Undefeated Glens Falls wins state title in front of hometown crowd

By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer

Many local hoops fans and community members are disappointed and even angry that Glens Falls is losing the state high school basketball tournament to Binghamton after this year, but it’s hard to imagine a better way to send off the event than what the Glens Falls High School Black Bears did in the packed Cool Insuring Arena on Saturday night.

Showing poise under pressure against an athletic opponent with plenty of height, Glens Falls triumphed over Wayne Central School 50-37 to put the finishing touches on a remarkable 27-0 season and capture the program’s second state title. It’s the first time Glens Falls has won it all at home.

“They amaze me every time they step on the court,” Glens Falls coach Rob Girard said. “I thought Wayne had some weapons that were going to give us real trouble. Not that they didn’t, but Kellen Driscoll and Aiden Prunty shut down their two best players. We didn’t shoot it all that well in the first half, but I thought our defense was unbelievable.”

Glens Falls led 20-12 at halftime, a far cry from the Black Bear’s run and gun rout of Maine-Endwell in the semifinals, 91-46.

Against Wayne, the Black Bears’ offense finally took off in the third quarter, giving Glens Falls a 40-19 cushion going into the final frame.

“It started off with defense,” junior Brody Holcomb said. “All season, if our defense is going, then our offense is eventually going to get going.”

That offense was led by Tournament MVP Driscoll, who scored 15 points, including his team’s first nine. Junior Oscar Lilac had 14 points and Holcomb had 12. Prunty, an eighth grader, chipped in for nine, and senior big man Cooper Nadler grabbed nine rebounds.

“They wanted it to be a low scoring game,” Girard said of Wayne. “They had won a game this year 34-30. We knew that they wanted to keep the scoring down. They were able to do that to us, but we were able to do it worse to them.”

Holcomb said the key to achieving a perfect season was “just staying with each other. Everyone’s going to have their runs but you have to just weather it and play your game.”

Driscoll said, “We just took it game by game. We worked all year for this and we knew we could do it. It’s a surreal feeling. Winning this in front of the home crowd and being an undefeated team is great.”

Prunty echoed the one game at a time mentality that Glens Falls exhibited all season. “We didn’t look ahead of ourselves,” the eighth grade starter said. “We were humble, and we came ready and prepared.”

The scary thing for the rest of Class A is that Glens Falls will only graduate one senior, Nadler, from its undefeated championship squad. And Prunty is already putting future opponents on notice.

“We’re going to celebrate the ring, but next year we’re going to get right back to work,” he said. “We’re going to get back. It doesn’t stop.”

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