A 34-Year Wait, Ended

On Sunday afternoon at Buffalo State Sports Arena, the Grand Island Vikings boys basketball team did something the school hasn't done since 1992. They punched their ticket to the New York State tournament, and they did it the way this team has done just about everything this season: by dominating from the opening minutes and never letting up.

The final score was 69-37 over the Fredonia Hillbillies in the Section VI Class A crossover final. Both teams came in at 21-2. The game wasn't close.

Three Guys Who Took Over the Game

Chase Uribes, Dane Brown, and Jake Castiglia came out and jumped on Fredonia early, setting the tone before the Hillbillies could even find their footing. Uribes finished with a season-high 24 points. Brown, arguably the most talked-about junior in Section VI basketball, broke his shoe in the opening minutes and couldn't buy a basket in the first quarter. He still finished with 20 points. That's the kind of player he is.

Grand Island led by nine after the first quarter. By halftime, they were up 18. By the end of the third, the margin was 24. Fredonia coach Nick Bertrando said afterward that his team just couldn't get their legs underneath them. He also said the Vikings were the best team his Hillbillies had faced all season, and Fredonia had only lost twice before Sunday.

A Grandfather in the Stands

One of the best details from this whole run is easy to miss if you weren't looking for it. Jon Roth spent 50 years at Grand Island High School as a coach and athletic director. He coached the 1992 sectional championship team, the last Grand Island squad to make a state tournament run. On Thursday night for the sectional final, and again on Sunday, Roth was sitting behind the bench recording everything on his phone.

His grandson is Jonathan Neville, Grand Island's senior point guard and the engine that makes this offense go. Neville's mother, Julie Roth Neville, was a Grand Island basketball legend herself before she passed away in 2018. The family's connection to Grand Island basketball runs deeper than most people watching from the stands will ever know.

What Coach Simpson Said

After the sectional title win Thursday against Lewiston-Porter, Dane Brown brought the trophy into the locker room and handed it to Coach Simpson. Simpson handed it right back. "I said, 'That's not the one that I want,'" Simpson told reporters. He got it Sunday. The whole island got it Sunday.

What Comes Next

The Vikings, now 22-2, face Section V champion Monroe on Wednesday at Buffalo State Sports Arena. It's the program's second state tournament appearance ever and the first since that 1992 team that Jon Roth coached. The island will be loud on Wednesday. Count on it.