It was a great season.......

I'm not a gambling man, but I'm willing to at least guess that not a lot of folks believed Troy High's boys' basketball team could go as far as they did this season.

The season ended for the Flying Horses this afternoon in Glens Falls in the New York Public High School Athletic Association (NYPSHAA) Class A title game, losing to Elmont Memorial, 57-43. Troy had a 3 point lead after the first period, 17-14, but could only muster 26 points the rest of the way as Elmont took control in the second period and pulled away. Daniel Buie & Jack McLaren led Troy with 13 points each.

It can be argued that fatigue might've been a deciding factor. Troy was playing its 2nd game in less than 36 hours, after destroying Williamsville-South, 78-39, Saturday morning. Nearly 28 hours later, they were accepting the silver medals as the runners-up in Class A. As it was, the Flying Horses were the last Section 2 team playing, and that itself was remarkable. Shenendehowa, the state's top ranked men's AA team, were upset in overtime by Aquinas on Saturday. The Lady Plainsmen also fell, as did Class B men's champ Hudson, on Saturday. Entering play today, Troy was Section 2's last hope for a state title, but, alas, it just wasn't meant to be.

To think that 3 1/2 months ago, Troy lost their Suburban Council opener to Colonie. Then, they ran roughshod over the Grey division en route to winning the title. It's a pity the league didn't have time or room on the schedule for a overall league championship game that would've been a rematch between Troy & Shen from January 29, as Troy was the only team to lose to Shen by less than 10 points in league play. After losing the league finale to CBA, Troy ran off five straight wins before losing today. Credit Elmont Memorial with making defensive adjustments in the second period, and keeping Troy off balance the rest of the afternoon.

Up until today, no one had heard of Elmont Memorial, which, like Troy, was looking for its first State title. Most of us know of the city of Elmont as home to Belmont Park, site of the Belmont Stakes every June. Now, the city has something else to be proud of.

The upside for Troy is that they will have their starting backcourt of Buie and Ryan Carmello back next year, and should see some fresh blood promoted from the JV. Now, baseball season awaits........