Christian Brothers Academy defeated Half Hollow Hills West, 71-53, to win Sunday's NYSPHSAA Class AA title game at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

Christian Brothers Academy players celebrate after winning the 2009-10 New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AA title over Half Hollow Hills West, 71-53. (Associated Press photo).

After the game, CBA senior Jack Reilly said it all when he said this: “There is no way on God's green earth that we would be able to do it unless we had coach Doemel as a coach,” said CBA senior center Jack Reilly. “He is, unarguably, one of the best coaches in the state. He can break down a team, as you can see, in one night.”

After CBA dispatched defending state champion Newburgh Free Academy in Saturday's Class AA semifinal by 18 points, the Brothers did it again against Half Hollow Hills West and New York State's 2010 Mr. Basketball, Tobias Harris.

The Brothers applied a zone rather than their typical man-to-man on Harris, holding the University of Tennessee-bound, 6-foot-9 senior power forward to eight points.

CBA's 'Big Three' – Galal Cancer (19 points, 11 rebounds), Kam Ritter (17 points) and Max Weaver (15 points) – led the way offensively for the Brothers. Ritter was named Tournament MVP and Cancer and Weaver were All-Tournament selections.

CBA senior Kam Ritter, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, drives around HHHW's Aaron McCree during Saturday's game. Ritter scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the championship victory.

One of the keys to CBA's success this season, aside from the Big Three's offensive dominance, was the large number of role players that contributed in all facets of the game.

Seniors Josh Dennis and Jack Reilly were starters and while they don't score many points, they do all the dirty work that allows players like Cancer, Ritter and Weaver to pile up the points.

“We're all known as the role players, so we just need to do to get the 'W'. It worked!” Dennis said. “We got the championship and everyone is happy. I don't even know how to explain it. It's crazy.”

Joe Krong scored five points Sunday, adding a three-point play that put the Brothers waaaay ahead in the third quarter. Christian Signor hit a three-pointer from the corner in the second quarter and Chaz Lott made six free throws in the fourth quarter.

CBA, in fact, shot 29-of-35 from the free throw line in the victory, a flawless fundamental performance.

Taylor Mulvey and Dan Cuasto are also players that have provided the Brothers big sparks off the bench on their run to a state title.

Reilly, who will play lacrosse at Johns Hopkins University next year, returned to basketball after a two-year hiatus. His presence in the post really helped the Brothers survive the loss of Andy Stire, who was the Section II Class AA tournament a season ago.

"The guys over the last two years have been busting my chops a little bit about not playing," Reilly said. "If you were to tell me we were going to win a state title on the first day of practice, I probably would have laughed. But over time, we started playing ball and we started playing together as a team and we started thinking to ourselves that maybe we have a shot. We started taking things more seriously. We started practicing a little harder at the end of the season."

Check out Monday's edition of The Record for the full story.
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The season isn't over yet for the Brothers, who are headed to the Federation Tournament of Champions this weekend in Glens Falls.

They'll face New York City's Christ the King, which won the CHSAA title.

Here's a little reading material on the Christ the King team.

Here is the final CHSAA poll from the New York Post.

In fact, both the boys and girls teams from Christ the King will be heading up to Glens Falls this weekend. The Post had an interesting feature on that storyline here.

Christ the King won the City Catholic championship in triple overtime fashion. For the full story on that game, click here.
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Federation Tournament of Champions Schedule

All games at Glens Falls Civic Center

Friday March, 26

BOYS BASKETBALL
Class B
(PHSAA) Westhill - Syracuse vs. (PSAL) Queens HS of Teaching (30-0), 3:15 p.m.
(AISAA) Colegiate - NYC (25-4) vs. (CHSAA) St. Mary's - Lancaster (18-9), 5 p.m.
Class A
(PHSAA) Jamesville Dewitt vs. (PSAL) Bedford Academy (25-5), 6:45 p.m.
(CHSAA) Nichols - Buffalo (22-7) vs. (AISAA) Long Island Lutheran (20-7), 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 27

Class AA
(PHSAA) CBA-Albany vs. (CHSAA) Christ the King - Queens (24-5), 3:45 p.m.
Class B Championship, 5:45 p.m.
Class A Championship, 7:30 pm

Sunday, March 28

Class AA Championship, 3 p.m.
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2010 NYSPHSAA Class AA boys basketball All-Tournament team

Jonathan Ivy, Sr., Rochester East
Tobias Harris, Sr., Half Hollow Hills West
Tavan Sledge, Jr., Half Hollow Hills West
Max Weaver, Jr., Christian Brothers Academy
Galal Cancer, Jr., Christian Brothers Academy
MVP – Kam Ritter, Sr., Christian Brothers Academy

2010 NYSPHSAA Class A boys basketball All-Tournament team

Sheldon Hagial, Jr., Westbury
Spencer Dalzell, Sr., Red Hook
Ben Holt, Sr., Newark
Javon McCrea, Sr., Newark
Lamar Kearse, Sr., Jamesville-Dewitt
MVP – Dajuan Coleman, Soph., Jamesville-Dewitt