2026 NYSPHAA Championship Recap

Chad Boyles | Wednesday, April 1st, 2026

Report:  The 2025-26 high school season has now concluded, and the State Tournament provided the fireworks that mirrored all we’ll remember from an exciting regular season.  Now officially over a week in the rearview, we will recap everything that went down at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton and take a look at our champions across each class - all of which are representatives of upstate.  

 

Class D:

 

Section 7’s Bolton captured its first sectional title in program history after handling Sackets Harbor 65-49 - just the second basketball state champion in the section's history.  Junior guard Jaxon Egloff led Bolton with 24 points and was named the Class D Tournament’s Most Valuable Player.  Egloff put up 23 in the semifinal win over Bridgehampton (11), and is Bolton’s all-time scoring leader - a mark he surpassed prior to the new year.  Senior big Liam Foy finished with 15 points in the championship win, including the 1,000th point of his Bolton career.  Spencer Oliva finished with 21 for Sackets Harbor. 

 

Class C:

 

It was Jackson Crisman who hit the game-winning three as time expired for Cooperstown, allowing his team to live another day, and eventually go on to win the Class C State Championship, in what was a wild back-and-forth semifinal between Section 5’s Lyons Lions and Cooperstown (3).  Cooperstown led 63-60 with under 15 ticks remaining when Lyons senior Stephen LeBrecht converted on a four-point play to give his side a 64-63 advantage with limited time remaining.  After Lyons used all of its fouls, Cooperstown was left inbounding on its side of halfcourt.  The ball entered to 6’5” Crisman who appeared to recognize a broken play before letting it fly from beyond the arc and advancing Cooperstown to the title game against reigning champion Berne-Knox-Westerlo.  Lyons forward and All-Greater Rochester Team member, Jamire Johnson, finished with 18 in Lyons’ defeat.  

 

A day later, Cooperstown showed great poise to regroup and perform admirably in the state championship battle.  Prospect Miles Nelen led the Hawkeyes with 20 to cap off his historic season.  The game was contested throughout, though it was Cooperstown that remained in front; 26-20 at halftime and 33-31 after the third.  Shane Kirker, who since re-opening his recruitment has heard from a number of Division I programs, finished with 15 and 10, but BKW’s overall shooting woes on the day gave Nelen and a gritty Cooperstown team a 52-43 advantage when all was said and done.  The championship win marks an unblemished season for the Hawkeyes.      

 

Class B:

 

After starting the season 3-7 and losing key contributor Dominick Gosh-Sandy (Oswego State), it seemed unlikely that Marcellus would repeat as state champions.  However, come tournament time, there was no stopping the Mustangs, who followed up their impressive sectional championship with a convincing run in this year's state championship tournament.  After escaping Potsdam in the quarterfinal, Marcellus had no issue with Olmstead in the Final Four, behind a 26-point effort from senior captain Tucker Burnett (Hobart).  On the other side of the bracket, KIPP Capital escaped a late push from Long Island’s Carle Place to advance to the state title in their inaugural season.  Marcellus got off to a fast start in the championship and never looked back.  KIPP was able to keep it competitive, but eventually Marcellus found the momentum built by its early lead and was able to close out the game comfortably.  Marcellus repeats as Class B champions off the leadership and strong play of Burnett, and the Mustangs, after losing seven of its first 10, finish the season 19-8 and on top of the state.  KIPP Capital finishes its first season as a program at 17-5 and will surely expect to remain competitive in the State Championship hunt.

 

Class A:

 

Another Section 2 vs. Section 3 matchup in the Class A Championship, as Eli Prince and Westhill took on Keith Robinson and Hudson.  Westhill had won its quarterfinal and final four games by a combined 81 points.  Hudson blew by Section 7 Peru, defeated Section 1 power Tappan Zee in its final four matchup, setting up a compelling matchup on paper in this year's championship.   

