SYRACUSE — The Cooperstown Hawkeyes have taken their boys basketball season one step further this year.
The Hawkeyes (25-0), undefeated Class C champions of Section III for the second season in a row, beat Section IV’s Elmira-Notre Dame Crusaders 60-57 in regional play at SRC Arena on Sunday and earned a spot in the state semifinals.
Cooperstown’s 2024-25 season had ended at 24-1 with a regional playoff loss to Section IV Moravia in Binghamton.
“Crazy,” a relieved Cooperstown coach John Lambert said. “It was a game where the ball was not going in the basket. You’ve got to find a way to get your points.”
Section III’s highest scoring team at 81.5 points per game, Cooperstown had its lowest-scoring game of the season. The Hawkeyes had been held to fewer than 70 points in only three previous games.
Notre Dame (18-6) rallied late in the fourth quarter and trailed 58-57 with 34.4 seconds on the clock. The Crusaders had one foul to give before putting Cooperstown in the bonus, and that foul stopped the clock again at :14.5. The Crusaders caught a major break when a Cooperstown player was ruled to have stepped on the sideline while inbounding the ball, turning over possession.
“We’ve got to go out there and play defense,” Lambert said he told his players during a timeout following the turnover, “and that’s what they did.”
Miles Nelen committed the second Cooperstown foul of the fourth quarter, stopping the clock at :08.8. He then stole the ball on the subsequent inbounding play and raced for the layup that provided the game’s final points and secured win No. 25 for the 2025-26 Hawkeyes, matching their total from the 2018-19 state championship season.
Only Class AAA Proctor had had stayed within 10 points of Cooperstown this season before Sunday’s game. The Hawkeyes had beaten the Utica-based school 65-60 at home and 75-68 on the road in their regular season finale.
The Hawkeyes had a rough start at the offensive end and trailed 11-2 before Brody Murdock delivered the team’s first field goal almost five minutes into the contest.
Cooperstown battled back through the first half. Notre Dame held a 14-11 lead at the end of the first quarter and the Hawkeyes pulled even at 26 on a baseline drive for another basket by Murdock who scored nine of his 13 points before halftime. Jackson Crisman sparked the Cooperstown rally with a pair of three-point baskets and a breakaway dunk when he checked back into the game after taking a seat on the bench with two fouls early in the second quarter.
“That changed the whole thing,” Lambert said. “He took a minute to settle down and came back strong.”Notre Dame led 29-26 at halftime after Max O’Connor banked home a three-point shot at the buzzer.
Cooperstown never led in the first half, and the Hawkeyes tied the score at 29, 31 and 33 early in the third quarter before going in front for the first time at 35-33 on a pair of Nelen free throws.
The score was tied once more at 43 before the third quarter ended with a pair of three-point plays by Nelen. Christian Lawson added a three-point shot to start the fourth quarter, and a drive for a basket by Nelen capped an 11-0 run that the Hawkeyes up 54-43, the largest lead either team would enjoy.
The margin was still seven points with 2 1/2 minutes left to play.
Nelen led Cooperstown with 24 points while Crisman scored 18.
Rocco Sayers scored 15 points to lead Notre Dame.
Cooperstown’s win completed a Section III sweep in Syracuse. Class A Westhill, Class B Marcellus and Class D Sackets Harbor were winners earlier in the day Sunday. The Section III girls won two of three games at SRC Arena Saturday; Class A Utica-Notre Dame and Class B Marcellus were victorious while Delhi’s Delaware Academy gave Section IV its only win at the venue in the Class C game against West Canada Valley.
Cooperstown’s Hawkeyes return to Binghamton’s Visions Veterans Memorial Arena, site of last year’s 55-48 season-ending defeat, for Final Four play next weekend. Cooperstown plays Section V Lyons in the 1:30 p.m. March 21 semifinal; defending champion Berne-Knox-Westerlo from Section II plays Section I North Salem in the other semifinal. The championship game will be played March 22 at 11:45 a.m.
Cooperstown won its 2019 state championship in Binghamton. The Hawkeyes were the most recent Section III team to play in the state Class C final.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Cooperstown boys advance to state basketball semis with three-point win
Reporting by Jon Rathbun, Herkimer Times Telegram / Times Telegram
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
