Boys basketball: North Rockland celebrates its first-ever Section 1 Class AA championship

Mike Dougherty, Rockland/Westchester Journal News
·4 min read
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WHITE PLAINS – The scary thing is, North Rockland is just beginning to realize its full potential.

A year after falling short in the championship game, the Red Raiders came back with a largely inexperienced cast. They were not on the radar when the season began.

“We had to find who we were,” senior forward Kobe Nwosu said. “Then we went on a run.”

The season ended on Sunday with North Rockland hoisting the gold ball after dispatching Scarsdale 52-40 in the Section 1 Class AA title game at the Westchester County Center.

It's a program's first title.

“We thought maybe they had the potential to make a run like this," Red Raiders coach Jamie Ryan said. “But there’s a point where it’s not up to the coaches and you need players to lead. Connor Wein and Elijah Barclay got us where we needed to go.”

North Rockland players celebrate with the Gold Ball after defeating Scarsdale 52-40 in the boys Section 1 Class AA championship at the Westchester County Center in White Plains March 5, 2023.
North Rockland players celebrate with the Gold Ball after defeating Scarsdale 52-40 in the boys Section 1 Class AA championship at the Westchester County Center in White Plains March 5, 2023.

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The Red Raiders didn’t appear to be nervous under the bright lights.

“Our goal at the start of the season was to make the County Center,” Wein said. “I talked with everyone about how much work it would take in practice to do this. We had some ups and downs. Midway through the season we had to decide if we were willing to do more or let the season get away.”

A commitment to physical defense made this team a threat.

From the start on Sunday, the Raiders felt that dedication. North Rockland was knocking down a variety of shots from different levels and had a 29-12 halftime lead after Yariel Gomez Para knocked down a 3 ahead of the buzzer.

“They came from a long way back,” Wein said. “We called a couple of timeouts and the coaches drew up plays for us and we did what we had to do.”

North Rockland's Connor Wein (2) puts up a 3-point shot in front f Scarsdale's Asher Krohn during the boys Section 1 Class AA championship at the Westchester County Center in White Plains March 5, 2023. North Rockland won the game 52-40
North Rockland's Connor Wein (2) puts up a 3-point shot in front f Scarsdale's Asher Krohn during the boys Section 1 Class AA championship at the Westchester County Center in White Plains March 5, 2023. North Rockland won the game 52-40

What it means

Section 1 has a bye into the regional finals so North Rockland is one win away from a NYSPHSAA final four game. The Red Raiders have a week to fine tune and dream about extending this run. Confidence is no longer an issue for this group, which has gained experience against quality opponents here that will translate at the regional level.

"Going into the tournament our defense had kind of stepped up and I thought we could play the kind of defense we played last year," Ryan said.

Player of the game

Wein came out firing and jump-started the Red Raiders with his confidence. He connected three times from behind the arc, finishing with 13 points and earning tournament MVP honors.

By the numbers

No. 6 Scarsdale (14-10): Carlos Rodriguez wound up with 15 points and three steals. ... Sussberg had 10 points and four rebounds. ... Daniel Hoey finished with six points and five rebounds. ... Asher Krohn got three points and seven rebounds.

No. 4 North Rockland (17-7): Barclay had 15 points and six rebounds. ... Nwosu finished with eight points and six rebounds. ... Evander Collazo got six points and six rebounds. ... Gomez-Para also netted six points.

Scarsdale's Asher Krohn (23) is surrounded by North Rockland defenders as he tries to get off a shot during the boys Section 1 Class AA championship at the Westchester County Center in White Plains March 5, 2023. North Rockland won the game 52-40
Scarsdale's Asher Krohn (23) is surrounded by North Rockland defenders as he tries to get off a shot during the boys Section 1 Class AA championship at the Westchester County Center in White Plains March 5, 2023. North Rockland won the game 52-40

They said it

"We had to play a lot of defense and we came out with a gold ball," Nwosu said. "It definitely felt good when the buzzer went off. I was happy, but the tears started to come."

"We had a plan to go inside-out from the beginning and I feel like we didn't follow the game plan," Raiders coach Joe Amelio said. "We clawed all the way back and were tired at the end. When you're down 16 or 17 points and fight all the way back, you end up expending all your energy."

"Our coaches knew we had some potential," Wein said. "They had a lot of faith in us and we had a lot of faith in them."

Up next

North Rockland will play Newburgh Free Academy (Section 9) or Elmira (Section 4) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Yorktown High School.

Mike Dougherty covers basketball for The Journal News and lohud.com. He can be reached at mdougher@lohud.com or via Twitter @lohudhoopsmbd.

Scarsdale did come back and took a 33-32 lead on a Jake Sussberg 3 with 5:53, but the legs were soon gone. The Red Raiders answered with a 12-2 run and Barclay locked up the win in the closing minutes at the free throw line.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Section 1 boys basketball: North Rockland beat Scarsdale 52-40