The Hudson Valley basketball team may have only had four days of practice heading into the BCANY Summer Hoops Fest last weekend, but judging by the way the local hoops squad handled itself last weekend, you never would have known it.
Facing off against the top competition from all around New York State, the Hudson Valley team stormed through the gauntlet, going a perfect 6-0 to capture the Hoops Fest title.
Head Coach Tyrone Carver—who has helmed the team in each of its last four trips to Johnson City—said that it was apparent from the very first practice that this team possessed both the ability and the maturity to handle the grueling six-game tournament.
“The players came in the the right mindset, putting their egos aside and doing what was best for the team,” said Carver. “We had four practices and by the time we were done, I was very confident that we had a system in place and comfortable in our ability to execute that style of play.”
The team rumbled through the opening round, beating Southern Tier 73-66 in the tournament opener on Aug. 5 before turning on the jets in their three Saturday games. On Saturday, the Hudson Valley team topped Buffalo (84-41), Rochester (76-57) and Mid Hudson (83-67) to advance to the semifinal round game against Central on Sunday morning.
That semifinal round game against the undefeated Central was the Hudson Valley’s toughest test, but one that they passed with flying colors, beating Central 85-71 behind 23 points from Mount Vernon standouts Dylan Colon and Elijah Morris and 21 points from Mamaroneck’s Aidan Roy.
“It was weird that the tournament had us slated to go against another 4-0 team in the semifinals,” said Carver. “They were a formidable team but it was just an awesome game for us defensively.”
In the finals, Hudson Valley routed the Capital region team 85-55, getting 18 points from Panas guard Alex Tavarez to bring home the gold medal.
Carver said that he knew his team was coming into the tournament somewhat undersized, but knew that the play of his talented backcourt could create matchup problems for the rest of the teams in the competition.
“Our guard play was solid, with Morris and Colon from Mount Vernon; Aidan played really well and those guys, along with Alex Tavarez really spearheaded our guard attack,” said Carver. “When we shot the ball well, we won pretty handily and when we didn’t, we were jut able to grind it out.”
Hudson Valley’s girls also competed in the tournament, posting a 1-3 record but finishing out the event on Saturday with a 69-61 victory over North Country. The tournament win was the first for a Hudson Valley boys team since 2014, something that Carver admitted made the entire experience even sweeter.
“For me as a coach, this first time in four years that we’ve been able to win the entire thing,” he said. “But it’s special because we had a great group of guys that were committed to do this and do it well. And it was great to be able to share this with one of my players in Aidan.”
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