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Sports

Blind Brook's Road to the Championship

Rye Patch takes an inside look at the Blind Brook boys basketball season and travels with the team as they head to another pivotal game

The Blind Brook boys basketball team won the Section One Class C championship on Monday March 1 to advance to the regional semi-final game against the No. 14 seed Seward Institute Spartans.

Rye Patch accompanied the team on the bus trip to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie to play the Spartans. Here's our story on the Trojans' road to the championship.

Ready to Play

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It's just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday and the Blind Brook Trojans are loose and relaxed as they prepare to board a bus for an hour-long ride to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie.

Trojans Coach Mike Welsh gives a little pep talk to players as they file on the bus for a lengthy journey to continue their successful season, which has seen highlights such as the team overthrowing the No. 1 seed Valhalla Vikings to win the Class C Championship last week.

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"Let's be sure that when we get there we are ready to play," Welsh tells players.

Sophomore forward Antoine Saliba, a force for the Trojans all season, who, along with Brent Lavitt, was vital in leading Blind Brook into the playoffs, sat near the front of the bus focused on the team's upcoming game.

Junior Forward Robert Winston is across from him. The team's only freshman, Sam Adler, is also at the front of the bus, readying himself for another game that will allow him to gain the valuable varsity experience he's been getting all season. Junior Michael Epstein and senior Troy Dubrowsky sported big headphones, while junior Evan Heib sat on the right side of the bus, getting as much math homework out of the way as he could before the start of the game.

The mood on the bus is quiet at first, but junior Bradley Benson is very outgoing, discussing a range of topics from music to video games. Typical of a teenage boy, his favorites are Call of Duty— a game that simulates World War II battles—and Modern Warfare on Xbox Live, a recent incarnation of the same game.

But the inevitable comes up, when Bryan Silverman, a junior and forward on the team, asks Benson about an upcoming quiz, throwing him off guard and serving as a reminder of the difficult juggling act facing many of these student-athletes.

"Bryan please don't talk about that quiz," Benson says. 

In addition to video games, the team loves adrenaline-pumping music from the likes of Lil' Wayne and Audioslave. Wayne's "I'm Goin In' featuring Drake and Audioslave's "Be Yourself" are some favorites. 

For Benson, Lil' Wayne's "I Made It" is an anthem, a fact that causes Coach Welsh to poke a little fun at his player.

"You like that song," Welsh tells him with a big grin." "You're always singing it."  

"Oh yea, I do like that song," Benson responds, but admits to never being able to remember song titles, even though he starts humming them during some off-key moments.

"When I eat," he says. "I starting humming songs."

As the bus heads up Interstate 684, players munch on snacks, such Clif Bars and Linden chocolate chip cookies, to give them energy—or a sugar rush—before game time.

Senior Michael Tomasula, also a crucial piece to the team's success, owned the back left seat of the bus, kneeling on one knee. You couldn't tell whether he was nervous about playing in one of the final basketball games of his high school career.  

Class C Championship game MVP Lance Freundlich sat in front of Tomasula, quiet and focused on the task at hand. Junior Brent Lavitt, who has made big contributions for the Trojans throughout the season, listened to his headphones and jammed to his favorite tunes.

Welsh sat up front with an iPod of his own, giving the team their space.

But players didn't return the favor, calling on their coach multiple times during the nearly 65-mile trip.

There were several curious and antsy inquiries of "Are we almost there?" The players are told it'll be another half an hour, but for them, it seems like a lot longer.

Some time lapsed and the team grew quiet again, but it was only a matter of time before chatter picked up as the bus pulled off Interstate 84 from Interstate 684 and onto Route 9, headed to Vassar College.

Preparing for Tip-Off

With the Spartans nowhere in sight, the Trojans were the first team to arrive at Vassar's Athletic and Fitness Center. It's 3:30 p.m., an hour and a half before tip-off and the team heads to the locker room to drop off their bags.

The extra time allows some players to survey their surroundings, while others try to finish more homework.  

After remaining loose and relaxed in the gym, Welsh gave the cue for the team's next move.

"Let's go get dressed," he said.

And with that, the Trojans headed out of the gym through a set of double doors, veering left toward the locker room.

The team, outfitted in their red, white and blue uniforms, returned to the court minutes later to prepare for warm-ups and the start of the game.

Game Time

The game didn't begin as planned for the Trojans.

Blind Brook trailed 15-8 at the end of the first quarter.

"We were just very tentative," Welsh said after the game.

The majority of Blind Brook's shots came from outside the arc, which was troublesome for the Trojans.

"We didn't get shots that we wanted," Welsh said.

The Trojans didn't fare any better in the second quarter, with the Spartans leading 23-16 heading into the half.

After a zone defense didn't work out too well, Welsh switched the Trojan defense to a full-court man- to-man press. 

Coming out of the half, Antoine Saliba helped the Trojans tremendously in the third with a stellar performance on the defensive end.

"Antoine Saliba was a beast in the third quarter," said fellow teammate Michael Tomasula. "He swatted everything."

"It comes down to defense," Saliba said. "We attacked the rim."

The Trojans' strategy was to get the ball inside to Lance Freundlich and Antoine Saliba.

"I think that we really made an effort to get the ball to Lance and Antoine," Welsh said. "We didn't do a good job of doing that in the first half."

This strategy worked in the second half, as Freundlich tallied 12 of his 16 points after intermission. 

"We felt we had a real size advantage," Welsh said.

The Trojans recovered to take the lead, 27-25, with under two minutes to play in the quarter. This led to a four-point 32-28 lead heading into the fourth.

S.S. Seward would cut the lead down to two, but the Trojans would not succumb despite several leads and ties. 

With the lead in their favor, 40-38, the Trojans called a timeout before the final few plays of the night. Clutch free throw shooting in the last minute of play capped a very successful Trojan run, giving the team the 46-38 win.

The Return

After their victory, a tired but happy Trojan squad boarded the bus at 7:00 p.m. to head back to Blind Brook High School.

Players made themselves comfortable in the same seats they sat in on the way up.

One of the key characteristics to the Trojans' success is their team dynamic.

"We work really hard [and] we're really loose, so that helps," Tomasula said.

"We have a lot of chemistry," added Jonathan DiCanio.

Many of the players are also on the Blind Brook football team during the fall sports season, which adds to the closeness and chemistry of the team.

Everything the Trojans do is team-oriented to improve their game. Players participate in basketball camps, including an annual camp at St. Joseph's University in Pennsylvania. The team also participates in Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) leagues and spring basketball leagues.

Players also spend a lot of time with each other off the court, frequently socializing at each other's homes for dinner, going to the movies to see favorites such as Kung Fu Panda or the Hangover, and playing mini ping-pong tournaments against one another.

"We love ping-pong," Tomasula said.

But playing sports during most of the school year and dealing with a full coarse load often doesn't leave enough time to enjoy typical teenage activities.

As the team bus rolls back into the Blind Brook High School parking lot, it's close to 8:30 p.m. Some players, such as Evan Lieb, have dozed off on the dark bus.

But it won't be long before the Trojans are back on the court for a 3:15 p.m. afternoon practice the next day followed by the regional final on Friday at Pace Unversity's Goldstein Center.

Even though the game is a couple days away, fan support is always in the back of Welsh's mind.

"Talk to people, let's get a big crowd Friday," he tells players before the team parts ways for the night.

Players then hop into cars that will bring them home to finish homework or to rest for another day in the life of a student-athlete. 

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