As the Section III basketball semifinals raged on, some other individuals and teams had much bigger goals in mind.
That included all the champion wrestlers that descended upon Albany's Times Union Arena for the state meet, which will stay in the Capital District for the near-future.
Thirty sectional winners, plus a dozen wildcards, plunged into the 16-man brackets in each weight class, Division I and II alike. Only one of them ended up on top of a podium.
Morrisville-Eaton's Ryan LeBlanc already had a state title from 2008, and had been perfect so far this winter in pursuit of another...

CATEGORY: General Sports

TAGS: Ryan LeBlanc, Section III, hockey finals, New Hartford, West Genesee

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On the first weekend of March, they'll play eight more meaningful basketball games at Manley Field House. And that will be it.
A mere 29 years after John Thompson declared the place closed, the declaration comes true when LaFayette and Fabius-Pompey leave the court after Saturday night's Section III Class C-2 final.
The Lancers and Falcons get the high honor and distinct privilege of the final act. Here's the whole agenda, which kicks off Friday night and includes a recap of what went down in wild and exciting semifinals...
Class B-1 - It's Westhill vs. Marcellus. Brace yourself, it's bound to be intense, physical and loud, and that's just the student sections.
That the Warriors got here after subduing Skaneateles isn't any big surprise...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: Section III, boys basketball, finals, last games, Manley

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Now we have our full slate of Section III girls basketball finals fully set for a Super Saturday at Utica Auditorium.
As it got scheduled, Fayetteville-Manlius and Cicero-North Syracuse will start at high noon for the Class AA title. Hamilton and Sackets Harbor meet at 3:30 in Class D, and the Whitesboro-Mexico Class A final at 7:15 closes out the night.
The only question as the week began was who would join them in the Class C (1:45) and B (5:30) games. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we got the answers.
First came the B-2 and B-1 finals at Jamesville-DeWitt...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: Section III, Class B, Class C, Clinton, Cazenovia, Bishop Grimes, Little Falls

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Sometime late on Saturday night, at the end of a long session of six basketball championship games, Fabius-Pompey and LaFayette will walk off the court at Manley Field House, and a long and meaningful era will conclude.
For nearly half a century, that round-roofed arena on the corner of Comstock and Colvin served as a Mecca of sorts – first for the area’s college basketball fans, then for two generations of high-school dreamers chasing championships.
Soon enough, though, Manley will be just another indoor practice facility at a big American college, with football, basketball and lacrosse teams no longer needing to fight for practice time in the Carrier Dome.
So yes, SU’s most visible athletes have year-round comfort...

CATEGORY: General Sports

TAGS: Manley Field House, last days

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The hint of spring outside coincided with the pure heat of championship competition inside Utica Memorial Auditorium, where five Section III girls basketball champions accepted their crowns.
The winners ranged from a large school that waited 24 years to get back on top to a pair of 2008 runners-up that took the final step to the top for the first time, plus a tough bunch of Cobras and a defending champion that brought an undefeated opponent down.
It started in Class AA, with Cicero-North Syracuse getting its first title since 1985 by denying Fayetteville-Manlius its first-ever banner in 44-30 fashion.
It came in two parts. First, the Northstars pressed, suffocating the Hornets' perimeter to make up for Breanna Stewart's foul trouble...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: Girls basketball, Section III finals

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True, they played eight games over two days in the last go-round of Section III basketball finals at Manley Field House.
Jamesville-DeWitt, Westhill, Hannibal, Onondaga, LaFayette, Sackets Harbor and New York Mills all took turns claiming banners and creating a lifetime of great memories for themselves.
Yet it was the Class AA final between CBA and Henninger that belonged on the short-list of all-time Manley games, and that includes anything involving Dave Bing or Louis Orr.
That wasn't the case for three quarters...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: CBA, Henninger, Section III finals, Manley Field House

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Expect a big pilgrimage of local hockey fans to Utica Memorial Auditorium this weekend, as both New Hartford and West Genesee will go after state championships.
They got there in wildly divergent ways. New Hartford and its 17-game win streak were in trouble Saturday in the regional finals in Brockport, but rescued a 3-1 win over defending state champion Webster Thomas.
Though the Spartans had most of the scoring chances in the first two periods, Webster Thomas still had a 1-0 lead going to the second intermission.
It takes a whole lot of patience to stay cheerful in the face of this kind of pressure...

