Black Bears roll into ‘A’ final
GLENS FALLS — Too early to play a basketball game? Apparently not in Glens Falls.
The city filled more than half of the 4,806-seat Cool Insuring Arena for a 9 a.m. tip-off Friday in the Class A boys’ state semifinals, and the hometown team answered the early wake-up call.
Glens Falls jumped out to leads of 9-0 and 23-3 and coasted into the Class A championship game with a 91-46 victory over Maine-endwell of Section IV (Binghamton area).
“We were prepared for 9 o’clock,” Glens Falls coach Rob Girard said. “We practiced at 7 o’clock in the morning on Wednesday and Thursday, and figured by our third day, we should be ready to go. It helped. Our kids were ready.”
The Black Bears will face Wayne (Section V), a 61-45 winner over Friends Academy (Section VIII), back here at 5:15 p.m. Saturday for the Class A title.
“I honestly didn’t know, 9 o’clock in the morning on a Friday, people work,” Girard said. “I know our kids had school off and everything, but that kind of a crowd, it’s unbelievable. The kids notice that. They feed off that stuff.”
Glens Falls (26-0), which has won its three state tournament games by a total of 105 points, led by double figures from the middle of the first quarter on. Brody Holcomb had 19 of his gamehigh 25 points in the first half. Kellen Driscoll scored 19, Cooper Nadler 14 and Oscar Lilac 12.
“We always talk that we’ve got to step on teams’ throats early,” Holcomb said. “We got off to an early start, all starts with defense. Our defense was there, and offensively we shot the ball very well today. When we’re shooting good, it’s hard for teams to beat us.”
Everything that could go wrong in the first quarter seemed to for Maine-endwell (13-8), which upset Johnson City in its Section IV final. A tip-in that would have cut its deficit to 16-5 was disallowed for basket interference. Two free throws late in the period both missed.
The Spartans, who advanced with a 59-47 victory over Saugerties in the quarterfinals, ended the first quarter on a 7-0 run but still trailed 25-12.
Glens Falls continued its domination in the second quarter, outrebounding Maine-endwell 25-11. Holcomb closed the half with a 3-pointer to give the Black Bears a 45-23 lead.
“We talked about (not getting complacent) at the end of each quarter and any timeout,” Girard said. “Our mentality is we’re down by six, we’re down by six, we’re down by six, and we kept coming out and kept
putting points on the board.”
The Black Bears shot even better in the second half, hitting 59 percent after halftime and 52 percent for the game. They were 13-for-32 from 3point range, led by Holcomb’s 4-for-8.
Glens Falls last won a state title in 2019, when the finals were played in Binghamton. This is the last year under the current contract with Cool Insuring Arena, as the state finals will move back to Binghamton for next season.
“I don’t want to say it’s hard to believe,” Holcomb said. “That’s what we thought we could do. We’re here. We’re ready for it.”