It may have been a long time coming, but that only made the win sweeter.
On Sunday, March 8, the Mamaroneck boys basketball team captured its first-ever Section 1 title, beating league rival Mount Vernon 61-44 in the Class AAA finals at the Westchester County Center. And while most expected Sunday’s showdown—between the top two big schools in the area—to be a competitive one, the Tigers decided they weren’t leaving anything up to chance.
The Tigers came out like a house on fire, quickly blitzing the Knights with high-pressure defense and some stellar shooting to quickly establish a double-digit lead that was never seriously threatened as they controlled the tempo—and the momentum—throughout.
Brandon Burrell—who scored 27 points in the Tigers’ semifinal round win over Arlington—was even better on Sunday, dropping a game-high 30 points to lead all scorers.
Burrell said that Mamaroneck’s recent history—the team fell in the semifinals in each of the last two years—was a driving force behind the team’s relentlessness, and noted that no matter how physical and tense the game got, he and his teammates were simply unwilling to lose.
“We played Mount Vernon twice, we split and they’ve always been a physical team; they play great defense and they’re going to try to beat you up, but we just stuck with it,” said the senior. “We weren’t going to let ourselves get bullied today, and just to be able to finally break through, that was amazing.”
WIll Plunkett helped the Tigers maintain that physical edge, doing yeoman’s work on the glass to keep possessions alive for Mamaroneck on the rare occasions when their shots weren’t falling and adding 11 points of his own. Zion Watkins had 10 to pace Mount Vernon.
And while Burrell acknowledged that securing the school’s first gold ball was a thrill, being able to do it for head coach Tyrone Carver Jr.—who has helmed the program for 21 years—raised the stakes significantly.
““It’s all we’ve dreamed of, since playing in third grade, then starting in ninth grade with Coach Carver,” said Burrell. “I know this is all that he’s worked for; he puts in the hours, studying film, working with our team. So doing this for him, and for all of our coaches, this is really amazing.”
Up next for the Tigers is a subregional showdown against Kingston at Yorktown High School on Wednesday. Kingston—a perennial power that has won seven Section 9 titles in the last 28 years, their latest coming on Saturday when they topped former Section 1 squad Our Lady of Lourdes 81-64.
Burrell said that while the team will take some time to savor their Sunday win, they will be all business when they get back to work on Monday.
“We’re going to celebrate today, but winning a gold ball was one of our goals—it wasn’t our only goal,” said Burrell. “We’ll come back to practice tomorrow, we’re going to get ready, and we’re going to continue our journey.”
