CBA shredded highly regarded opponent easily to capture championship
CBA player Galal Cancer puts up a shot and helped his team to victory with a total of 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Sunday, March 21st, at Glens Falls Civic Center, Doemel coached his CBA boys’ basketball team against the state’s top-ranked team, Half Hallow Hills West. The Brothers sure displayed dedication, determination and desire in executing another brilliant game plan drawn up by Doemel and did something no other CBA squad had ever done before in the process — win a state basketball championship.
For the second straight day, CBA shredded a highly regarded opponent easily to capture the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AA championship with a remarkable 71-53 victory over the Colts.
Joshua Dennis, left, and Zach Zaloga, right, escort Brother Aloysius Myers to the court to join a team group picture as they celebrate.
“I feel I can speak for the entire team when I say it feels good to be the first team to put that banner on the wall,” CBA junior point guard Galal Cancer said. “It feels good, and it is going to be with us forever.”
The second-ranked Brothers (25-1) not only handed the Colts (23-2) their first ‘on-court’ loss this season (the other came via forfeit), they did so quite impressively. The much smaller Section II champions outrebounded Half Hollow Hills West 49-28 and were never seriously threatened in the second half.
“If you had told me that we would win the state title after the first day of practice, I probably would have laughed,” CBA senior center Jack Reilly said. “Over time playing together, we started to think, ‘Hey, maybe we have a shot.’ We started practicing a little harder as the end of the season came along.”
CBA posed for a team picture and basked in the glory of a completed mission. “It feels awesome. There is no way in God’s green earth that we would have done this without Coach Doemel,” Reilly said.
Celebrating their victory, Tournament MVP Kameron Ritter holds the plaque at center, along with Jack Reilly, far left.
adapted from artcile written by:
JAMES ALLEN, Staff writer, Albany Times Union