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The Bronxville Boys’ Basketball Team Wins Section I Championship After 40-year Drought

By S. Q Dejoy and J. Murrer

March 9, 2022: The Broncos celebrate the Sectional Championship after defeating Briarcliff on Saturday. Photo by J. Murrer.

Bronxville High School has some new hardware to add to its trophy case. On Saturday in the Class B Sectional Championship game, the Bronxville boys’ basketball team won the Gold Ball with a 66-49 win over Briarcliff.  This year’s team will go down in the Bronxville record books as it is the first sectional win for the varsity basketball team in 40 years. 

The 2022 Gold Ball sits right beside the 1982 Gold Ball in the high school trophy case. Photo courtesy of @KathyRu10041525.

The Broncos received the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, but there were some very talented teams close behind with Briarcliff at No. 2 and Hastings and Edgemont in the next two spots. The sectional semifinal contests pitted Bronxville against Edgemont and Briarcliff against Hastings in what turned out to be some electrifying basketball.

In the semifinal game last Wednesday against Edgemont, the Broncos were up 24-19 at half, but the Panthers came back in the third quarter to tie it up. In the fourth quarter, the scoring was back-and-forth, and both teams were feeling the pressure.

“It looked bleak for a moment,” said Co-captain Jack Hershberg.  “We called a time out and dug deep defensively. We made a couple of stops that allowed our offense to score and force overtime.”  

At the start of overtime Conor O’Neil scored twice, giving the Broncos the momentum they needed.  Edgemont was able to respond, Kelty scored the go ahead basket, and Teddy Dolan’s big steal in Edgemont’s last offensive play sealed the victory.  He was fouled in the last seconds of the game and added two more points for the Broncos.

Briarcliff also had an intense semifinal game. The Bears were down 16 in the second half against Hastings but came back to defeat the Yellowjackets 51-50 in the last two seconds of the game.

Finn Ruhanen (3) cheers with the fans who supported the Broncos in the home semifinal game against Edgemont.  Photo by @walkerliggitt.photography.

For the Sectional final, the stands were packed at Yorktown High School with more fans than either Bronxville or Briarcliff had seen or heard in the past two years. Having played in high-pressure semifinal games, both teams were hungry for a championship win.

“We came out hot,” said Hershberg. “Sean McGrath scored 12 points in the first quarter. Defensively we were awesome the whole game. I thought we played lights out on defense.”

“Sean McGrath’s first quarter really put the foot down on Briarcliff and gave us momentum for the rest of the game,” added senior Finn Ruhanen.

The Broncos led the entire game with scoring from Kelty (17pts), McGrath (15pts), Finn Ruhanen (15pts), Dolan (8pts), and O’Neil (7pts). Kelty, who also had 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks, was named MVP of the tournament, and McGrath, O’Neil and Ruhanen were named to the All-tournament team.   

The subregional game will take place tonight at 6PM against Section 9’s Rondout Valley, and the winner of that contest will play in the regional championship on Saturday against the winner of Friends Academy (Section 8)/Southampton (Section 11).

“We are feeling pretty confident, looking good, and looking forward to the game against Rondout. We play pretty fast, and we think that our speed can offset their height,” said Ruhanen.

If the Broncos win the subregional contest at Sullivan Community College, they will be back at Yorktown for the regional finals.

Coach Bobby Russo, who has been at Bronxville for five years, has coached Captains Kelty, Hershberg and McGrath for four of those five years. Experience, hard work and dedication has yielded great success.

“Having gone through adversity freshman year with a 6-15 record, winning the section my senior year is kind of like a movie,” said Hershberg. 

The Broncos gather together immediately after winning the Sectional Championship. Photo by J. Murrer.

It has been a long dry spell for Bronxville, a school not well-known for its basketball prowess. At the Winter Sports Awards evening last week, Hershberg announced that the tables have turned.

“Bronxville is now a basketball town.”

Go Broncos.

 

 

 

 

 

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