While Hudson did all it could to contain Prince and the athletic, experienced Wolfpack squad, the team struggled just as much to put the ball in the basket against Westhills length.  The first quarter was compelling, featuring multiple lead changes, but Prince got hot, and the cushion that he provided early in the second proved to be enough to help Westhill go on to finish its season with an unbeaten record and be named State Champions.  Prince, who finishes his Westhill career in ultra-impressive fashion, scored 31 of his team's 54 in a 12-point win.  Prince will head to Cushing Academy as one of the more impressive prospects from Upstate New York in his class.  As for Hudson's star guard Keith Robinson - he finished the game with 21 points and over 2,700 points for his career - a groundbreaking achievement that finds his name second in Section 2 history.  The senior guard remains unsigned. 

 

Class AA:

 

Another Section 2 representative fell short of the ultimate prize as Penfield (5) got the job done over Amsterdam in the Class AA chip.  The most entertaining game in this tournament came in the final four though, as the eventual champions escaped Seton Catholic 69-66 in overtime.  High IQ and sharp play on both sides led to a back-and-forth game that ultimately gave us free basketball, and after Seton Catholic took a 1-point lead with just under two minutes remaining in the extra session, Penfield hit back-to-back threes.  After Allan Eagles nets a three to make it a 69-66 game, missed free throws gave Seton Catholic a chance to send us to a second overtime period, but Eagles couldn’t convert.  Make no mistake though, Eagles was a star, finishing with a game-high 31.  The Seton Catholic guard just recently committed to Philips Exeter Academy, where he will graduate in 2027.  6’6” Jackson Green hit one of those clutch threes for Penfield and finished the game with 19 points, second on his team to running mate Constantine Johnson - who led Penfield scorers with 24.  6’9” junior Jake McCarthy finished with 12, and made life inside the paint difficult for Seton. 

Amsterdam had defeated Section 1 Rye behind the strong play of talented senior wing Aundray Fowler, who was scorching from distance in the 63-54 win.  Fowler finished with 29 on 8-of-10 shooting from distance including some highly difficult makes from well beyond the arc.  As a team, Amsterdam made 11 out of 17 attempts from three, setting up a highly anticipated matchup with Penfield.  The championship provided plenty of fireworks as well, tied 54-54, an 8-0 run sparked by Penfield’s Green secured a 62-54 victory.  This one saw many lead changes throughout and some excellent execution by both sides’ talented options.  Ultimately though, it’s Penfield, behind three terrific juniors, that got the job done.  Green finished with 26 while McCarthy added 14, and Johnson 13.  Fowler remained impressive, leading the Rams with 20 points, while 6’8” senior CJ Miller added 16.  Fowler and Miller both remain unsigned to this point.  Green, Johnson, and McCarthy will look to run it back a year from now.        

 

Class AAA:

 

Section 2 finally broke through as the Brothers from CBA made history and joined Westhill and Cooperstown as teams who finished their seasons unbeaten.  CBA defeated Section 5’s Fairport, which one day prior had to rally from behind to get past Nolyn Proudfoot and Section 4 Corning, 79-72.   

Fairport trailed Corning 36-17 just minutes before halftime when a 14-0 run cut the Corning lead to five.  A near 20-point deficit was just three, 42-39, at the break.  By the end of the 3rd Quarter, Fairport had its lead for good.  6'3" senior Alex Grejda led the way with 24 for Fairport, while human highlight Noah Meabon (USC Volleyball) finished with 13 and his fair share of acrobatic plays.  Proudfoot finished with 20, the same total as his junior brother Carter.

Fairport would run into a buzzsaw one day later - an unblemished CBA team fresh off of a 20 point victory over Mamaroneck (1).  The Brothers took command of this one, building a 56-36 lead in the third, forcing Fairport to have to rally for the second time in as many days.  To their credit, they did just that.  After a Meabon dunk, the lead was just six with under 2:00 remaining, and after Austin Osinski got one back for CBA, a Fairport turnover all but sealed the deal.  The 78-67 win gave CBA its 25th win of the season, and like in so many other contests, the Osinski brothers proved to be the difference.  Both sophomore Austin and junior JJ finished with 21.  Worth noting, the Brothers had seen this one through after JJ Osinski had fouled out as things were getting dicey.  An impressive way to get the job done. Meabon led Fairport with 25 points and 15 rebounds - a fitting statline for a player who had long dominated action around the rim. 

 

With that, we put a bow on the 2025-26 season, saying goodbye to the many talented seniors that represented their schools and sections with pride and humility, and welcoming the talented underclassmen that we look forward to covering for years to come.

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