Boys basketball: North Rockland's historic season ends at state final
GLENS FALLS – North Rockland had no answers.
Patience didn’t work. Persistence didn’t work. The Red Raiders were in an untimely funk from the start and were unable to give Victor a run, falling 56-38 in the NYSPHSAA Class AA championship on Saturday at Cool Insuring Arena.
"That’s a credit to them," North Rockland coach Jamie Ryan said. "They were just solid, really well-connected defensively and offensively. It’s always about style of play and we ran into a team that was tough for us to deal with. But my guys, I couldn’t be more proud of them and what they did this year. It really was just exceptional and some moments during this run were surreal."
It ended with a painful thud, but the Red Raiders accomplished more than any other team in program history, starting with a Section 1 title.
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"Obviously, they’re a good team and they really played together," North Rockland junior Elijah Barclay said. "Every possession, they were talking and talking. I think we can take that and learn. All of the younger guys coming back and the guys we pick up next year, we can point to this and say that is something to strive for."
Initially, the Red Raiders were playing well enough to win on the defensive end.
All of the issues were at the other end of the court where North Rockland struggled to find consistency possession to possession.
The Blue Devils were up 24-14 at the half.
Both sides were struggling to make shots, but the Red Raiders went 6 for 23 from the field and 0 for 9 from behind the arc. That’s a difficult stretch to play through. With shots coming off the rim left and right, and the legs eventually got heavy and the defense struggled. Victor opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run to grab a 50-32 advantage.
What it means
North Rockland is graduating three starters, but half the roster is coming back and those players now have experience in big games.
"It hurts now, but when you give everything you have, there is emotion," Ryan added. "It’s all good and we’ll get better from just being in these situations, you know, the County Center and here playing for a state championship. That experience for the younger guys, you can’t replace that. It was just special season for us."
Player of the game
The Blue Devils had remarkable balance. Griffen Hopkins was the catalyst, though, finishing with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists.
By the numbers
North Rockland (20-7): Connor Wein led the Red Raiders with 13 points. ... Evander Collazo had nine points and six rebounds. ... Barclay finished with eight points and five rebounds. ... Nick Rivera added six points off the bench. ... The Red Raiders went 3 for 16 from 3-point range.
Victor (23-3): Garrett Clar had 12 points and five rebounds. ... Cam Ryan, Nick Leonard and A.J. Queri finished with nine points apiece. ... The Blue Devils shot 52.4% to pull away in the second half.
They said it
"Our seniors were always trying to help to motivate us and guide us, we’ll take what we learned from them in wins and losses and that will pull us to more wins next year," Barclay said. "And we’ll just have more dog in us."
"I’m proud of the group for advancing the program the way they did and even more special was the way it happened," Ryan said. "We didn’t even win our league this year and we’re playing in the state championship game. I don’t think anyone would’ve thought it was possible. It’s a testament to sacrifice. It’s a testament to guys that gave the individual up for the team."
Mike Dougherty covers basketball for The Journal News and lohud.com. He can be reached at mdougher@lohud.com or via Twitter @lohudhoopsmbd.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: North Rockland sees magic season end in state final against Victor
