Reggie Williams, Charles Smith and Dikembe Mutombo. Christy and the 24 other all-century honorees were recognized during halftime of a Marquette-Georgetown game at the Verizon Center. The former players were announced one by one. When the spotlight was cast on Christy, he took his place among Georgetown’s best.

The event gave Christy the opportunity to meet players he had become fans of and get to know them as people.

“I was very impressed with who they are,” he said. “It’s really nice to know that you’re a part of that.”

“What it did was it kind of reminded me of what was four terrific years. It brings back some very good memories. I feel as if I am reconnected with the university.”

It all began at Forest Park. Christy said the last time he drove by the park “you could hear the bouncing of the ball. You could hear the kids playing. It wasn’t quite as many kids as I remember, but still a very active community.”

bliepa@timesreview.com

BARBARAELLEN KOCH PHOTO | Riverhead baseball player Matt Crohan, joined by his parents Stephanie and Ed, signed a Letter of Intent to join Winthrop University.

When the Riverhead baseball team took the field for Senior Day in the spring of 2011, all but one player in the starting lineup was a senior. On the mound, the Blue Waves handed the ball to Matt Crohan, who happened to be the only sophomore on the varsity team that year.

Crohan, a left-hander with a versatile array of pitches, struck out six that day to earn his first varsity win. It was evident back then that Crohan had the potential to be a dominant pitcher for the Blue Waves and a player who could be throwing meaningful pitches beyond high school.

That dream became a reality when Crohan signed a National Letter of Intent this week to play baseball at Winthrop University, a Division I school in South Carolina.

Crohan was one of five Riverhead students to officially sign letters of intent during the early signing period, which ran Nov. 14-21.

Two students signed for lacrosse: Ryan Bitzer with Stony Brook and Sabina Dorr with St. Francis. Bree Ristau signed with the University of Massachusetts for rowing. And Shanice Allen signed with Pace University for basketball.

The students celebrated with brief ceremonies at the high school, where parents and coaches joined them as they signed on the dotted line.

Crohan, who also plays the outfield for Riverhead, can hit 92 mph on his fastball, coach Rob Maccone said.

“Over and above all his athletic abilities, Matt is a great kid and deserves all the recognition he has gotten and will get in the future,” Maccone said. “I’m really going to miss him.”

Crohan was an all-league player as a sophomore and junior. Last season he led the team in strikeouts and batted a team-high .500. He’s also played for a club team based in Dallas, Texas, and was selected to play on a Yankees and Phillies scout tryout team.

“I’m very excited about playing for Winthrop,” Crohan said. “I really like the coaching staff, the team, which is in a building state, and the college itself. And, the weather in South Carolina is awesome.”

Crohan plans to study business management or marketing.

RIVERHEAD SCHOOLS COURTESY PHOTO | Ryan Bitzer signed to play lacrosse at Stony Brook.

Bitzer may better be known as a quarterback at this time of year, as he leads the Blue Waves into the Division II county championship this weekend. But his college sport is lacrosse and he’ll stick close to home to play for one of the rising programs in Division I.

“I really enjoy lacrosse,” said Bitzer, who’s also a standout basketball player. “It’s very physical and uses a combination of skills. I like that.”

An all-county midfielder last spring, Bitzer was the team MVP while leading the Blue Waves to one of their best seasons in years.

“Ryan is a very talented athlete,” said Riverhead coach Vic Guadagnino. “He does the job in the classroom, on the court and out on the field in multiple sports. Not only is he a great athlete, but he is a very special person who is a pleasure to coach.”

Bitzer plans to major in business.

Dorr has been a standout in the Riverhead lacrosse program since its inception when she was a seventh-grader. A midfielder/attack, Dorr was an all-division player last year and Brine National High School all-America selection.

She scored 30 goals with eight assists last year.

RIVERHEAD SCHOOLS COURTESY PHOTO | Sabina Dorr signed to play lacrosse at St. Francis.

Dorr said St. Francis, while the smallest Division I school, is a perfect fit of her.

“When I visited campus, I immediately like the team, the coaches and the university,” she said.

St. Francis coach Gregg Gebhard is a Long Island native.

“Everyone at St. Francis is committed to giving athletes both a great playing experience and a great education,” Dorr said.

Dorr plans to enter the health sciences program with the hopes of becoming a nurse practitioner or a physician’s assistant.

Ristau, who competes with the East End Rowing Team, is the first Riverhead student to sign with a Division I team for rowing.

