Will Pagano scored a team-high 18 points for Collegiate. (Damion Reid)
GLENS FALLS — With 56.0 seconds remaining and Collegiate’s third consecutive New York State Federation Class B crown sewn up, Ray Voelkel pulled his three seniors Will Bartlett, Will Pagano and Brendan Harvey. It was an emotional moment for the triumvirate, the three having played alongside one another for a decade, first on the AAU level and then at Collegiate.
“It was weird,” Pagano said. “After tonight we’re not gonna be together anymore.”
The three will always have these last three years together atop the state.
They went out champions, all significantly contributing to the Dutchmen’s commanding 61-41 victory over Queens HS of Teaching at the Glens Falls Civic Center, improving their record in the old hockey arena to 6-0 and becoming the first boys team in any classification to three-peat.
“Tremenedous, that kind of speaks for itself,” Bartlett said. “We got two already and I guess we’re gonna have to make room for a third. It will be special to go back to [Collegiate] and see a game, see the banners up there and the numbers and look up with pride.”
Bartlett’s career will continue at Yale, but Harvey and Pagano may have played their last days of organized basketball, depending on where the two end up.
“This might be the end of basketball for me,” Pagano said, choking back tears. “It couldn’t have gone any better.”
He saved his best for last, scoring a game-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. Bartlett, the tournament MVP a second straight year, followed with 15 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Ryan Frankel added nine points, Tommy Vance and Connor Huff each tallied six, and Harvey had three points, but also six rebounds.
Voelkel raved about the balanced scoring afterwards. Pagano and Bartlett, he said, could be 30-poitn scorers, but there are so many other weapons, the two sacrifice for the better of the team. The same applies to the others, like Huff and Frankel, a transfer from Horace Mann. It is that characteristic that has separated the Dutchmen from the pack, Voelkel said, which has enabled them to win three consecutive state crowns.
Collegiate (25-5) relied on that depth all season. It had to play this tournament without star junior Sam Bresnick, who tore his ACL in a scrimmage with Long Island Lutheran and Christ the King on Monday, was without Harvey (broken leg) for the first half of the year.
“They play like a real team,” the coach said. “There’s no egos.” ,
Voelkel didn’t single anyone out, but he could’ve been referring to Pagano, his do-it-all pioint guard. He has given up lofty statistics for the betterment of the team. When the Dutchmen need him most, especially up in Glens Falls, he’s been at his best. On Saturday, he scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, making sure Queens HS of Teaching (31-1) couldn’t climb out of a 13-point deficit.
“Will Pagano for three years could’ve been the tournament MVP,” Voelkel said. “He really steps up in this situation.”
In a way, Collegiate’s three-year reign came full circle. The Dutchmen first got upstate in 2008 by knocking off undefeated Poly Prep in the NYSAISAA title game. They clinched the third state title by handing Queens HS of Teaching its final loss.
“It was the only way it could end,” Bartlett said. “We got a team of winners.”
