BY MICHAEL J. LEWIS
The noise on the white North Fork Express bus as it rolled down the New York State Thruway Sunday evening was boisterous, as could be expected when filled with a group of teenage boys.
But this vehicle wasn’t carrying just any teens. This was a group of fresh-faced Manhasset High School athletes who had just made history. History that was four decades in the making.
A few hours after winning the Class A state championship at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls on Sunday, 62-51 over New Hartford, the Indians were on their way back after accomplishing what only they thought possible six months ago.
They were champions. The first basketball titleholders at their school since before the Internet was a thing, before anyone had ever heard of LeBron James or Tom Brady, and during Ronald Reagan’s second term.
Not since 1986 has Manhasset had state basketball champs. And now on the bus, 75-year-old head coach George Bruns and his assistant, Stu Goldman, looked at each other in disbelief.
“We were just sitting here saying to each other ‘did that really just happen this weekend?'” Bruns said by phone, as his team chatted away in the background. “This was my 20th year coaching here, and this could be the most talented team I’ve had. But still, you never can expect this to happen.”
Nearby, senior Mike Notias, whose defense on New Hartford star Zach Philipkoski was a major key to Sunday’s win, couldn’t decide if he was more elated or sad.
“It’s an amazing feeling, to win like this, but I’m a little sad we have no more games with this group,” he said. “We had such a special year, nobody got hurt, everybody liked each other, I kind of hate to see it end.”
But if it had to end, it certainly ended with a bang. After winning the Long Island championship by beating Kings Park on March 12, Manhasset (25-1) headed to Glens Falls knowing it wanted to finish the job started by the 2019 team, which lost in the state semis.
Saturday it was Liam Connor, the team’s leading scorer, powering the way to victory over Poughkeepsie, pumping in 29 points and making 11 rebounds in the 69-55 win. But as always with this team, Connor had help, from Mike and his brother James Notias, from Liam Buckley, and everyone else who played.
“One of the biggest keys this season was our kids were focused, and they were good learners,” Bruns said. “When you have a team that wants to learn, and get better every day, it makes it much easier as a coach. And this group, all of them, let the coaches mold them and become even better.”
Sunday against New Hartford, Manhasset struggled a little in the opening half but still had a six-point lead at the break.
Then Liam Buckley took over, scoring six of his 19 points in the third quarter, while Connor and the Notias brothers added to the offense, and a 13-point lead at the end of the third quarter meant the celebration was near.
When it was over, and the Manhasset fans who went by bus the 3.5 hours to the Adirondacks to see their team compete were still screaming, and the photos of deliriously happy players were taken, it was time to celebrate.
“Once that buzzer sounded, I jumped as high as I could in the air,” Buckley said. “When we had a big lead one of the refs asked me ‘are you happy yet?’ And I told him “No, I’ll be happy when it’s over and we’ve won. So now I’m happy.”
“From the start we knew we had something special, just trust the process and put the work in,” Connor added. “And to sit there the last few minutes, knowing we were about to win the state championship we’ve been dreaming about, and be here now going home to our community … it’s the greatest feeling in the world.”