Last year at the Scholastic Nationals Ristau placed fourth in singles. She was second at the New York Championships. At UMass, Ristau will compete on a nationally ranked team.

RIVERHEAD SCHOOLS COURTESY PHOTO | Riverhead senior Bree Ristau will continue her rowing career next year at UMass after signing a letter of intent last week. Her father, Gary, joined her for the signing ceremony along with (standing, from left) rowing coach Michelle Zaloom with her daughter Anna, guidance counselor Chris Martin, assistant principal Charles Regan and superintendent Nancy Carney.

“I feel like I’ll fit in there perfectly,” she said.

Ristau’s coach, Michelle Zaloom, described her as “intense, tough and fearless.”

“She’s just got the right proportions for a good rower,” Zaloom said. “She’s got the arms, legs, shoulders, lungs and stamina she needs. I think she’s got what it takes to excel at UMass and to eventually qualify to row in the Olympics.”

Ristau plans to major in business.

As part of the Blue Waves’ “big three” last year, Shanice Allen helped lead the girls basketball team on a thrilling ride to the state semifinals. Allen was a huge reason for the Blue Waves’ success as the team won the Long Island championship.

Allen has been an all-league player since eighth grade and is a three-time all-county player. During the county championship win against Hauppauge she surpassed 1,000 career points.

She was second-team all-Long Island.

RIVERHEAD SCHOOLS COURTESY PHOTO | Shanice Allen, joined by her parents Kim and Willie, signed to play basketball at Pace.

“She is one of the top players I’ve ever had the pleasure of coaching,” said Riverhead coach David Spinella. “She has a quiet confidence and grace, leads by example and is never a problem.”

Allen plays AAU ball throughout the year and Spinella credited coach Greg Flynn for helping Allen gain exposure.

Allen said she’s excited about playing close to home.

“I’m really happy that my mom and dad will be able to come to my games,” she said. “They’ve always been there for me and it will be nice to have them so close.”

Allen plans to major in biology with a goal of becoming an anesthesiologist.

joew@timesreview.com

WESTERN CONNECTICUT ATHLETICS PHOTO | Jackie Zilnicki of Riverhead was named to the 2013 Little East All-Conference Team.

COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Zilnicki on defensive team Jackie Zilnicki of Riverhead is one of four Western Connecticut State University players who have been named to the 2013 Little East All-Conference Team. Zilnicki joined teammate Sha’Quira Palmer on the All-Defensive Team. Zilnicki, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, averaged 11.3 points and a team-high (along with Carly Murphy) 5.6 rebounds while leading the team with 41 steals.

Western Connecticut finished with an overall record of 19-8, one victory shy of the program’s fifth 20-win season in the past six years.

SUNY ONEONTA ATHLETICS PHOTO | Daniel Stern tallied eight points in a win over Southwestern University.

COLLEGE MEN’S LACROSSE: Stern gets 4 goals, 4 assists Daniel Stern, a junior from Shoreham, led the charge and finished the day with four goals and four assists for SUNY/Oneonta (1-1) in a 12-3 defeat of Southwestern University on Feb. 23. Oneonta outshot Southwestern, 42-26, and picked up 32 more ground balls (56-24). In Oneonta’s opening game of the season, a 17-6 loss to Whittier College, Oneonta started out strong, going up 2-0 on goals by James Reiser and Anthony Laureano, both off Stern assists, before Whittier tied it up by the end of the first period. The second period started much like the first as Stern put the Red Dragons on the board again. Whittier then went on an 8-0 burst to take the lead and never looked back.

JENNIFER GUSTAVSON PHOTO | Riverhead superintendent Nancy Carney speaks at Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

After being made aware of allegations of improper security at the February 5  boys basketball game, we conducted an investigation by interviewing those in attendance and reviewing security camera footage.  It is clear to me that our security guards, including Senior Guard Don Henderson, acted appropriately throughout the game in keeping order and enforcing civility in the crowd.  I applaud the efforts of Mr. Henderson and the other guards, along with the Riverhead Town Police, who prevented the incident from escalating into a physical confrontation.

The allegations made by a Smithtown resident and his daughter were serious, but it is clear to me that the facts do not back up their version of events.  I have no doubt that they found the incident to be unsettling, but the reactions of our security guards were appropriate and helpful.

Riverhead High School athletic events are intended to be welcoming to all fans who are there to support student athletes as they compete in their chosen sports.  We recognize that fans can become enthusiastic as they cheer on the players.  We welcome that zest and enthusiasm as long as it falls within the confines of good sportsmanship and behavior.  Our security guards are well aware of that policy and work professionally to enforce those rules.

GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Riverhead fans at a basketball game in March 2012.

More than a dozen Riverhead parents and Blue Waves fans met with Superintendent Nancy Carney last week to express concern about security and fan behavior at some of the more heated high school games — both at home and away.

Although it was not a public meeting, Ms. Carney later said the district is looking at ways to improve the fan experience.

Parent Kiesha Washington-Dean told the News-Review that last Wednesday’s meeting occurred in response to a Smithtown family’s claim that a Riverhead School District security official only watched as a father and daughter were verbally abused by a group of unruly parents during a Feb. 5 boys basketball game in Riverhead. In that game, which came down to the wire, Riverhead defeated Smithtown West 72-71.

The Smithtown family’s allegations were made during the public comment portion of the Riverhead school board’s regular meeting March 12.

Ms. Washington-Dean, whose son plays on Riverhead’s varsity basketball team, said although the allegations prompted the recent parent meeting, its focus was on rectifying problems parents believe have been recurring throughout the school year.

“We think that our issues were heard,” Ms. Washington-Dean said. “We all walked out [of the meeting] feeling pleased because they are willing to make changes.”

She and other parents say the district needs to provide security at away games to protect its fans, students and student-athletes. Ms. Carney said in an interview the district had discussed sending security guards to away games but ultimately decided to start sending school administrators instead.

“We will make sure we have an administrator there so, if there’s something bothering somebody, they have a person to go to,” Ms. Carney said. “The things we want as a district are to make sure we’re supporting our athletes and to make sure we’re presenting ourselves in a light that shows how proud we are as fans.”

While some parents want more security at away games, Ms. Washington-Dean said she and other parents don’t want Riverhead Town police officers at home games because they believe it gives the school a “bad perception.”

Ms. Carney said police are invited to most school events that draw large crowds to provide an extra sense of “comfort and security.”

“In my opinion, it’s good practice,” Ms. Carney said of having cops at games. “And most of our police officers are fans as well. They enjoy being at the games.”

Also responding to parent concerns about inequitable treatment from refs in the most recent basketball season and in years past, Ms. Carney said the district is evaluating data and plans to have a subsequent meeting with the district’s athletic director. She’ll also meet with the head of security and high school administrators to come up with ways to enhance all school sporting events.

“This was the first step, listening to the concerns from the community,” Ms. Carney said. “We’re using the information we’ve gathered so we can put things in place for next year that will help us go forward in a positive direction.”

jennifer@timesreview.com

BILL LANDON PHOTO | Bishop McGann-Mercy senior Danielle Gehring has signed to play basketball for Chestnut Hill College (Penn.).

COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Gehring signs with D-II school Bishop McGann-Mercy senior Danielle Gehring signed a letter of intent to play for Chestnut Hill College, a Division II Catholic college in Germantown, Penn.

Gehring did not play basketball for McGann-Mercy her senior season. She instead opted to spend the season working out with the boys’ varsity team. She also took part in clinics, worked with basketball, speed and agility trainers and former professional players.

Gehring was McGann-Mercy’s most valuable player her junior season, averaging 12 points, 5 assists, 5 blocks and 3 3-pointers per game. She was an all-league selection.

Gehring and her younger sister, Caroline, will travel to Austria and Germany in June to represent the United States in an international basketball tournament. Her two older sisters play basketball for DeSales University, a Division III school that is a 45-minute drive away from Chestnut Hill.

Gehring said, “I visited Chestnut Hill and fell in love with the school.”

COLLEGE WOMEN’S GOLF: Accolades for Santacroce Marie Santacroce of Mattituck, a sophomore at Flagler College (Fla.), was recently named to the All-Peach Belt Conference First Team. Santacroce finished in fourth place in the conference and led Flagler in tournament scoring average this year. She was also named Flagler’s most valuable player. Santacroce ended the season with eight top-10 finishes, three top-five finishes and one first-place finish during season.

COLLEGE MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD: Clancy sets personal records SUNY/Oneonta sophomore Michael Clancy of Shoreham recorded two personal-best marks recently in the discus and hammer throw at the Upstate Track Classic. He took third place in the discus with a toss of 136 feet and fourth in the hammer throw with a distance of 150-2.

COLLEGE WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD: Two firsts for Riley UConn freshman Melodee Riley of Jamesport had a big weekend for the Huskies in an invitational meet at Brown University in Rhode Island. Riley took first place in both the long jump (5.41 meters) and the triple jump (11.90).

