FANS HAVE FAITH IN MILLS HOOPS HERITAGE-WIN 56-43
New York Mills fans are loud and proud!
Fred Miller-MHTS
Photos-Kevin Montano-MHTS
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Faith Heritage found out the hard way, on Sunday afternoon, what its like to come up against the hoops heritage of the New York Mills Marauders, in a big spot.
Speaking of big…The Mills “bigs” dominated the game inside and made Faith Heritage star Luke Last look a little lost as he got caught up in the tall timber.
Coach Mike Adey and company head to the Section 3 Class D Championship game at the Carrier Dome next Sunday for the ninth time in the last ten years. Talk about hoops heritage.
# 22 Nick Comenale comes up big again with 22 points.
The Marauders once again entered the ‘Big Dance’ as CSC Division IV Champions. It is the Marauders 10th Championship in 12 years. Overall the Marauders have claimed 20 CSC Championships, the most ever by any CSC school.
The Marauders finished with a CSC division record of 10-2. Over the span of the last 10 seasons, the Marauders have a division record of 129-11, including a winning streak of 50 straight division wins.
Under Mike Adey, the Marauders are 174-22 against league opponents.
While advancing deep in the sectional tournament and making it to the finals is every team’s goal, it is not always as easy at it may seem.
The Marauders, who have qualified for the Sectional Tournament in all 15 years under Coach Mike Adey are 32-9 in the Class D tournament over that span .
This is the Marauders 5th straight appearance in the Semi-Finals and their 11th trip to the semis in the last 15 season.
All time, the Marauders are 84-33 since Sectional play began in 1965. The Marauders have made the Class D final 18 times, which is a record for Class D teams. The Marauders have won a Class D record 12 Sectional titles.
Didn’t really know what to expect on Sunday, not having seen Faith Heritage play, yet this season.
What I did expect was big things from Luke Last, who had been on a major roll for the Syracuse based Saints.
Jon Ross did a masterful job of defending Last who was held to just 7 points in the first half and 15 on the game, well below the number 26, the number of points he laid on Sackets Harbor the game before.
# 11 Luke Last led the Saints with 15 points!
The Mills was just too big inside as Cody Mariotti, Jacob Kehrli, Zach Vennaro and company changed the direction of numerous Faith Heritage field-goal attempts and grabbed way to many defensive rebounds that led to break away buckets for the Marauders.
Nick Comenale was up to his old tricks on offense lighting up the Saints for 22 big ones.
Nick had the knack in the final sixteen minutes of play scoring 16 of his 22 to dash any dreams of a comeback by the Saints.
Cody Mariotti was solid again, netting 10 points, Andrew Suprenant scored 8,Zach Vennaro chipped in 7 and Jake Kehrli 6, to lead a well balanced New York Mills offensive effort.
Luke Last banged home a long ball as the Saints went up 3-2 with 4:50 to go in the first.
Zach Vennaro answered when he dialed long distance for three points of his own to put the Marauders back up 5-3.
Both teams showed the big game jitters as they could only muster up seven points apiece in the opening eight minutes of play.
In the second quarter it was a back and forth affair as both teams responded with basket after basket.
A 6-2 run at the end of the first half was capped off by a Nick Comenale three as the Marauders led 19-13 after one quarter of play.
You got the feeling that it would be a Marauders type day when the Mills put up ten quick points at the start of the third to bust this one open.
Jon Ross stared the run, Zach Vennaro scored, so did Nick Comenale and Cody Mariotti ended the burst with a three point play the old fashioned way.
A third point play, the other way, by Dillon Card cut the New York Mills lead back down under double digits at nine, 29-20 to cap off a 6-0 run by the saints.
After three quarters of action New York Mills led 33-22.
# 34 Cody Mariotti bulls his way for two.
A three-point play by Nick Comenale, who decided to take over this game, quickly pushed the lead back up to 14 with 7:46 left to go in the game.
Luke Last didn’t want this to be his last outing, of the season, as he came on in the fourth to score eight points to try and keep Faith Heritage in the ball game.
Two free throws by Last cut the Mills lead to eight with 4:05 left on the clock.
Andrew Suprenant got in the act for New York Mills, as he knocked down a long ball, as the clock ticked down to 3:50 to go.
The sophomore guard scored 6 of his 8 points in the final eight minutes of play.
Jared Fisher tried to help his team hang around with a three ball of his own with 1:40 left and his team now down by nine, 46-37.
That’s as close as the Saints would get as the Marauders showed their playoff poise, down the stretch, by sinking 12 fourth quarter free throws as Faith Heritage tried to extend the game.
Nick Comenale did real damage from the line nailing eight in a row to put a big blue bow on this Section 3 Semifinal win as the Marauders coasted home for the 56-43 victory.
Comenale, who came into the game averaging 21 points per game, scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half.
New York Mills (18-3), ranked 11th in the state, will play fourth-seeded Cincinnatus (16-3) for the Class D title Sunday at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.
New York Mills 56 Faith Heritage 43
1 2 3 4 Total
Faith Heritage 7 6 9 21 43
New York Mills 7 12 14 23 56
Faith Heritage:
Luke Last-15
Charlie Mitchell-8
Jordan Malara-7
Dillon Card-7
Jared Fisher-3
Jordan Neider-3
New York Mills:
Nick Comenale-22
Cody Mariotti-10
Andrew Suprenant-8
Zach Vennaro-7
Jake Kehrli-6
John Ross-3
