For the first time, the Central boys team can say that they are the champions of the Summer Hoops Festival, which is sponsored by the Basketball Coaches Association of New York.
Central, directed by the philosophies of head coach Jason Dudzinski, went an undefeated 6-0 in their run in Johnson City and received important and game-changing contributions from a variety of their guys.
When it was official and they had won the championship game, Dudzinski spoke with Syracuse.com’s Nolan Weidner and said, “They were just so unselfish. We shot the heck out of it, and we rebounded like crazy.”
And that had a direct impact on the game. Central defeated Buffalo 95-58, which was the second time they beat them in the tournament.
With five seconds left in the first half, Central was ahead by 12. But, by the time the buzzer sounded, Buddy Boeheim had released the shot that gave Dudzinski a 15-point lead to work with from just in front of the half-court line.
From there, eventually winning the game, Central stuck to their gameplan and remembered all of the things that got them there in resilience and teamwork.
Dudzinski said that the mindset that they brought allowed them to get the championship win, especially without Liverpool’s star, Charles Pride, who went home sick, and pointed out that the confidence was installed in the team through players like Mika Adams-Woods of Bishop Ludden and Symir Torrence.
After the game, the head coach said, “Mika did a great job of running the team today, and Symir was huge in place of Charles,” per Weidner.
When all was said and done in the win over Hudson Valley that allowed them to advance to the championship game, Boeheim recorded 25 points and Dudzinski told Weidner that Adams-Woods and New Hartford’s Frankie Policelli were vital to the success of Central.
Boeheim also scored 25 in Central’s second game, when they beat Mid-Hudson 84-61.
As Dudzinski pointed out, Torrence replaced Pride in the semifinals and the championship game and made the most of his opportunity.
That’s the defining idea for this team. There’s no weak link on Central. There are threats all over the floor at all times. When adversity struck, the guys just stayed glued together. They, once again, allowed teamwork to be their biggest asset.
In the first win over Buffalo, it was the same story. They won by 26. Every one of their players scored. Four got into double-figures. And then they hit 11 three-pointers as a team.
Balanced scoring was something that they took from the third game of the tournament, when Torrence and Boeheim both scored 18 as they beat Adirondack 98-64 and Pride and Policelli scored 16 and 13, respectively.
But, as Dudzinski says, they are a team. They reminded spectators of that the moment they stepped on the court for the first game, which was against Catholic High Schools of New York.
In that 83-54 win, 11 players scored for Central and four made it to double-digits. Midway through the first half, they scored 20 straight points as a unit. Pride led the way with 15, Adams-Woods and Tyler Bertram of Cooperstown scored 12 apiece and Boeheim added ten.
Dudzinski, who coaches the varsity team at Fayetteville-Manlius, was assisted by Jesse Long of Corcoran, Jeff Robbins of Sackets Harbor, Onondaga Community College’s Erik Saroney, and David Bertram of Cooperstown. F-M’s junior varsity coach, Zaire Coore, helped out as well.