Bay Shore's Matt Ehlers scores 26 points, wins MVP as Suffolk tops Nassau in Alzheimer's All-Star Basketball Classic
Matt Ehlers of Bayshore is awarded MVP by Gordon Thomas for the boys 16th annual Alzheimer's All-Star Basketball Classic on Saturday, October 24, 2026 in Hempstead. Credit: Dawn McCormick
There was a sequence in the second half in which Matt Ehlers nailed a long three, then followed it up 18 seconds later by slamming the basketball through the hoop.
Actually, Bay Shore’s 6-7 junior guard/forward put on a sensational show Saturday in both halves inside Hempstead’s gym. Ehlers scored 26 points — 12 in the first and 14 in the second — to help Suffolk outlast Nassau, 107-98, in the 16th annual Alzheimer’s All-Star Basketball Classic.
So he claimed the shiny gold MVP trophy and an accompanying check for $200.
“It means a lot to me,” Ehlers said. “Our team played really good. I might buy a new pair of shoes with this $200.
“… I played hard and attacked the rim when I got the ball and I set screens for my team to get open.”
Bay Shore, the defending Suffolk and Long Island Class AAA champ, is sure going to need this kind of effort from him as well as fellow All-Star Chris Forbes, who scored 13.
“I definitely need to step up,” Ehlers said. “We lost a lot of key players to our team. But we’re looking pretty good this year. Me and Chris should be good.”
Ehlers’ MVP trophy is named in honor of the late father of event founder and Knox boys basketball coach Gordon Thomas. The Classic was established in memory of his dad.
“It’s important to me,” Thomas said, “because my dad, Detective John Edward Thomas Sr., the first Black police officer in Suffolk County, passed away from Alzheimer’s back in 2010.
“With my basketball background — I played at St. John’s University; I got drafted to the Knicks — I figured what a way to raise funds and awareness to try to destroy this deadly disease, Alzheimer’s.”
The proceeds are bound for the Long Island Alzheimer’s and Dementia Center in Westbury.
“It’s kind of a tragedy that these people have to go through this,” Longwood sophomore Eljay Cheshire said. “It’s just very sad. It’s very amazing to just raise money for these people and just try to find a new solution for them.”
The 6-6 center/forward delivered 13 of his 16 points in the second half. Suffolk pulled away in the final seven minutes.
“I was a little bit frustrated in the first half,” Cheshire said. “I decided to calm down and just work on a little more of my shooting, not just try to chuck up every shot or just be selfish with the ball.”
Knox’s Denizhan Kazdal scored 12 of his 19 after the intermission for Suffolk.
St Dominic’s Harrison Von Essen scored 25 to pace Nassau.
“It was a great cause,” the senior point guard said. “… We wanted to win, but it was a fun day.”