COLLEGE WOMEN’S ROWING: Orient rower helps league champions For the third time in as many seasons, William Smith College captured the Liberty League championship with a dominating performance on Fish Creek in Saratoga Springs. Libby Hughes of Orient competed on the varsity eight team that defeated St. Lawrence, RIT, Skidmore and Union for the title. In calm, flat conditions, William Smith’s varsity eight, ranked third in this week’s CRCA/USRowing poll, defended its league title with a 2,000-meter time of 6 minutes 44.0 seconds. It is the sixth overall league championship for the Herons.

For the third time this spring and the seventh time this year, the William Smith varsity eight was named the Liberty League Women’s Rowing Boat of the Week by the conference office.

BASEBALL: MLB pitch, hit, run competition A free Major League Baseball pitch, hit and run competition for area youths will be held May 11 at 4 p.m. at Tasker Park in Peconic. Boys and girls in four age divisions (7/8, 9/10, 11/12 and 13/14) will have the chance to advance through four levels of competition, including team championships at major league stadiums and the national finals at the 2013 MLB All-Star Game. The individual pitching, hitting and running champions, along with the all-around champions in each age and gender group at the local competition, will be awarded and advance to the sectional level of competition. All participants must bring a copy of their birth certificate and have a parent or guardian fill out a registration/waiver form prior to the start of the competition. For more information, call Brian Hansen at (631) 553-3940.

RUNNING: 5K for moms The For Our Moms 5K will be run on May 11 in Cutchogue. A fun run for kids will begin at 8:30 a.m., followed by a 5K run/walk at 8:45 a.m. Registration will start at 7:30 a.m. The pre-registration cost is $25. Day-of-the-race registration costs $30. The fun run fee is $10. To register, go to www.active.com. For more information, call (631) 680-9223. All proceeds from the event will benefit Danielle Fogarty’s Campaign for the Long Island Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Demitri Hampton’s memory was honored Saturday at a fundraiser for a scholarship in his name.

More than 200 people packed into Robert Ludlam Park in Riverside Saturday afternoon to help raise funds for the college scholarship created in memory of a young Flanders man who was killed in a home invasion earlier this year.

The DQH Memorial Picnic benefited the DQH Scholarship Fund, and included a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, music, food and raffles.

The scholarship was set up this spring to honor Demitri Hampton, a 21-year-old college student who was shot and killed in January.

The DQH scholarship Fund was founded by Mr. Hampton’s relatives and will be awarded to Riverhead High School students who are looking to attend Suffolk County Community College, where Mr. Hampton was a student.

More than a dozen teams entered the tournament, donating about $300 in total to the scholarship.

The event also received gifts from Tanger Outlet Center, Riverhead Ice and other businesses, family and friends for the raffle, said Mr. Hampton’s stepfather Theodore Trent.

“They just all volunteered,” he said. “We really didn’t’ have to go asking.”

Wendy’s fast food restaurant in Riverhead has also agreed to give 10 percent of their dinner profits on the third Thursday of every month to the scholarship fund, said Juanita Trent, Demitri’s mother.

“We’re just so blessed,” she said.

People can donate to the scholarship fund by mail at DQH Scholarship Fund, 57 Maple Avenue, Riverhead NY, 11901.

psquire@timesreview.com

ROBERT O”ROURK PHOTO | The Stop the Violence Basketball Tournament at the Horton Avenue court featured some intense competition Saturday.

There’s a unique bond formed between players on a basketball court. During a game — even in the heat of competition — players can develop a respect for one another.

It’s that thinking that led Riverhead residents Dwayne Eleazer and Larry Williams to create the Stop the Violence Basketball Tournament. Now in its seventh year, the tournament has blossomed into an annual showcase of outstanding basketball — all in the hopes of bringing the community together and curtailing future violence.

“You can come on a basketball court and play without any violence, you might see that person in the street,” Mr. Eleazer said in between games Saturday on the first day of the tournament. “I played ball with him, we can talk this out.”

The latest tournament at the Riverhead Town basketball court on Horton Avenue hit even closer to home this year. Just over six months ago, Riverhead resident Demitri Hampton was killed in a still unsolved shooting.

Mr. Hampton’s mother, Juanita Trent, ran a raffle during the tournament to raise money for the scholarship formed in her son’s honor. By midday Saturday, she already had more than $400 and was hoping to reach $1,000 by the tournament’s conclusion Sunday.

Ms. Trent said her son Jamal Davis has played in the tournament several times and did so again this year.

