William Floyd School District: Boys' Varsity Basketball Readies For Playoff Return

Press release from the William Floyd School District:

February 11, 2022

After five years, the William Floyd High School boys’ varsity basketball team is excited to be back competing in the playoffs! The 2021-22 Colonials finished a great season putting up an 8-6 League I record (10-8 overall), good for fourth place in their division. In Section XI’s AA playoff bracket, the No. 12 Colonials will travel to No. 5 Ward Melville for their first-round matchup on Tuesday, February 15 at 5 pm.

“Making the playoffs for the first time in five years means a lot to our program as a whole,” said Will Slinkosky, a coach of the boys’ varsity basketball team. “It has been an entire team effort this season. Our practices have been extremely competitive. Every day players have been competing with each other and that has resulted in a better quality of practices.”

The Colonials’ success this season comes from the dedication shown from both the players and coaches over the entire calendar year. Players have competed together in summer leagues, camps, and in-house workouts every Tuesday and Thursday to get better together. The results from their hard work speak for themselves, as the Colonials have become one of the better teams in League I.

“In addition to team workouts, we also trained the athletes for individual position-specific workouts on Mondays and Wednesdays. We continued these workouts throughout the fall in preparation for the season,” Coach Slinkosky added.

The starting five for the Colonials is a nice blend of youth and veteran leadership. Coach Slinkosky credits his entire starting lineup for the team’s success, but also mentions how his role players have played key roles in getting the Colonials back into playoff position. “Our starters, freshmen Jermaine King, sophomore Joey McLaurin, senior captain Shawn Piazza, junior captain Mikey Smith and freshmen Jawuan Smith have led the way but would not be where they are today without the contributions of the rest of the team.”

Coach Slinkosky has also been working hard for the team to improve its defense. “Offense wins games, but defense wins championships,” he said. “We are working on becoming stronger on the boards and better in transition defensively. Our keys to success will be to work together focusing on defensive rotations, boxing out, grabbing rebounds and getting back on defense.”

Despite already putting together a great season, Coach Slinkosky understands that there is still plenty of season left and that there is more opportunity for his group to learn and improve. “We could not be any prouder of what our student-athletes have accomplished, and we are looking forward to seeing what the future brings.”

Congratulations to the boys, and the coaching staff Will Slinkosky, Matt Schnauder and Darrell Sumpter, on a great season so far and good luck in the playoffs!

This press release was produced by the William Floyd School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.