[AUDIO] New Hartford Coach On “Awesome” Weekend and Brief Dust-Up at Buzzer

The New Hartford Boys Basketball team finished "an amazing" season on Sunday, after falling short to Manhasset in Glens Falls by a score of 62-51 at the NYS Class A Boys Basketball Championship.

"The weekend was awesome," said head coach John Randall of New Hartford. "Saturday was phenomenal and Sunday...even though we came up short it was just as exciting and the crowd got bigger on Sunday," he added.

The two teams played neck and neck in the opening quarter with New Hartford jumping out to an early 8-7 lead. Spartan Will Trela was the lone scorer early on, netting 11 of New Hartford's 14 points in the opening quarter. But, Spartan perimeter shooting turned cold in the 2nd, with only 5 points in the period as Manhasset's aggressive defense forced hurry-up shots that resulted in New Hartford misses. Despite the sluggish start, the Spartans kept Manhasset within reach, trailing by only 6 at the half, 25-19.

Things would ultimately prove to be fatal for New Hartford in the 3rd quarter as they were outscored by Manhasset 14-7. Saturday's Leading scorer in the semi-final game, Zach Philipkoski was unable to produce, totalling only 3-points through the first 3-quarters as he was aggressively defensed by Manhasset. Junior Colton Suriano helped pick up the slack for New Hartford, scoring 3 triples; but still, Manhassett continued to grow their lead to 13 points, 39-26, by the end of the 3rd.

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New Hartford's Scoring in the 4th, was nearly better than their first 3 quarters combined. Philipkoski came alive surging for six 3-pointers for a total of 18 points, but outscoring Manhasset 25-23 wouldn't be enough, as the Indians continued to score on offense.

"It seems like every time we had a big score, they came back and matched it," Randall said. "Once we fell behind, it was hard to make up the deficit," he added.

Despite Philipkoski's struggles in the first 3 quarters, he scored a game high 21 points. Trela totaled 16 points.

New Hartford ended the season as Section III Champions and NYS Class A runner-ups with an overall record of 24-3. Manhasset finished the season at 24-1.

Coach Randall praised his players for an incredible season and thanked the parents, community, and students for their support. He said this weekend's experience will give those players returning next year something to set their sights on.

During Monday's WIBX interview, Randall also explained a brief dust-up that happened at the end of regulation between players, and ultimately resulted in a very colorful reaction by one of the Manhasset coaches as Randall attempted to explain what happened.

Hear the complete interview below...