Players wore T-shirts with names on the back of people hurt by street violence.

The event has grown to where teams from all across the region come to compete for the nearly $2,000 prize. Teams from New York City and New Jersey participated this year.

Clarence Alonzo, a 2004 Longwood graduate, said his team was prepared to defend its title from a year ago.

“We probably have two good teams that can give us a run for our money,” Mr. Alonzo said. “Everybody else has to buckle their seatbelt up and take this ride with us.”

The biggest competition was likely a team led by 6-foot-6 J.J. Moore, a former Brentwood player who played at the University of Pittsburgh. He’s currently going into his senior year at Rutgers after transferring.

In the past, NBA player A.J. Price has even shown up to play. Organizers weren’t sure whether Mr. Price would make an appearance this year.

“He plays on one of the better teams,” said referee Cliff Rowland of Center Moriches. “He’s like one of the ringers. In the championship game, A.J. shows up.”

Mr. Williams said the event is also an opportunity to bring together the community and police officers.

“If the guy’s know the officer, and the officer’s know them, if there’s a problem you’re more apt to talk to each other,” he said.

As many as 500 people stopped by the tournament Saturday, which ran all day. There were nine teams (one dropped out) playing in a double elimination tournament. The semifinals and championship are Sunday.

joew@timesreview.com

Five months after the surprise dismissal of Jeff Doroski as McGann-Mercy’s varsity football coach, the school made a splash Friday in announcing his replacement.

Michael Buck, who spent four years in the NFL as a quarterback with the New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals, will take over the program, which will begin official practices in mid August. The 47-year-old most recently coached the varsity football team at Calhoun High School in Merrick.

Buck appeared in 12 games in his NFL career, making one start in 1993 with the Saints. He threw 5 touchdowns in his pro career after playing in college at the University of Maine, where he was the conference Offensive Player of the Year in 1987 and 1989.

Buck also worked in the Arena Football League as the head coach and director of football operations for the Pensacola Barracuda, the Norfolk Nighthawks and the Lubbock Lonestars, according to a press release.

He’ll take over a program that struggled through a 1-7 season last year that came on the heels of a surprising playoff run the previous season. Doroski had coached the previous three seasons at Mercy before being informed in January by newly hired athletic director Paul Mastronardi that he would not be rehired as the head coach. Doroski was offered the chance to stay as an assistant, but he declined and eventually became the head coach of Riverhead High School’s softball team. Varsity baseball coach Ed Meier elected not to return as the coach last spring in the wake of the Doroski news. Doroski had also coached Mercy’s JV baseball team.

Doroski’s departure created controversy at Mercy, where the majority of students and supporters of the program seemed puzzled by the decision. Parents loudly objected to the move at a closed-door meeting in February with Mastronardi and principal Carl Semmler.

During the meeting, Mastronardi highlighted football as one of the sports he targeted for improvement.

“Football is the No. 1 area,” he said during the meeting. “My area of expertise is football. I know what I want.”

Also included in the sports he targeted were girls soccer and basketball. On those fronts, the school announced other changes.

Matt Brisson was hired to coach the girls basketball team. The Monarchs had a surprising season last year making it to the playoffs under first-year coach Brian Babst. After an 0-18 season the prior year, the Monarchs won a playoff game against Port Jefferson.

Brisson previously coached at Sachem East High School, leading the Flaming Arrows to Suffolk County titles in 2013 and 2014. The Flaming Arrows won the state championship in 2010.

Brisson was named Suffolk County’s Coach of the Year in the 2014 by Newsday. He posted a career record of 218-48 at Sachem East.

Brisson retired as Sachem East’s coach in March, an announcement that became public right before the team was about to play in the Long Island Championship, according to a Newsday article.

Mary Jackson, a science teacher at Mercy, will coach the girls varsity soccer team this fall. She replaces Meaghan Macarthur, who was a standout athlete at Mercy. She coached varsity the past two years. Jackson played soccer at LIU Southampton and on a semi-pro team after graduation. Jackson previously coached Mercy’s junior varsity team since 2000, according to Mercy.

“By complementing the already talented coaching staff in place at McGann-Mercy with these new appointments, we hope to continue the momentum generated over the past year in bringing our athletic program to a higher level and look forward to great success in the year to come.”

joew@timesreview.com

NBA guard Nate Robinson poses for a picture during Tuesday’s camp at McGann-Mercy High School. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)

Among the jerseys on display Tuesday at McGann-Mercy High School were the mainstays of the NBA: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony. Some of the kids went old-school, wearing the likes of John Stockton’s Utah Jazz jersey and Glen Rice’s Charlotte Hornets jersey.

