The game of basketball has taken Dave Boykin well beyond his White Plains roots.
He’s plied his tried in courts across the United States, Germany, and even China.
A dish-first point guard by trade, Boykin took pleasure in pacing the offensive tempo and making the right reads.
At the University of Bridgeport, where he averaged 11.7 points and emerged into a 3-point ace, Boykin led his squad to an ECC championship as a junior.
As he took the professional route over the waters, Boykin progressed in all facets of his game.
He became a crafy off-the-dribble scorer, mastering a stepback. Boykin leaned more on his pull-up game and stormed into the driving lanes more than ever.
Of all the places hoops has taken him, Boykin’s most cherishable memories of the game can be traced back to White Plains High.
It was at White Plains that Boykin absorbed the intricacies of the defensive game under head coach Spencer Mayfield.
With Mayfield recently released as a 2016 NYSSA Hall of Fame Inductee, along with Croton-Harmon’s Billy Thom and Poughkeepsie’s Robert Murphy, Boykin took time to hark back on the glory days.
Boykin On Mayfield’s Legacy
“I tell this story to a lot of people. I have played at the Division-I level, professional level, streetball level. To this day, I haven’t had a coach who knew tha game of basketball more than coach Mayfield. I’ve learned every aspect of the game under coach Mayfield. My greatest memory of playing under coach Mayfield was simply how great our defense was, every single year.”
“We were like an army unit out there under him. Everything was always crisp. Coach demanded us to be nearly perfect. We would literally hold teams to single-digit quarters almost every night. When I reflect on how much we would practice on helping each other through coach Mayfield’s staples of discipline, teamwork, toughness, and hard work. All of these are tools that will stick with me for a lifetime, both on and off the court.
On Mayfield’s Influence On Him
“Coach Mayfield pushed me to be a leader at all times, in everything I do. He showed me how to be both a vocal leader and a person who can lead by example. There has not been a coach who I’ve learned more from about the game of basketball than coach Mayfield.”
On Big Game Preparation
“During my four years on the varsity level, our greatest rivalry games were against Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Spring Valley, and a few very tough Poughkeepsie teams.”
“We would prepare with the same hard-nosed practices that we would have against any other opponent. A lot of running. A lot of defensive drills, shooting drills, and game-situation drills, depending on the opponent.”
