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Boys Basketball: New York Mills wins boys basketball state championship

Story Created: Mar 19, 2011 at 6:45 PM EDT

Story Updated: Dec 22, 2012 at 2:32 PM EDT

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (WKTV) - The New York Mills Marauders have won the Class D state title by beating Coleman Catholic 47-42 on Saturday. It's their first state title since 1982.

The path of this team mirrored that of the one from the early 80s as last year's team made it to the final four, but came up short. This time, however, the team led by Fred Russ and Matt Welch, as well as the coaching of Mike Adey, got the job done.

Adey, who will be inducted into the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame Sunday, won his first state title in 30 years of coaching, thirteen of them at Mills. His overall record is now 462-165.

Like the final four win over Chateaugay, the title win was far from perfect for the Marauders, who trailed 6-2 early. A 15-0 run put them back on top with a chance to blow the game wide open, but that never happened.

Coleman Catholic pulled back within eight points, 22-14, at halftime, and cut the deficit to within four on two occasions in the fourth quarter.

Welch led the way with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Russ chipped in 17 points and had 19 rebounds, taking home MVP honors as well.

Although Russ and several other players will be graduating and moving on, Adey and his Marauders will have a good shot at repeating in 2012, as Welch will be back, as well as fellow starters Jake Kehrli and J.T. Ross.

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