East Islip and Islip boys on the St. Mary’s CYO basketball team became Long Island champions after defeating St. Thomas of West Hempstead on Saturday, March 23. Winning the Long Island Championship game, which was held at Holy Trinity High School at 12:30 p.m., was the culmination of a season of hard work and determination.

CYO of Nassau and Suffolk County is a competitive travel league, and the St. Mary’s CYO basketball program of East Islip and Islip is composed of boys and girls teams ranging between fourth and eighth grade.

According to Tom McDougall, president of the St. Mary’s CYO program, he stepped in as president a few years ago when the volunteer-based program was in a lull.

“A lot of East Islip kids play soccer, lacrosse, and baseball, and basketball kind of fell by the wayside,” explained McDougall. “The former president was retiring, so we got into contact with each other. I took the program over, and it went well.”

Since becoming president of St. Mary’s CYO, McDougall watched as the motivated boys team improved upon their skills and learned the value of teamwork. The team was undefeated in the regular season, and McDougall was incredibly proud when the team made the playoffs—a huge accomplishment. Then the boys kept winning, winning again, and winning some more. After the final win of 44-20 against Nassau CYO champion St. Thomas of West Hempstead, the boys can boast the title of Long Island Champion as they continue to progress in their sport.

“I never thought we would go this far, but we are just on cloud nine still. We have an amazing group of kids, and games like this and seasons like this will catapult them for the rest of their lives to continue playing sports,” shared McDougall. “It was a great accomplishment for the town, for the kids, and just an all-around special season.”