One boy wore the jersey representing the man of the hour: Nate Robinson. 

“We had one Knick fan that had a Nate Robinson jersey,” Robinson said. “It’s good to see other NBA jerseys in here.”

Robinson was on hand for the second of a four-day basketball camp bearing his name. About 70 kids crowded inside the Mercy gym to play basketball and learn from one of the most electrifying guards in the NBA.

While only 5 foot 9, Robinson will be entering his 10th year in the NBA and is a three-time slam-dunk champion. He currently plays for the Denver Nuggets and he spent the majority of his career so far with the New York Knicks.

Ever since his college days at the University of Washington, Robinson has hosted camps for kids in all different cities, he said. This was the first time he was in Riverhead.

“The kids look up to you and there’s no greater feeling than that,” Robinson said. “They’re sending you so much positive love and energy. That makes the world go ’round.”

Dribbling on the court amid a crowd of kids, Robinson practically blended in; some of the kids were nearly as tall as him.

Robinson recently released a book titled “Heart over Height,” which chronicles his journey from an undersized basketball player to NBA star.

“It’s a true underdog story,” Robinson said. “If you believe in yourself and you put the work in, you can do anything.”

It’s a message he tries to pass along to the kids at his camps.

Hunter Rego, an 11-year-old from Southampton who wore a Miami Heat jersey, said he learned to not be intimidated by bigger players.

“Never say you can’t, always believe you can do it,” Rego said.

Robinson said he had been keeping a journal for a long time and was excited about sharing his story. He co-wrote the book with Jon Finkel.

“It had me teary-eyed a bit reminiscing about my childhood and how I grew up,” he said.

Robinson is entering the final year of his contract with the Nuggets, so he’s not caught up in the whirlwind of free agency, which started today. But he did hear encouraging news of a friend during the camp, Sacramento Kings guard Isaiah Thomas, who reportedly signed a contract with the Detroit Pistons. Thomas played at the same college as Robinson. As Robinson posed for a picture with all the kids, he had them record a congratulations message for Thomas.

As for where James, the Miami Heat star, may land, Robinson said he’s looking forward to seeing how his free agency plays out.

The other big name on the market, Anthony, may end up choosing between two teams Robinson has played for, the Knicks and Chicago Bulls.

So what would Robinson’s advice be for Anthony?

“Follow your heart,” Robinson said.

joew@timesreview.com

The Harlem Wizards pose with Riverhead faculty members at last year’s game. (Credit: Riverhead School District)

The Harlem Wizards basketball team will return to Riverhead High School Nov. 19 and the Riverhead Central Faculty Association is currently seeking sponsorships for the event that attracted more than 1,000 people last year. 

Tickets officially go on sale Oct. 15, although a limited number of pre-sale tickets are available via the district’s parent-teacher-school organizations and at individual open house events for each school.

The faculty association is looking for businesses interested in one of three levels of sponsorship for the event. The sponsorships include an advertisement in the free program as well as an announcement over the personal address system during the event. The second and third tier of sponsorships include larger advertisements and displays of sponsor logos on promotional materials throughout the event.

Gregory Wallace, the faculty association treasurer, said in a statement more than half of last year’s sponsors have already signed up again.

“I think anyone who saw the energy in the gym last year knows how wonderful this is for our community,” he said.

The cost of the sponsorships range from $100 to $500. For more information, contact Mr. Wallace by email.

Tickets for the event are $10 for students, $12 general admission in advance and $15 general admission at the door. Court-side seats, which are limited to 25, cost $25 and include a meet-and-greet with the team before the game.

Neverson Funn goes up for a shot in Saturday’s alumni basketball game in Riverhead. (Credit: Bill Landon)

It had been 11 years since the last time Chris Harris stepped onto the court at Riverhead High School. A lot has changed since then. But the competitive juices remain.

“Coach got some of us old guys out here,” said Harris, a 2002 Riverhead graduate. 

Harris was one of more than two dozen former players who came together for an alumni basketball game Saturday afternoon. The alumni broke up into two teams, a blue and white, and played an entertaining game in front a nice sized crowd.

Between raffles, Chinese auctions and a 50/50 drawing event, the event raised about $3,000, according to Shanneikqua Tolliver, one of the event’s organizers.

There was fun for everyone, with a DJ spinning vinyl and Riverhead Stepper’s providing halftime entertainment.

