Above: The triumphant girls' Livingston Manor basketball team, which beat Roscoe 53 - 31 last night at Sullivan County Community College to win the Section Nine Class D championship. Photo by Nick Piatek - SportsInsightsNY.com.
It's March Madness for high schools across the Catskills. This week, varsity teams across the region played their sectional championship games, and two high schools -- South Kortright in Section Four and Livingston Manor in Section Nine -- won it all.
South Kortright has a formiddable basketball program, and over the weekend both of its teams became Section Four Class D champions. The SK boys' team beat Hunter-Tannersville 46 - 35 at the Broome County Arena in Binghamton, according to Section4Hoops.com and the Daily Star. South Kortright's girls did just as well, winning over Worcester 44 - 38, according to the Daily Star.
In Section Nine, on the eastern end of the Catskills, Livingston Manor was playing out a similar story. Richard Ross, who covers Sullivan County sports for his website SportsInsightNY.com, reports today that both Manor teams became champs this week.
Livingston Manor's girls' team beat Roscoe 53 - 31 last night at Sullivan County Community College, and the boys' team bested John A. Coleman Catholic on Saturday 70 - 52 at SUNY New Paltz.
Ross writes today that both wins were a huge rush to witness. The win was the Manor girls' first championship since 1999. But the boys' win is especially sweet, because it's an historic first championship for the team:
In my days at Livingston Manor, there were rich years and lean ones in boys basketball. The finest team of the era, a 1988 squad lost a Section Nine heartbreaker to Sugar Loaf which was armed with the talented and huge Scott Nesbitt. Subsequent years brought players who could tally large numbers of points, but the glory eluded the boys teams. Even a winless season stood out as an ignominious reminder of the shortfall.
But all of that changed with Manor’s win over Coleman this year. Now, enshrined in the school’s athletic history, side by side with the boys baseball state championship in the spring of 2011, this will serve as a reminder of what finally came to pass and serve as a beacon of light for those who will follow in years to come about what is possible when a team marshals its will and devotes itself to a unified purpose.
Basketball season isn't over yet. Quarterfinals and semifinals are still to come.
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