CATEGORY: General Sports

TAGS: hockey regionals, state indoor track, state boys swimming

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The three boys basketball teams that won Tuesday night to earn overall Section III championships came to their thrones in wildly varying ways.
One team was favored from start to finish, having won the last two sectional titles. Another got instantly powerful at mid-season and hasn't stopped since...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Section III finals, boys basketball, Hannibal, New York Mills, Onondaga

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Oh, where do we start?
Where in the sprawling, multi-layered, intricate tale of will, courage, determination, drive, heartache and redemption, known as the quarterfinal of the Big East Tournament between Syracuse and Connecticut, is a place from which we can firmly plant roots to tell this grand tale?
Officially, close to 20,000 were present at Madison Square Garden. As time goes on, though, rest assured that 200,000 or so will claim to have been there, past 1 a.m., as the Orange and Huskies strained every superlative in the English vocabulary...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: SU, Connecticut, six overtimes, classic

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Whether it was in Liverpool, Troy or Cortland, it didn't seem to matter. Section III's five girls basketball champions in pursuit of a berth in the state final four all met with the same sad fate in various regional finals.
When Cicero-North Syracuse, in Class AA, met up wtih Bethlehem at Liverpool's gym, the main storyline centered around Breanna Stewart, and how the 6-3 freshman would cope within the Eagles' zone defense.
Stewart, working hard as always, put in 18 points. And her effort helped the Northstars overcome a 10-point deficit and even go in front midway through the third quarter.
Bethlehem regained the lead, though, then withstood one more CNS run in the final period by making 10 of 12 free throws...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: Girls basketball, regional finals, five defeats

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It wasn't just that New Hartford won the state Division II ice hockey championship Sunday afternoon at Utica Auditorium, matching the feat of its 1997 predecessors.
No, it was the way they got there - with complete and utter domination, with the sole exception of that regional final where it needed three third-period goals to rally past Webster Thomas.
Cortland/Homer got pasted. Skaneateles got cast aside...

CATEGORY: Hockey

TAGS: New Hartford, state Division II champs, West Genesee

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At this exact moment, 20 boys basketball teams are making their plans to be part of the festival in Glens Falls known as the state final four.
Three of them come from the Section III ranks. One expected to be there all along. Another proved itself in a continuous series of clutch situations against big-named foes. And the last could not have imagined still being alive a month ago.
First, the heavy favorites. Jamesville-DeWitt toyed with Malone Franklin, then turned its vast talents toward Scotia Glenville in the Class A regional final Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse.
Scotia tried a zone defense. And Alshwan Hymes made sure the Tartans paid for it, to the tune of eight 3-pointers and 32 points overall, a new career high...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: Regional finals, CBA, J-D, Onondaga, wins

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This is the first of four entries over the next two days that take a fun and informative look at the 65 NCAA basketball teams about to Dance in what, to a lot of people, is America's greatest annual sporting event.
We start in the East, where a top seed overdue for a deep tournament run is perfectly positioned to do so.
Pittsburgh got this by beating Connecticut twice in the regular season. In the past, Panther teams relied too much on defense. But with the trio of DeJuan Blair (inside), Levance Fields (outside) and Sam Young (shooting the lights out), Pitt has slightly changed character, becoming a no...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: NCAA, East Region, first two rounds

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As our glance through the NCAA Tournament bracket continues, we cast our eyes South, to a region where local fans have a bit of a rooting interest and the heavy pre-season national championship favorite holds court.
North Carolina hasn't done too much to temper down those high expectations. True, Tyler Hansbrough has seen his numbers go down, but no top contender can put more points on the board, with enough depth and variety to keep things moving. Ah, but that injured toe of Ty Lawson. With him, the Tar Heels can win it all. Without him going at full speed, Carolina is vulnerable from the Sweet 16 onward.
Lawson or no Lawson, the Tar Heels enjoy a decided advantage by starting out in Greensboro...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: NCAA, South Region, first two rounds

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As our NCAA Tournament preview keeps going, attention now shifts to the Midwest, where the no. 1 overall seed holds court, but might have to hold off a couple of other familiar March names.
Louisville is in its best position to win it all since Pervis Ellison led the 1986 Cardinal crew to the summit. Winning the regular season and tournament titles in the rugged Big East got Louisville into this position, as did typical Rick Pitino depth and in-your-face defense. Most nights, Earl Clark, Terrence Williams and the Cards will deck you, but the occasional hiccup (see Notre Dame in February) does raise a red flag.
Louisville gets Ohio Valley champ Morehead State first after the Eagles won the dreaded play-in game with Alabama State...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: NCAA, Midwest region, first two rounds

