Boys’ basketball championships

Live from Glens Falls

A virtual tour of the New York State boys' high school basketball championships

By RICHARD A. ROSS

GLENS FALLS, NY — It’s the dream of a lifetime—a chance to play for a state title in front of thousands of screaming fans in the big arena. The teams that can survive the rigors of sectional tournaments and the grueling gauntlet of regional games arrive at the Final Four for the New York State basketball championships, a climax akin to reaching the Promised Land.

The tournament, which just celebrated its 25th year in the Glens Falls Civic Center, is replete with pageantry, outstanding athleticism and compelling drama, punctuated by laughter and tears. In the world of high school sports, nothing compares to this great theatre of life.

The atmosphere…

Your heart is pounding and your eyes struggle to take it all in. Blaring bands, screaming fans and a dazzling array of colors overwhelm your senses as you enter the Glens Falls Civic Center for the Final Four of the New York State Public High Schools Athletic Association boys’ basketball tournament. For the players who have given their all to get here by winning their sectional tournaments and the dizzying spiral of regional games that lead up to the Final Four, the intense and emotional events of the tournament will comprise moments that they will treasure for the rest of their lives.

Up the steep incline of the arena’s row of seats, the legions of loyal fans who traveled from the four corners of New York State to cheer their teams on bear witness to the unfolding drama, desperately trying to use their arsenal of banners, cheers and prayers to skew the outcome in favor of their hometown beloved.

For the past 25 years on a special weekend in March, all roads lead to this small town in the Adirondacks for three days of indescribable drama. Offering up episodes of great theater, defined in part by the antithesis of winning and losing, the Glens Falls games are marked by the crowning of champions, presented in stark contrast to the solemnity of defeat. Just to be here as a player is the dream of a lifetime; to win a state championship is to achieve a milestone that can only be faintly imagined by the thousands of high school basketball players whose teams don’t survive the grueling gauntlet it takes to get here.

Ultimately it is teamwork that makes champions. While there are countless talented athletes who play for teams far and wide across the state, it is the teams that evince great chemistry that go on to win state titles.

While there are some teams who have made it to the big dance over the years with startling regularity, like Class A Amityville and Class AA Mount Vernon, others like tiny Class D Martin Luther King of Westchester are first timers. To those familiar with the allure of local high school basketball magic, magnify the atmosphere of your local gym on the night of big game a hundred times over and allow your imagination to run wild as you travel these next few minutes, perusing a virtual tour through the wonderland of New York State’s ultimate games.

The history of the tournament

After a lapse of more than 45 years, The New York State basketball championship tournament was resumed in 1978. From 1978 to 1980 the tournament was played in Rochester, but in 1981 the games were moved to Glens Falls, where they have been played ever since. From 1980 to 2003 there were four championship classes: A, B, C and D. A fifth class, AA, was added in 2004. Those classifications are based on the number of students in schools from grades nine through 11. The qualification this year for Class D was 199 students or less; for Class C: 200 to 349 students; for Class B: 350 to 549; for Class A: 550 to 899; and for Class AA: 900 and up.

The names of some of the players who have graced the court at Glens Falls reads like a Who’s Who of NBA icons. Included in that glorious list are the likes of Chris Mullin, Kenny Anderson, Mark Jackson, Stephon Marbury, Sam Perkins, Christian Laettner, Elton Brand, Adonal Foyle, Jamal Mashburn, Walter Berry, Ben Gordon, Sebastian Telfair and countless others who played for Division I colleges.

While trips to Glens Falls for Section 9 teams are few and far between, S.S. Seward reached Nirvana by winning the Class D title in 2003. The Spartans hold a one-game tournament record for the most three-point field goals (12), and 2003 Class D tournament MVP Mike Hoyt of Seward holds the individual tournament record for the most three-point field goals (13). Fallsburg lost in the semifinals the same year to Buffalo City Honors in Class C. Millbrook won a Class D title in 1999.

Last year Section 1 walked off with four of the five titles, losing only in Class A. In the tournament’s history since 1978, Bridgehampton of Section 11, a Class D school, leads all schools with eight titles. Mount Vernon, which is now an AA school, has six titles, including several in the old AAA classification and in Class A.

This year Peekskill, a Class A team from Section 1, became the first team to win titles in A, B and C. The Class B and C titles were won when Elton Brand was on the team. Brand went on to play Division I ball at Duke University and now plays for the Chicago Bulls. Amityville of Section 11 won four consecutive Class B titles from 1999 to 2003. Amityville is now in Class A. (See accompanying map on page 38 of NYS Sections to get a better idea of where schools come from.)

The Glens Falls Civic Center hosted the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team practices before the team proceeded to win the gold medal in the “Miracle on Ice” win over the Soviet Union in Lake Placid, NY.

Tournament highlights

Class D: Cinderella Martin Luther King versus Blue Collar Fort Edward

• Martin Luther King (19-4) is part of a residential treatment center in Hastings-on-Hudson. Its players are mostly from troubled backgrounds and the school has become the anchor of their lives. The Tigers came with few fans and no cheerleaders, but the Class A Mexico Tigers cheerleaders “adopted” the MLK team and furiously cheered for them throughout the game. After MLK’s dramatic win, the blended Tiger crew celebrated uproariously.

