By PAUL GOTHAM
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — One year later, the result was the same. The means changed.
Matthew Medeiros scored all 12 of his points from behind the 3-point arc during a feverish late rally, but the Northstar Christian Knights could not erase a double-digit deficit and fell to the the Lake George Warriors, 66-65 in the NYSPHSAA Class C championship game at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena, Saturday night.
Trailing by as many as 18 points early in the third quarter, Northstar rallied to make it a single-possession game at 62-59 with 1:37 remaining in the contest.
Medeiros connected on back-to-back triples to highlight a 13-2 run. His fourth three ball of the night cut the deficit to two with :13 remaining in the game.
“Last year he did not shoot well,” Northstar coach JJ Garwood said referring his senior guard. “He was just determined. He wasn’t going to let it happen again, and he didn’t. He hit some huge shots that cut into the deficit and even make it a game at the end. More than that he played great defense. He was the heart and soul of our team. He’s going to be missed.”
But the Knights could not overcome the balanced attack of Lake George (28-0).
Tournament MVP Chris Becker scored all of 12 of his points in the paint on 6-of-12 shooting to go with a game-high 12 rebounds.
Caleb Scrime hit four of eight behind the arc and finished with a team-high 20 points. As a team, Lake George drained 8 of 17 from long range in the first half and 9 of 22 for the game.
“They are a terrific team,” Garwood said. “They feed the ball down low. Their big man finished. When he was doubled, he’d kick it out to the shooters. Terrific team. Wonderfully coached. That’s the reason they’re state champs right now.”
Mason Flatley, Nick Hoffis and Alex Jones all connected from long range late in the second quarter, and Northstar Christian went into the locker room with its largest halftime deficit of the season at 40-25.
“Wish we would have gotten out on the shooters a little sooner in that first half,” Garwood said. “We wanted to eliminate that.”
Miles Brown scored two of his game-high 25 on a pull-up jumper to trim the margin to single digits for the first time in the second half at 60-51.
“We pressured full court to get back in the game, to speed it up,” Garwood explained. “Trying to put as much pressure on them as possible. We thought they’d be less effective putting the ball on the ground.”
Brown connected on 9 of 16 shots from the floor.
Tray Roberts added 13 points for the Knights.
Flatley had 15 points and seven assists for Lake George. Jones, who joined Becker on the All-Tournament team, had 13 points.
Brown and Medeiros represented Northstar on the All-Tournament team.
Jaxan Swann (Greenport) and Joe Crawford (Tully) rounded out the individual honors.
Northstar (26-2) had won 21 straight coming into the contest.
Lake George defeated Northstar in the 2017 Class C semi-finals, 65-49.
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