Newfield basketball wins first-ever state title

Newfield boys basketball has had a rich history of success, from dominance of the IAC to Section IV titles and State Final Four appearances, but the Trojans had yet to claim a State Championship. That changed on Saturday when Newfield ousted Section II’s Stillwater 87-62 to end the season with a win at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls.

It could have very easily been a transitional year for Newfield. Head coach Mike Nembhard was replacing Chris Bubble, who had led Newfield to three Section IV Championships and a pair of IAC Championships since 2017. Nembhard and the Trojans pushed through a few early-season losses and a sizable defeat in the IAC Championship game to go on a postseason run to remember.

At the start of the Section IV playoffs, in which Newfield was the fourth seed, the Trojans were ranked 20th in New York state. On their way to a State Championship, they defeated higher-ranked teams in Watkins Glen (eighth), Moravia (12th), West Canada Valley (seventh), Pierson (first) and Stillwater (13th). It was a true underdog story, and coach Nembhard gave his thoughts on the season after winning the title.

“It’s unreal,” he said. “I can’t even fathom it right now. We planned for this all year round. We had ups and downs, and the downs made us really come up as a team. They kind of brought us to this point, and then, we just pulled it together and we got the W.”

There were very few low points to speak of in the title game against Stillwater on Saturday. Newfield took a 34-26 lead into halftime and never looked back, winning by 25 points. Junior guard Zach Taylor, who had 17 points including five three-pointers in the contest, pinpointed when it settled in that he was going to be a state champion.

“I didn’t even realize that we were on a roll,” Taylor said. “Jalen [Hardison] told me not to look up [at] this scoreboard. But of course, I took a peek and I thought, ‘We’re up 20!’ It was crazy.”

The three-point shooting of Newfield was simply too much for Stillwater to keep up with as the Trojans shot a blistering 41% from beyond the arc, scoring 33 points off the deep ball. Taylor explained that the practices leading up to the game were strictly focused on shooting, and that certainly paid off. Nembhard detailed his team’s offensive philosophy.

“We work on a lot of shooting drills,” Nembhard said. “I told the guys if you’ve got an open shot, be confident enough to knock it down, and they did it. I’m very proud of them. They weren’t nervous. They just put the shots up and they went in. Fortunately, we got the win and the state title.”

Newfield was primed to make a run at a state title in 2020 with a lineup that was stacked with five IAC All-Stars, but the pandemic ended that opportunity right after the team claimed the Section IV Championship. The only member of that team who is still on the roster this season is IAC MVP junior point guard Jalen Hardison. Nembhard talked about Hardison finishing the job for his former teammates.

“[Hardison] wanted to get back to this point,” Nembhard said. “In 2020, I was the JV coach and I was there when they went to sectionals, and then, the pandemic hit. That really tore the seniors up that year because we really had great expectations to be at this point. But the team that we play with now, we focused on that and we just wanted to build on that and do it for those guys who missed it in 2020. We did it.”

In the final minute of the game, when the State Championship was a certainty, Nembhard had senior backups Cosey Zavaski-Starks and Sebastian Rainbow check into the game to get on the court in the final game of their high school basketball careers. Zavaski-Starks took full advantage by scoring five points in that final minute. Taylor talked about seeing his older teammates be the final players on the court as the clock struck zero.

“They deserve it,” Taylor said. “They’ve been around the team the longest. Cosey and Seb, they sit through all of it. Sometimes, they don’t play the most, but they sit there. They’re the heart of the team. They deserved to be in.”

Newfield began playing its best basketball of the season at the right time and ended with the team’s first-ever State Championship. There will be two starters, Derek Pawlewicz and Garrett Porter, and three backups, the aforementioned Zavaski-Starks and Rainbow and the injured Jeffrey Smith, graduating from this season’s roster. With IAC MVP and 1,000-point scorer Jalen Hardison leading the charge for his senior season, Newfield is primed to make another deep run.

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