Sabry Philip trusted the process, believed in himself and it paid off.

 

The versatile, springy 6-foot-4 guard committed Wednesday to attend Stony Brook University and play basketball for coach Geno Ford's Seawolves. Stony Brook is located in Brookhaven, NY, on the north shore of Long Island in southeastern New York, about 60 miles east of New York City.

 

Start spreading the news. He's leaving today. He wants to be a part of it. He's gonna make a brand new start of it, in old New York.

 

"A lot of sleepless nights and a whole lotta grinding," the Edmonton, Alberta, Canada native tweeted in making his commitment. "but this is perfect timing."

 

Philip transferred here from The University of San Diego and played not one, but two years for coach Grant McMillan's Bulldogs. At San Diego, he played spare minutes during 12 of the team's final 16 West Coast Conference games; at Navarro, the coronavirus pandemic reduced his first season to a conference-only schedule.

 

Philip smartly bet on his himself when he made a late, surprise announcement that he would be returning to Navarro for the 2021-22 season. He correctly reasoned that a larger body of work here would look far better on his resume, come scholarship time.

 

So now, that's a wrap. In 51 career games, Philip shot 49.7 percent from the floor and averaged 7.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists and almost one steal and one block for a program that twice competed in post-season play.

 

Philip had 19 double-figure scoring games here, with 16 occurring during the 2021-22 season. His two personal-high scoring efforts of 21 and 16 points came against Weatherford, featuring a combined 16-of-21 touch from the floor. Navarro's team-leading rebounder (160) had five games of 10 boards – including three Region XIV league games and consecutive non-conference efforts against Region V regular-season conference champions McLennan and Odessa.

 

Division I Stony Brook finished with an 18-13 record overall and 10-8 in the America East Conference, but the Seawolves athletic programs will join the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) on July 1.