BINGHAMTON, NY- Down 37-30 at the half in the NYPHSAA Class AA Championship Game on Sunday afternoon would normally be cause for concern for many teams, but not Liverpool. The Warriors have been down at the half more than their fair share of times this year, and with a senior laden team that has been battle tested game after game this season panic has never once set in.
Having given up 24 points at the half to BCANY Mr. New York Basketball winner Savion Lewis '18, Liverpool trailed Half Hollow Hills East 37-30 at halftime, but that seems to be the time the Warriors step up and play their best basketball.
They did that once again as the defense for Liverpool stiffened up, and with Charles Pride '18 hitting clutch shot after clutch shot, the Warriors were able to rally back and win the school's first ever Class AA NYSPHSAA State Championship by defeating the Thunderbirds, 71-65.
For nearly the entire first half of play the Warriors couldn't stop, contain, or manage Lewis in any sense of the definitions of those words. When Lewis wanted to beat his defenders going to the rim he did. When Lewis wanted to stop on a dime and nail shots from the outside he did. When Lewis wanted to catch and shoot from anywhere on the floor he did.
It was proving to be that easy for Lewis at the half as he scored 24 points and dished out 4 assists in the opening half of play to give Half Hollow Hills East a 37-30 lead.
As disappointing of a performance that Liverpool head coach Ryan Blackwell said he had seen out of his team in a half of play this season, he was upset with the way they defended, along with the fact he felt the Warriors were settling for too many contested shots in the halfcourt. Outside of Noah Issakainen '18 who hit on 3 of his 4 three-point attempts in the first half no one was really thriving from the perimeter which was hurting the Liverpool offense overall.
Liverpool though had trailed more than a handful of times at the half this season and found ways to rally back. They were 25-0 coming in for a reason and Pride said he felt as if the fact that Blackwell stayed calm and never lost his faith made the players keep the faith and stay the course as well.
"Our confidence was still high and it's all because of our coach like I told you yesterday," Pride explained. "He is always calm, and he was telling us how we were only down by 7 after playing about as bad a half as we had all season so that made us feel like we were in good shape."
To get back into the game though Blackwell said to his team that they had to be more aggressive going to the rim and had to mix things up more defensively. He was going to go between zone and man defenses more to give Lewis different looks, wanting to do anything to take him out of his rhythm.
Slowly but surely the defense of Liverpool really began to clasp down on Lewis, forcing him to take contested jumpers instead of getting through to lanes and creating his own spaces from the outside, and with Pride and Alan Willmes '18 able to score in traffic the Warriors would go on a late 3rd quarter run to see them take their first lead of the game at 48-47 with 2:40 left in the period.
Holding Lewis to just 2 points in the 3rd, Liverpool would take that 1-point lead going to the 4th quarter. Hills East did what they could with rising star Shamar Moore-Hough '19 coming off the bench to provide big shots, but Willmes would counter that with shots in the clutch of his own.
Scoring on a runner in the lane, and then on a short jumper on back to back possessions, Willmes gave Liverpool back the lead with 2:22 left in regulation, and the senior said that in that spot he was just trying to make sure he got good looks and not settle in the pressurized situation.
"I just tried to do whatever I could to get the job done. I didn't want to let my teammates down and the shots were available, so I took them," Willmes said about giving Liverpool back the lead.
Up 64-63 and with the crowd on its feet in the final minute, lead guard Kyle Butler '19 who hadn't scored a FG in the game up until this point hit a straightaway three to put the Warriors up 67-63. Lewis would push the tempo quickly and get 2 points back from the FT line to make it a 67-65 lead for Liverpool with the clock running down.
One stop would put Hills East in a position to tie or win the game they just needed to make a play on the defensive end. Pride though knew it was his time as with the ball in his hands and the shot clock running down he pulled up off the dribble and sank an elbow jumper with 17 seconds left to make it a 69-65 Liverpool lead. It was the biggest shot of Pride's young basketball life to date and he said in his mind leading up the shot he wasn't thinking about putting up the shot until he saw an opening.
"Honestly, we were looking for the best possible shot there and I was going to dump it off, but I saw their rotation slid over a bit, so I was open for the pull up and I took it and it went in," Pride said explaining his big shot.
Instead of calling a timeout the Thunderbirds pushed with Lewis looking to go coast to coast for a quick bucket, but his midrange jumper fell off the side of the iron. Naz Johnson '18, who was in foul trouble for a good portion of the game, corralled the rebound and was immediately fouled with 6 seconds left to play. The pro-Liverpool crowd was all on their feet at this point as Johnson sunk both his FT's to ice the game for good.
A last second shot was off for Hills East just before time expired as the Liverpool players soon stormed the court in jubilation as they achieved their goal from the start of the season in taking home the NYSPHSAA Class AA State Championship by defeating Half Hollow Hills East on Sunday afternoon, 71-65.
Led by Pride's 18 points, it was a true team display by Liverpool as Issakainen added 17 points, Willmes had 16 points, with Johnson chipping in with 12 points.
That's what it's been about all season long for the Warriors. It's always been the team first which is why Blackwell says it's been so special and an honor to coach what he considers an amazing group of young men.
"It's a team and that's really the special thing about it. These guys are so unselfish and haven't cared all year about what the stats say as long as we win," Blackwell stated.
While Liverpool got special efforts from near everyone on the roster, Hills East was paced by the 32 points of Lewis, though only 8 of them came after the second half as the Warriors did a superb job of limiting his good looks which totally changed the complexion of the game.
Defense wins championship in the eyes of Blackwell and it was the strong defense in the second half that allowed the Warriors to finish the season as NYSPHSAA champions. It's a special feeling that each of the Liverpool players admitted they will never forget with Willmes struggling to put it into words knowing that he will forever be known as a state champion.
"It's amazing," Willmes said with a huge smile. "I can't think of words right now except we worked hard all season for this and to see it come true is a great and special feeling."
