Penfield boys basketball is atop the state. The Patriots took down Section II’s Amsterdam, 62-54, to win their first-ever NYSPHSAA Championship.
With tears filling his eyes, Penfield head coach Jason Ellis went down the line, hugging each and everyone his players. The Patriots were putting on their yellow “NYSPHSAA Champion” shirts as the PA announcer rattled off Penfield’s roster, congratulating them on their win. At the moment, looking at the weekend in hindsight, the win almost felt inevitable.
“We always knew we were going to win today,” Ellis said after the game. “We just didn’t realize it was going to be in such a fist fight fashion. We talked about yesterday the value of the close battles that you had all year.”
But any point during the weekend in Binghamton, where the NYSPHSAA semifinals and finals took place, it seemed like a coin flip’s chance that the Pats would come out on top, at least from the perspective of someone not on the bench.
With the clock reading 1:44 left in regulation, the score sat tied at 54. CJ Johnson was then the recipient of a pass at the top of the key, whipping his body toward the free throw line and turning his defender off-balance. As the Amsterdam guard caught up, Johnson used his momentum against him, stopping on a dime and elevating for a midrange jumper, just inside the paint. The ball hit the backiron and thanks to Johnson’s soft-touch, bounced in for two, giving Penfield a 56-54 lead, one they’d never give up. The win was sealed just minutes later when Johnson was sent to the line and hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead to four.
“Just stay calm, realize that, you know, I work on these moments,” Johnson said. “Just trust my work, I practice those type of shots, gotta stay poised in those type of moments.”
That shot was just one of about a dozen big-time shots by Penfield on a Saturday night in Binghamton–Ryan Savino hit a diving layup through contact that put Penfield up two midway through the fourth quarter, right after that, Jackson Green drove through the meat of the defense and hit a reverse lay-in as he fell to the ground, and the Pats hit six free throws down the stretch to seal the deal.
But the first “big shot” wasn’t in the fourth quarter, but in the penultimate frame. Trailing by four as the third quarter neared its end, Jackson Green corralled a long rebound all the way out to the three-point line. The junior pump faked, got one defender in the air, and then took off. At one point, there were four Amsterdam defenders in front of Green, the pump fake lost one, his first step put another defender on the floor and as he raced to the bucket, the third was left in the dust. Green got to the rack, switched hands midair around the final Running Ram and made a strenuous layup look easy.
“I mean, we are getting beat up physically, we were losing on the scoreboard,” Ellis said. “Jackson Green was M.V.P. of the tournament for a very, very good reason.”
Green’s M.V.P. performance continued on the next possession and the final shot of the third quarter. Jake McCarthy hauled in a rebound with less than thirty seconds left in the period, handing it to Green who took it up the court. As the Pats waited out the clock, Green went to Johnson on the right elbow and proceeded to make a b-line to the same side’s corner. CJ gave the ball right back to Jackson who jabbed right before a step-back dribble created space and enough room to throw up a three-pointer. The shot tucked right inside the back-iron and caught nothing, but nylon as time expired in the quarter and the Patriots took a 43-42 lead.
“I mean, my team needed a shot,” Green said. “We were down two so I just took the shot. My coach trusted me, I trusted in myself. I know I practice that shot every day, so I take it.”
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, no less than Green, that either shot went in.
“Every time I shoot, I know it’s going in,” Green said.
The junior is one-third of Penfield’s triumvirate of star juniors, but against Amsterdam, Green’s game had no peers–26 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, on 83 percent shooting from the field. One day prior, in the semifinal game against Seton Catholic Central, Green scored 19 points on 8/10 shooting while corralling nine boards. In that game, CJ Johnson led the way with 24. Admittedly, nothing is guaranteed in high school basketball these days, but with Penfield graduating just two seniors, there’s a safe bet to be made that the Patriots will be in contention again next year.
“Feels great, first time in history won’t be the last,” Johnson said.
The Pats finished the regular season with a 19-1 record with their lone loss coming to Fairport, the two teams split their season series.
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