• MLK is just in its sixth year as a varsity program.

• MLK was led by 6-7 center Eric Mingo, who hit a trio of threes in the first half. He had only three three-pointers all season. MLK shot 44.3 percent from the field and turned the ball over only five times in the second half. MLK came back from an 11-point deficit to defeat Pine Valley in the semifinals 52-48.

• Fort Edward’s Flying Forts (22-3) have had a storied four-year run. After losing last year in the semifinals to Section 1’s Alexander Hamilton, the Forts returned for one last try. A blue-collar team made up of Polish, Irish and Italian players, the Forts were led by tournament MVP Cameron Maziejka (24 points, 19 rebounds). The Forts held on to defeat number-one ranked Newfield 75-72 after watching their 21-point lead nearly melt away. Fort Edward, just up the road from Glens Falls, packed the stands with blue painted zealous fans.

Class C: The battle of the undefeated: Sodus vs. Faith Heritage

• Both teams came in at 26-0.

• The Sodus Spartans, ranked number two in the state, roared back from a 51-41 deficit in the semifinals and overtook Friends Academy, the team that ousted Section 9’s Millbrook. The Spartans’ capacity for a late surge (14-1 fourth-quarter run over Friends) surfaced again in the finals with the strong inside game of center Greg Logins (23 points) and tournament MVP Robert McDowell (16 points).

Faith Heritage lost in the semifinals in 2003, but this year the Saints were the number-one ranked team in the state. Cooper Stroman (21 points) and Aaron Hall (17 points) led the Saints’ five starters, who have been together for the past three years.

Class B: Top-ranked Palymyra–Macedon’s stellar defense is key

• Palmyra-Macedon (20-5) reached the finals by defeating Voorhesville (23-3) 30-28. Trailing 22-18 at the half in the finals to Carle Place, the Red Raiders caught fire after Jared Boisvert hit an NBA three-pointer early in the third quarter.

• Palmyra-Macedon’s (P-M) 29-point second half nearly equaled their 30-point total in their semifinal win. Aaron Hall’s seven straight points helped the Red Raiders. He and Boisvert hit back-to-back threes to get P-M ahead to stay. Switching to a man defense turned out to be key in holding off the Frogs of Carle Place.

• Carle Place (19-4) ended the glorious run of JFK-Somers in the semifinals. JFK defeated Section 9’s Burke in the regional final after a fight-marred game. Over the past two years JFK won 41 straight games against Class B opponents and went 66-6 overall. Justin Schmeimann’s 28 points in the finals led Carle Place in their loss to P-M.

Class A: Reuter’s record tying seven three’s not enough against Peekskill

• Mexico Academy (24-3) was ranked number seven in the state and defeated number-four ranked Batavia to get into the finals.

• The Tigers were led by senior Kyle Reuter, who hit a startling seven shots from beyond the arc, many of them beyond NBA range. Reuter, who first began canning threes at age 5, finished with 32 points. He has been playing varsity basketball since he was in eighth grade. It was the Tigers’ first state tourney since 1972.

• Peekskill (20-6) defeated Red Hook 60-49 on its way to Glens Falls. The Red Devils made history by becoming the first team to ever win state titles in Class A, B and C.

• Tournament MVP Rick Cadell scored 25 points to lead his team to victory.

Class AA: Niagra Falls wins the Clash of the Giants

• Niagra Falls (25-1) avenged their loss in last year’s finals to Mount Vernon by storming back this year behind the stellar play of tournament MVP Paul Harris (26 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocked shots) to defeat New Rochelle. Harris was playing with a broken thumb, an injury incurred during the Section 6 tournament. The Wolverines used a 13-0 run to start the second half to fuel their win over the Huguenots. The Wolverines disposed of Syracuse-Nottingham 89-38 in the semifinals. In the latest USA Today super 25 poll, N-F was ranked seventh in the nation.

• After being knocked senseless for nearly two minutes by a New Rochelle defender, Wolverine Greg Gamble was advised by a doctor to not continue playing. He answered that counsel with a one-handed dunk with 20 seconds left in the game. Gamble finished with 11 points.

• New Rochelle (26-2) reached the finals by defeating Brentwood. More impressive was their Section 1 defeat of former Class AA state and federation champion Mount Vernon. New Rochelle put up a great fight against Niagra Falls. The Huguenots were led by standout Geoff McDermott.

Up next: The Federation title games

This coming weekend the winners of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHAA) championships in class AA, A and B will go head-to-head with the winners of New York City’s Public School Athletic League (PSAL), the Catholic High School Athletic Association (CHSAA) and the Association of Independent Schools (AIS) for the ultimate bragging rights. The championship games will also beplayed at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

In Class AA Niagra Falls will face the PSAL’s John F. Kennedy of the Bronx in the semifinals. The winner will play Xaverian from Brooklyn of the CHSAA. In Class A Peekskill will play in the finals versus the winner of St. Anthony’s from South Huntington of the CHSAA and Lawrence-Woodmere of the AIS. In Class B Palymyra-Macedon will go up against Bushwick of Brooklyn (PSAL). The winner will battle the winner of the other semifinal game between Fieldston School of the Bronx (AIS) and Regis of New York, NY (CHSAA).