Federation T.O.C. Class A Semis

ALBANY, NY - Class "A" in the New York State Federation Tournament was highlighted this year by a semifinal matchup between Canisius and Albany Academy, two of Upstate, New York's top teams, but with Telecommunication and Elmont also taking the court in another semifinal the games were expected to be competitive and close throughout.

The games were strong with each of the four teams aiming for a spot in Saturday's Championship Game, but to get there they needed to bring their best games and rise to the challenge at the Times Union Center in Albany.

When star Cadets wing Hameir Wright '17 wakes up and goes to bed each night the thing he sees besides him on his dresser is the runner-up medal that Albany Academy got for losing to Canisius in last year's NYS Class "A" Federation Tournament Championship Game, so the motivation he admits was there in the knock off the Crusaders in the semifinals this year to make sure he had a chance to get the medal he really wants this year.

"I still look at that medal every day since it's right next to my bed," Wright said. "I don't want to look at that anymore so I knew we had to beat them to get a chance for me to get the medal I really want there."

It wouldn't be easy though because Canisius were the defending champions, and because as happens every year, Albany Academy was coming into the Federation Tournament with a near 30-day break between games.

As the lone Class "A" representative in the NYSAISAA there is nothing the Cadets can really do about that situation, but head coach Brian Fruscio scheduled a pair of tough scrimmages last week to hopefully in his words, knock off some of the rust.

"It's always tough but we are used to it. We take about 5 days off after our season to rest and prepare our guts, and then what we did last week was we had two scrimmages," Fruscio said. "We played Shenendehowa, which was the #1 team in Class AA, and then we played Long Island Lutheran, who is probably now the #1 team in Class AA, so if the rust was on us, they knocked it off I was hoping."

Early on it was very evident that the rust was definitely knocked off as behind Wright, who scored 12 first quarter points to help build an early double lead of 22-10 late in the first quarter as the junior was imposing his will as a mismatch for anyone on Canisius who tried to guard him.

It was more of the same in the second quarter as guard Steve Low '16 started to warm up from long range knocking down a pair of treys, while Wright finished the half with 17 points, as well as stymying the Crusaders offense, limiting them to 30% from the field in the opening half as Albany Academy pushed it to a 36-23 at the break.

As the defending champs went to the half they were down in a game for the first time in nearly 2 months, and the fact that the Cadets were playing at a different tempo than Canisius was expecting threw off the Crusaders according to forward Stafford Trueheart '16.

"We weren't expecting them to play so fast," Trueheart admitted. "That was difficult to adjust to and we missed a bunch of shots too which hurt a lot."

They needed to change the pace, and they needed to contain Wright and limit his touches Trueheart said if Canisius wanted to be able to pull out a win and have a chance of repeating this season.

The game did end up tightening up as Wright got in foul trouble picking up his 3rd foul early in the 3rd quarter which allowed Trueheart and Justin Jones '16 to attack the lane and finish more confidently around the rim to cut the deficit to 7 heading to the 4th.

An early 4th foul to start the 4th for Wright put him back to the bench briefly, but when he came back in he was less aggressive than he had been all game long, and when he fouled out with 3:17 to go in the game, Canisius had their chance to try and rip this game away late.

A once 14-point deficit for the Crusaders was whittled down to 51-47 with 1:56 to go in the game, and Canisius had a chance to cut it to a one possession game, but a Nick Fruscio '16 steal, and then a dribble drive score by Sal Arena '16 while being fouled seemed to cut off any hope for Canisius as the lead was back at 7 with a minute to play.

The Crusaders did have chances to cut back into the lead but Will Atkinson '16 missed a number of threes down the stretch as like Trueheart said, the buckets just weren't falling, and key FT's late by C.J. Mulvey '17 and Will Bennett '17 allowed Albany Academy to open the lead back up late as they would eventually pull up the upset and take down Canisius, getting their revenge for last year's title game loss, 63-51.

Wright finished with 18 points, but 17 of those came in the all-important first half which he admitted set a tempo for the rest of the game that he knew was important for not just himself, but for the entire Cadets squad.

"It was important for myself and for the team because it got me mentally ready for the rest of the game and it really felt like it sparked the team as well," Wright said.

He got help in the second half from the likes of Low and Bennett who finished with 12 and 11 points respectively to lead Albany Academy to the victory.

In the defeat Trueheart had a game high 23 points for Canisius, but it wasn't enough to help rally his team to the win even though he was very proud of his team's effort in the second half.

"It was really just one of those games," Trueheart said. "We kept fighting which I knew we would but it wasn't enough."

It wasn't enough because Albany Academy just seemed to want it more, fighting for every loose ball and coming up with all the big plays they needed to close it out. The fact that last year's loss was in the back of their minds as well didn't hurt.

A chance to make up for last year's disappointment is now upon the Cadets. It's something that the team as a whole admitted they have wanted since last year at this time, and it's a moment and day that Wright has been waiting and hoping for.

"I want the championship medal this time. I am so excited and I hope to really be validated for all the hard work we have put in.

It was a very close game throughout but the bigger and more athletic Spartans were able to outscore the Yellow Jackets in the 4th quarter 21-5 to make the final score a bit more lopsided than it actually was with Elmont moving through with a 17-point win.

Early on it was Telecommunication who came out and looked like the fresher and more ready team to play the 9am game as the Yellow Jackets were able to start the game on a 7-0 run, limiting Elmont's touches inside and getting out in transition themselves with Matthew Smiley '16 finishing the run with a reverse going down the baseline.

The Spartans were able to fight back at the close the opening quarter and into the second as they were able to start to push the ball themselves led by guards Travis Morgan '16 and Jalen Burgess '16 which allowed to go on a 17-0 run to eventually take a 19-9 lead, and for the most part, control of the game at that point.

Devin Ballour '16 was able to break up the run as he was able to score inside around two defenders, and Ballour would then score 8 points in the 2nd quarter to help stem the tide and get Telecommunication back in the game, seeing them down by just 27-22 at the half.

The momentum that the Yellow Jackets took at the end of the second carried into the 3rd as Thomas Farrell '17 was able to score on a little short hook in the paint, and then a pair of Ballour jumpers from the wings allowed Telecommunication to retake the lead with 2:29 to go in the quarter, 33-32.

Elmont though came right back as a short fade away from Burgess saw them quickly get back the lead, though even as the senior would knock down another jumper, this time from the baseline, Smiley would score on a reverse to close out the 3rd and see the Yellow Jackets down just 40-39 heading to the 4th.

In the 4th though the size inside of the Spartans started to wear down Telecommunication as big 6'6" forward KC Ndefo '18started to score at will around the rim using his combination of size and strength to rise above the defense and finish around the rim.

Combine the fact the Yellow Jackets went ice cold from the floor, hitting just 1 FG in the final 8 minutes, and it was a combination for Elmont to seize control. Along with Ndefo it was Burgess who had a big 4th scoring 10 of his 17 points in the 4th as the Spartans dominated the 4th to open up a close game throughout and take a 61-44 victory.

Burgess, a Cardozo transfer, led Elmont with 17 points in the win with Ndefo and Morgan each adding 12 points apiece in the victory.

It was a game high 21 points for Ballour in the loss, with Smiley adding 7 points in the loss for the PSAL Champions.

The Federation Tournament Class "A" Championship Game is now set as Elmont, the NYSPHSAA Champion will take on Albany Academy for the title at the Times Union Center in Albany on Saturday at 5pm.