Rasheen Moore, a 2009 graduate, said they wanted to make the end of the game interesting.

“We tried to make it a fun game for the crowd getting everyone interested, coach put a little backup plan and some catch up to make it a game in the end,” Moore said. “It brings everybody back in from a long time ago.”

With eight seconds left in the game the blue team took the lead 88-87 but the white team answered right back three seconds later to retake the lead 89-88 with five seconds left. The white team held on to win 89-88.

The white team controlled the game early and at one point enjoyed a 20-point lead, which shrank to a 72-65 advantage before the blue team rallied late to close within three.

“We let them come back,” said Charles Pettaway, a 2006 graduate. ”We wanted to make it close for the crowd. We could’ve won by 40 but that’s not what we came here for, we just wanted to have fun.”

Tolliver said that first and foremost the event wanted to support local causes and bring everyone together.

“In our community that means basketball,” she said. “Everyone plays it and everybody loves it. We’re a booster club of basketball. We had a great turnout today, and with our ticket sales the Chinese auction and the concession and the 50/50 we raised a lot of money for our basketball family.”

[Show as slideshow]

Former McGann-Mercy basketball player Nykel Reese goes up for a shot in 2013. (Credit: Robert O’Rourk, file)

McGann-Mercy High School is hosting its annual alumni basketball game Jan. 10 in the high school gymnasium. Alumni of all ages, men and women, are invited to join. 

The game will start at 5 p.m.

For more information, call 631-727-5900, ext. 334.

Watching the Stony Brook men’s basketball team fall behind by double digits early in the second half of the America East championship game Saturday, I felt something I haven’t experienced during a college basketball game in quite some time: a gut punch. 

Anyone who, like me, grew up on Long Island in the 1980s and ’90s rooting for the Mets and Knicks is familiar with that feeling of getting belted in the stomach by your team as it implodes.

My entire family sat stunned on our couches for at least an hour after Reggie Miller dropped eight points in nine seconds on the Knicks in Game 1 of the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals.

And the Mets. Well, do I even need to explain all the ways they’ve disappointed me in the 30 years since they last won the World Series?

One thing saving me from more misery was the fact that I never really had a college basketball team I felt that strongly about. In my early years, my family rooted a bit for my mother’s undergrad alma mater, St. John’s, but I never had a real strong personal connection to the team.

Each of the past few years, I’ve tuned in to the America East title game in hopes of seeing Stony Brook, where my father graduated and my mother received her master’s, reach the NCAA tournament. Each year, I tuned out disappointed by a loss.

Not this time around.

Soon after I started to get that queasy feeling as the Seawolves fell behind by 15 points, the team ripped off a 29-13 run to seize the lead. Behind impressive senior Jameel Warney’s 43 points and 10 rebounds, Stony Brook is finally headed to March Madness.

Forward Jameel Warney goes up for a shot during the second half of Stony Brook’s win Sunday. (Credit: Daniel De Mato)

And for once I find myself feeling a real local connection to a college basketball team. As Newsday put it Sunday in a headline our own sports editor Bob Liepa says he wishes he’d written, I feel like I’m “Dancing with Wolves.”

If you think about it, it’s really remarkable that Suffolk, a county of nearly 1.5 million people, has never had a local college sports team it could embrace in a world where Green Bay, a city of about 100,000, is allowed to have the Packers.

When I began my career in Los Angeles more than a decade ago, I was fortunate to cover a pair of Rose Bowls. At the first one, in 2005, more than 93,000 rabid college football fans from Texas and Michigan traveled to Pasadena to see their teams play. There was no hometown team on the field, yet you couldn’t find a parking spot for miles around the stadium. The regular season USC football games I covered were just as chaotic.

There’s never been anything to compare it to here in Suffolk.

The college sports fans among my friends root for their out-of-town alma maters or, in the case of Notre Dame, root for the tradition and their Irish heritage.

I don’t dispute that it’s every bit as fantastic as a local team winning when, say for our Greenport community columnist Joan Dinizio, her beloved Duke basketball team wins the national championship as it did last year. I’ve just never been able to feel that connection to a college team myself.

The Stony Brook basketball team has a long way to go before rising to the level where casual fans like myself are converted to diehards. But its presence in the field of 68 at the NCAA Tournament is something every Suffolk County sports fan should take great pride in.

It’s the latest in a series of signs that the university’s emphasis on building up its athletic program is paying off.

