In a game that became an instant classic, the Binghamton Patriots Boys’ Basketball team outlasted their Class AA opponent to become New York State Champions for the first time in 39 years. Binghamton defeated Niskayuna 75-61 in double overtime on March 21st in front of a capacity crowd at the Visions Veterans Memorial Arena.
“It feels great winning a State Championship, something we never did in 40 years, I wasn’t even born when the last State Championship happened,” said Binghamton Senior Derek Abu, Jr.
The title game was a back-and-forth contest from the opening tip, with the Patriots and Silver Warriors trading buckets. Niskayuna had the slight advantage throughout most of the game, though, leading by three after the first quarter, by two at halftime, and extending its lead to three once again after three quarters.
The two teams continued to trade blows in the fourth quarter, but the Warriors looked poised to outlast the Pats with a two-point lead and eleven-and-a-half seconds left on the clock. But fate had different plans. As Niskayuna inbounded the ball as the final seconds began ticking away, Warriors’ guard Daniel Smalls was trapped in the corner by Binghamton’s Yusri Razzaq and Corien Nobel. As he tried to escape, Smalls stepped on the line, turning the ball over with 8.8 seconds remaining in regulation.
The Patriots got the ball into the hands of tournament MVP Zubayr Griffin who was fouled as he drove to the hoop. Each of his two free throws were nothing but net, tying the game with five-and-a-half seconds to play. Niskayuna’s last-second attempt at the hoop was no good and the Class AA title game went to overtime, tied at 53.
“We started feeding off each other,” Griffin said. “We started capitalizing on their mistakes, they had a lot of turnovers and we started scoring off of them, so we kept our head in the game and we know that we worked hard for this so we weren’t going to let up and let them beat us and just give up.”
OT was a repeat of regulation, with the two teams exchanging baskets and a two-point lead for Niskayuna with mere seconds to go. Binghamton’s Derek Abu drained a pair of free throws with just over 20 seconds remaining to once again tie the game. A jumper from Smalls was no good before the buzzer sounded and the game went to a second overtime, tied at 58.
Double OT would end up as the final frame of the contest as the Patriots reached for every last bit of energy they had and outscored the Warriors 17-3 down the stretch. With a 75-61 Patriot lead on the scoreboard, the final seconds became a series of zeroes on the clock making Binghamton High School the 2025 New York State Class AA Boys Basketball champions.
“We took one out of the playbook of Ted Lasso, and we told all the guys to ‘believe,’” said Head Coach Duncan Paddick. “That’s what I said at halftime, ‘believe;’ then after regulation, ‘believe;’ after the first overtime, ‘believe.’ Then at the end, this is Binghamton basketball: we get in your legs, (Niskayuna) got a little bit tired, there was a couple mistakes they weren’t making in the first half, mistakes they weren’t making in the second half, and I think two overtimes played into our favor, you throw in 4,000 people cheering behind you, and that’s how we got it done.”
The packed house roared their approval as the basketball and cheer teams celebrated at center court. Four decades later, Binghamton fans still talk about the 1985 and 1986 State Championship teams; now the 2025 champs etch their own story into the history books with a title game that will most certainly go down as one of the greatest high school games ever played in New York State.