2019 NYSPHSAA Boys Championship Tournament Concludes with Harrisville Win
Section 10's Harrisville Pirates defeated the Wolfpack of OESJ out of section 2 to win the Class D title 67-54 in the final game of the 2019 NYSPHSAA Boys Basketball Championships held at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena this weekend. The Pirates were up 30-26 at the half and were up 44-39 after the third quarter.
The game was the final contest over the three days of the tournament. Earlier in the day (Sunday) Cooperstown defeated Middle Early College 71-61 to win the Class C Championship.
15 games were played beginning on Friday morning and continuing into Sunday afternoon. Three games went into overtime including Cooperstown's triple overtime win over Greenport to advance to the championship game.
One of the overtime games decided the Class B title. It will be hard to find any more exciting contest than that one. It pitted Glens Falls from Section 2 against Lowville from Section 3. A sold out crowd of well over 4,000 turned out to see much-heralded Joe Girard III look to lead his team to a state crown. Girard III was named "Mr. New York Basketball after scoring 4,000 plus points in his career with the Indians.and will be heading to Syracuse to play for the Orange next year. With his future coach Jim Boeheim at courtside watching Girard III did not disappoint. He ended up with 50 points and won the game at the overtime buzzer grabbing an inbounds pass from his cousin Trent and driving the baseline for a remarkable game-winning basket to give Glens Falls a 75-74 triumph.
This weekend ends a three-year run in Binghamton. The event returns to Glens Falls for at least the next three years. Figures going into this year's third year in the contract in Binghamton reflected larger attendance figures in Glens Falls. The first year in Binghamton was hampered by a massive snowstorm that made driving and walking difficult.with crews working round the clock just to open walkways to get to the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.