For these boys basketball teams, returning to Glens Falls is their motivation

At the dawn of a new season, every public school boys basketball team on Long Island shares a goal: get off the Island for a trip upstate to Glens Falls to play in the state championships.

Four Island teams got to make the journey a year ago and, to hear them tell it, it’s unforgettable. Even though the pilgrimage’s final moments can be the season’s most painful.

“It was an incredible experience for us – except for the end – and something every basketball player or coach should want to have,” said Friends Academy coach Matt Johnsen, whose team won a state semifinal there before losing the Class B title game by one point. “Everything was great: the team dinners where we all got closer, the practices at local high schools, the awesome games we saw.

“Then we lost and it was almost silence on the four-hour bus ride home. . . . but going back is, to be honest, all we think about. They have tasted it and they want more.”

Friends, Pierson, Baldwin and Manhasset played in Glens Falls. Pierson and Baldwin lost semifinals in Classes C and AA, respectively. Manhasset was Long Island’s lone state champion, capturing the Class A title.

Five other schools competed in the state tournaments – Half Hollow Hills East, Kings Park, Southampton, Carle Place and Bridgehampton – but never got off the Island.

So what’s the impact of getting a taste – or at least a sniff – of the upstate journey on the next season?

These teams cannot be viewed as favorites, but this is how last season’s experience has carried over for each:

FRIENDS ACADEMY

If the Quakers are going to return to Glens Falls, they will need to conquer a very different landscape with a move to Class A, its stiffer competition and huge county tournament field.

“We know it’s a big challenge, but we know we can play and we are motivated,” Friends senior guard Malachi Polson said. “After the tears on that ride back, we started talking about getting back. We want to get those two points we didn’t get last season.”

Polson and returning starters Logan Mott and Ziad Ashmawy will also be doing this without 6-8 CJ Williams and Gabe Ferencz, who both transferred to prep schools.

“There is a different air about them,” Johnsen said. “They’ve seen what can be.”

PIERSON

The Whalers graduated eight varsity players including all five starters, but have a few returners. “What made that team a Long Island championship was players buying in,” coach Will Fujita said. “It’s a mostly new group and the returners saw how we did it and know the process is the key."

Guard Dom Mancino and 6-6 Charlie McLean become leaders and Luke Seltzer is back after two school years in Ireland. A member of the Under-16 Irish National team, he could become a force for the Whalers.

“If you’re a basketball person, going upstate is one of the best experiences you can have,” Fujita said. “I’m hoping these players buys in and unlock all their potential.”

BALDWIN

The Bruins don’t go through many rebuilding seasons – witness  their seven county titles and four Island crowns in coach Darius Burton’s previous 22 seasons. A state title always feels possible even if his Bruins are 0-4 in trips upstate after last March’s loss to eventual AA champion Mount Vernon.

Josh Petion, a 6-2 senior, returns to the starting lineup, joined by top reserve 6-3 Jaylen Brown. Starting point guard Dylan Madden, who transferred in after averaging double figures for Valley Stream Central, is among 12 new varsity faces.

“They all look to Josh he got a taste of going upstate,” Burton said. “I know he wants to be the first to win Baldwin a state championship but he also knows it’s a process and can’t get ahead of himself.”

HALF HOLLOW HILLS EAST

The defending Suffolk AA champion lost every starter, eight reserves and coach Pete Basel. Michael Marcelin steps in at the helm and has two seniors, guard Jordan Heyman and forward Chris Connell, from the state quarterfinalist that fell to Baldwin. He described the Thunderbirds as “ready to pick it right back up” where the last group left off.

“We have a lot of fast, feisty guards who love to defend, generate pressure and get out on the break,” he said.

CARLE PLACE

Though the Frogs got into the state tournament as Nassau’s only Class C team, it didn’t mean they couldn’t play; they lost the Long Island championship game to Pierson by four points. Now they move to Class B with obstacles like annually strong Malverne.

Seniors Ryan Li and Chris Colaciello bring state tournament experience and freshman Ryan Leary could prove a go-to scorer, coach John Cantwell said.

“Some of these guys saw where Pierson was able to go and, I think, maybe envision that it could have been them,” he said. “That could be a driving force for us.”

BRIDGEHAMPTON

Eighth-graders were the Killer Bees’ catalyst to reach the state tournament and coach Ron White said “it was after they lost that they realized what the possibilities were.”

Against Section IX champ Chapel Field “they were in the biggest game any of them ever played in and it was a rollercoaster of emotions with a win-or-go-home game and a huge crowd,” he said.

Bridgehampton’s trio of strong guards – Alex Davis, Jai Foster and Savion Ward – are freshmen and have figured things out since that loss. “After getting that taste, they’re hungry for more,” White said. “They want that moment again.”

MANHASSET

No team put its imprint on the 2021-22 season like Manhasset did, going upstate and winning the state Class A championship with a largely junior-laden group that was equal parts skill, physicality, intelligence and tenaciousness. That gives it something that no one else on Long Island has.

“Any advantage we might have from going that far is knowing what it takes,” coach George Bruns said. “But we also know from last year it’s going to take some luck.”

Manhasset has back key components in 6-5 Liam Buckley, 6-4 Liam Connor and 6-foot James Notias. And they are seeking to do something no Island team has done in two decades: repeat.

“Glens Falls was awesome, but you have to know that it’s over,” Connor said. “We need to have that same mentality that we had a year ago if we want to win again. Our rep won’t win games.”

KINGS PARK

It was an accomplishment when the Kingsmen won the Suffolk A championship last season as they’d lost three straight appearances in the title game. “That was a special team and there is no shame in losing [the Long Island final] to the eventual state champ,” coach Chris Rube said. “We don’t think anything needs to be validated with how we finish this year.”

Signature scorer 6-3 Matty Garside is joined by new starters in 5-11 Thomas  Matonti and 6-3 Scott McConville. Setting Garside aside, he described the squad as “largely unproven.”

He has come to use the phrase “tradition never graduates” to the Kingsmen. But asked about season goals, he could only reply “make the playoffs because this team still needs to learn how to win.”

SOUTHAMPTON

The Mariners were two wins shy of going upstate and have back the formidable backcourt of 5-11 Derek Reed and 6-2 sophomore Naevon Williams. Coach Herm Lamison said “the goals are always to win the county and Long Island and they haven’t been shy about saying they want even more, but two guys can’t carry a team to that level.”

New starters 6-2 freshman Alex Franklin and 6-4 junior Tyler Blake need to pick up the beat Reed and Williams are laying down. “They have to come to appreciate the magnitude of what we’re trying to do and understand what Derek and Naevon do – that we were so close to doing something very special,” Lamison said.

By Roger Rubin

roger.rubin@newsday.com@rogrubin

Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.