In 2012, the baseball team reached the College World Series. And, of course, Riverhead graduate Miguel Maysonet helped put its football program on the map when he became an NFL prospect and later signed with the Philadelphia Eagles. Stony Brook alum Will Tye continued that legacy this past season, scoring the school’s first NFL touchdown as a tight end for the New York Giants.

On Thursday night at 9:40 p.m. Stony Brook athletics will take the next step in growing its sports profile when the Seawolves tip off as a No. 13 seed against perennial NCAA powerhouse Kentucky in the tournament’s round of 64.

It’s been three years since a No. 13 team has won a tournament game, but it happened every year between 2008 and 2013. In a down year for the Wildcats, who reached the Final Four with a very different squad a season ago, maybe, just maybe, the Wolves will keep on dancing for another day.

No matter the outcome, they’ve already done enough to get this local sports fan excited. When the final buzzer sounds Thursday night, I’ll be the proud son of two Seawolves.

And in Suffolk County, where I’m sure many hoops fans will watch Stony Brook play for the first time this week, I won’t be alone.

The author is the executive editor of Times Review Media Group. He can be reached at gparpan@timesreview.com.

Top photo: Stony Brook guard Carson Puriefoy drives to the net during the second half of Stony Brook’s American East Championship victory over Vermont at Stony Brook University’s Island FCU Arena Sunday. (Credit: Daniel De Mato)

Even on a day when the National Weather Service was warning of extreme heat and the heat index reached 100 degrees, Riverhead’s ‘Stop the Violence’ basketball tournament went on.

This year’s games took on extra special meaning, as the athletes played on the newly resurfaced Horton Avenue courts.

Event organizers Dwayne Eleazer and Larry Williams were honored with proclamations from Riverhead Town, celebrating their dedication to the tournament, now in its 10th year. Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter and councilmen Tim Hubbard and John Dunleavy were on hand to celebrate the two men and the tournament they founded.

The double-elimination tournament continues Sunday.

Top Caption: Stop the Violence basketball tournament co-founder Dwayne Eleazer cuts the ribbon to the newly resurfaced Horton Avenue basketball courts.

How does a team stop a player like Kashawn Charles? Or even slow him down?

The rest of Suffolk County League VI is still waiting for an answer.

Charles is one of those players who is going to get his points, one or another. The Wyandanch senior guard now has over 1,000 of them.

Despite Shoreham-Wading River’s efforts Thursday, Charles surpassed the 1,000-point mark, leading Wyandanch to a 69-44 road win.

Charles, who according to Newsday took a Long Island-leading 29.2 points average into the game, scored his 1,000th point on a layup that gave the Warriors (12-3, 9-1) a 48-39 lead 1 minute, 45 seconds into the fourth quarter. The game was stopped and an announcement was made.

Charles, who Wyandanch coach Barry Baker projects as a Division II college player, finished with 27 points. He shot 10 for 18 from the field, including 5-for-10 from three-point distance.

The game between the first- and last-place teams in League VI had a competitive first quarter that saw the Wildcats (7-9, 2-8) come out with an 18-16 lead and perhaps thoughts of an upset in their heads. But they fell into a 1-for-12 shooting funk and managed only five points in the second quarter. Wyandanch ran off 14 consecutive points in that quarter, including eight of Corry Stewart’s 14 points, to seize control of the game.

Shoreham’s shooting woes continued in the second half when it made 8 of 29 attempts from the field to finish shooting at 28.3 percent. Wyandanch, meanwhile, made 48.3 percent of its field-goal attempts and held a 37-21 advantage in rebounds.

With a pair of fourth-quarter dunks to punctuate the victory, Wyandanch’s Dabien Walker finished with 10 points.

Dean Stalzer was Shoreham’s high scorer with 18 points, shooting 6 for 10 from the field and 6 for 8 from the foul line. Dan Cassidy and Jalen Wright added seven each.

Wright had to be helped off the floor with 21.3 seconds left in the third quarter, putting no pressure on his left leg. After the game, Shoreham coach Kevin Culhane said it was a calf issue. Culhane said senior guard Ken DeGolyer also had an unspecified injury.

Charles’ 1,000th point wasn’t the only milestone observed Thursday. Prior to the game, Shoreham’s junior varsity coach, Jayson Kiang, was recognized for picking up his 100th career win.

bliepa@timesreview.com

Photo caption: Shoreham-Wading River’s Chris Sheehan attempting a layup against Wyandanch. (Credit: Garret Meade)

The post Boys Basketball: Wyandanch star scores 1,000th point against SWR appeared first on Riverhead News Review.