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This overview of the NCAA Tournament field concludes in the West, where it's said the roster is top-heavy and the top two seeds could have swapped without any real change in the order of things.
Still, it's Connecticut with that no. 1 bulls-eye. The Huskies had the team to beat to win it all until Jerome Dyson went down with that knee injury. Since then, UConn has been far from great, and even with Hasheem Thabeet blocking shots and A.J. Price running the show, the Huskies have done nothing in March since that loss to George Mason three years ago.
With a full week to recuperate from the six-overtime marathon with Syracuse, UConn starts out Thursday in Philadelphia against Chattanooga, who won the Southern Conference after Stephen Curry and Davidson got bounced...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: NCAA, West region, first two rounds

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As with 2008, a trio of talented, ambitious Section III boys basketball teams rode the magic carpet into the Glens Falls Civic Center for the state final four.
And just like '08, only Jamesville-DeWitt made it through the semifinal round with the dream of a state championship alive.
Yet even that proved to be a mighty struggle, as the Red Rams had to grind, sweat and plod through Saturday's semifinal win over Batavia.
The final score read J-D 40, Bataiva 32. Really. For the Red Rams, 40 points is usually a good half of work. J-D, in fact, topped 90 in both parts of the regional playoffs.
Clearly, the Blue Devils believed that the only way it could possibly make J-D sweat was by slowing....the.....game.....down...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: State semifinals, J-D, CBA, Onondaga

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Now Jamesville-DeWitt stands alone.
Prior to Sunday afternoon, no Section III team boys basketball team had ever won back-to-back state championships...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: J-D, state Class A champs, back-to-back, Peekskill

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Right at this moment, basketball reaches the saturation level. Close to home, high school teams pursue state championships in Glens Falls (boys) and Troy (girls). Entire communities hinge on every drive and lay-up, rebound and free throw.
On a much larger scale, the NBA grinds toward its endless playoffs, with its future decidedly mixed. Oh sure, the stars like Kobe and LeBron, teams like the Celtics and Lakers, stir our attention, but financial difficulties and looming labor trouble could derail the whole show in the years ahead.
Then there’s the college game, in the midst of a March that tends to be mad...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: 1979 NCAA Final, book, Seth Davis, Magic, Bird

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What the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament nearly gave us was a full boat of big-time contenders going down.
Instead, the likes of Pittsburgh, Louisville, North Carolina, Villanova, Duke, Michigan State and Missouri all pulled off various forms of escape...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: NCAA, Sweet 16, East, West, previews

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We continue to work our way through the NCAA Tournament by focusing in on the other two regional brackets as the quest to reach the Motor City continues...
South - It's fair to say that if Ty Lawson hadn't come back from that bad toe, North Carolina might not have made it past LSU. Lawson had 21 second-half points against the Tigers and did not commit a single turnover. He might be the most important player left in the Dance, for he creates match-up problems even Tyler Hansbrough doesn't do and allows the Tar Heels to be as fast-paced and fun as it wants.
Gonzaga got saved when Demetri Goodson, a freshman, drove coast-to-coast to beat Western Kentucky in the final seconds...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: NCAA, Sweet 16, South, Midwest previews

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You could say it ended when Tony Crocker hit that first 3-pointer. Or when any of the trey attempts from the side in Orange clanged off rims, all 10 of them. Or when Blake Griffin ran over Jonny Flynn. or when the whole Oklahoma squad ran over Syracuse at the start of the second half.
Whatever you theorize, the fact remains the same - it ended for Syracuse on this Friday night in Memphis, taken out in the NCAA Tournament's round of 16 by Oklahoma in an 84-71 game that didn't play that close, really.
Hours, days and weeks will be spent in the post-mortem - what went wrong, who screwed up, who should get the blame. It's the American way - find a villain, even if isn't rational.
But that's a tired exercise...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: SU, basketball, season, review

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So Jamesville-DeWitt could not pull off the same feat it did in 2008, claiming both the state public and Federation Class A championships in Glens Falls.
After fighting hard just to get to the Federation championship game, the Red Rams ran headlong into Long Island Lutheran in Saturday night's title game and never led once in a 68-51 defeat.
Chalk it up to many things if you like, but maybe J-D was just plain tired...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: Jamesville-DeWitt, Federation playoffs

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Once in a while, the Final Four just seems a lot more interesting, even if, by the end of march, we've all overdosed on too much college hoops and need intense rehab.
Maybe the teams have more flavor. Maybe the players have interesting stories. Maybe the coaches sparkle. And maybe the location adds to the tale, rather than serve as just another backdrop for just another convention-weary city accustomed to seeing out-of-towners descend upon their homeland week after week.
All of the above applies to 2009. The fact that they're going to Detroit, to a city and state ravaged by economic downturn, adds a poignant facet to this tale...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: NCAA, Final Four, Michigan State, Connecticut, North Carolina, Villanova

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