Leading off today: The unbeatens took a bit of a beating Friday in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association basketball semifinals in Glens Falls and Troy.
The final fours this weekend feature six boys and three girls teams with unblemished records, but the first two to hit the court lost: Bridgehampton's boys downed Moriah and Jamesville-DeWitt's girls took out Albertus Magnus.
In boys Class D action, Bridgehampton blew past previously unblemished Moriah 68-50 by means of a 31-9 scoring rampage in the fourth quarter at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
Charles Manning Jr. led the Killer Bees with 29 points, 12 in the fourth, plus nine rebounds. Josh Lamison, giving away six inches to Moriah center Ryan Jaquish, scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds despite playing the entire fourth quarter with four fouls.
The Bees went to a trapping defense early in the second half, cutting a 36-25 deficit to 41-37 entering the fourth quarter.
Bridgehampton, which won the last of its eight state championships in 1998, advances to Saturday's Class D final vs. New York Mills, which defeated International Prep 66-58 with a startling comeback of its own.
Down 11 midway through the fourth quarter, New York Mills rattled off 17 straight points over an 8:53 span and beat Buffalo's I-Prep 66-58 in overtime. Junior guard Terry Nichols scored 25 points to go with nine assists and seven steals for the Marauders, the defending champs.
"This is special, especially after losing the players that we did from last year's team," Nichols told The Observer-Dispatch. "Everybody was down on us, even some people in our community doubted us. But we knew coming back here that it was going to be a dogfight."
New York Mills coach Mike Adey's timeout after two fast-break baskets had given the Presidents an 11-point lead came with 6:08 left and his team trailing 54-43.
"We all looked at each other and said we've got to make a run and it's got to start now," Nichols said.
The Marauders have won their last 35 games against Class D competition.
Boys Class C: Unbeaten Waterville will play for its first state championship Saturday after rolling past Lyons 66-48. Zach Sawyer scored 23 points and had seven rebounds, and senior Will Specht added 15 points on five 3-pointers for Waterville.
Waterville held Lyons senior guard Damon Hunter to 22 points on 7-for-16 shooting. Hunter, who hadn't scored fewer than 30 points in any previous playoff game this winter, scored 10 fourth-quarter points with the game already out of reach and subsequently fouled out and was hit with a technical foul.
In the other semifinal, Lake George downed Haldane 70-60. Joel Wincowski scored a game-high 21 points, Kyle Jones added 19 and Craig Keenan added 18.
Lake George led 20-19 midway through the second quarter, but Wincowski found Jones for a 3-pointer. When Wincowski connected from behind the arc with 1:35 left in the half, the score was 28-19. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Jones early in the third quarter stretched the advantage to 38-25.
"It's great to be going into the last day of the season playing for a state championship," Wincowski told The Times Union.
Boys Class B: Jordan Roland, who put on a show for the ages a year ago in Glens Falls, scored 38 points as Westhill defeated a stubborn Rochester Leadership Academy 69-53. Forward Tyler Reynolds chipped in with four 3-pointers and 19 points to go with 11 rebounds.
Leadership Academy pulled with a bucket at 44-42 late in the third quarter, but Roland hit a 3-pointer for a little breathing room and tacked on seven more points early in the fourth quarter to give the Warriors control of the game.
"We were expecting a real athletic team, and that's what we got," said Roland.
Leadership Academy coach Reggie Simmons took pride in hanging close to Westhill for so long even if the final score didn't reflect the competitiveness of the game.
"We had to be perfect out there today, and we were just a little off center," Simmons said. "Today the better team won."
Westhill defends its NYSPHSAA title Saturday against Woodlands, a 61-43 winner over Ogdensburg Free Academy.
Woodlands rode a balanced offensive attack to victory. Ross Joseph (17 points), Pierre Lys (15) and Brandon Johnson (14) led the way. Jamil Gambari added 11 points.
