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UPDATE very late Sunday night/early Monday morning: Here is the game story as well as the game video and the must-see sights & sounds video from McKinley's state title win.

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By Keith McShea

McKinley made history today. 

The Macks won their first state title with an epic, 76-73 overtime victory over Burke Catholic in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A championship game before an estimated 2,500 at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

It is the first state championship by a Yale Cup large school since Bennett won in Class B in 1984. Prior to 2004, the state was divided into four classes (A, B, C and D).

McKinley's title came by beating three private schools in the "public" high school playoffs: Aquinas of Section V (Rochester) in the Far West Regionals, Bishop Ludden of Section III (Syracuse) in Saturday's semifinals and Burke Catholic of Section IX (Dutchess County). Unlike Section VI, many sections within the NYSPHSAA have private schools as members.

Senior Lovell Smith earned MVP honors by scoring 24 points on 12-of-18 shooting, a performance that the Macks needed when leading scorer Marcus Morris was forced to the bench with foul trouble. Smith also had eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.

Morris, a senior, had 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting, including 2 of 6 from three-point range, and seven rebounds and finished with four fouls; he picked up his fourth late in the third quarter.

McKinley, as it has done throughout the postseason, appeared it would claim control of the game in the third quarter. The Macks played exceptionally, outscoring Burke, 22-15, to take a 47-41 lead to the fourth.

By Keith McShea

GLENS FALLS -- In Western New York, Rasaun Young is known as one of the best basketball players to suit up for the University at Buffalo.

But back home in New Rochelle, it’s just “Crabby.”

Reporters looking for the coach of New Rochelle High School team ask for “Crabby.” Assistant coaches ask “Where’s Crabby?”

The nickname is one that has stuck with Young since he was 9 years old. He decided to imitate a “Little Rascals” scene, one in which they referred to their teacher, Miss Crabtree, in a more familiar way.

“I said ‘Hey Crabby’ to the teacher,” said Young. “I said it and I got in a little trouble. Ever since then, they started calling me ‘Crabby.’ … But it never made it up there [to Buffalo]."

Crabby is making quite a name for himself in his first year as coach of his alma mater, as Young and New Rochelle will play for the for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AA championship at 3:15 p.m. Sunday.

The championship berth marks the continuation of a fantastic season for New Rochelle, which had its struggles during what is now a 16-9 campaign before receiving national attention after an amazing three-quarter court buzzer-beater by senior Khalil Edney beat Mount Vernon in the Section I (Westchester County) championship.

By Keith McShea

McKinley will play for the state championship on Sunday after another very impressive postseason performance. 

For the second straight week, the Macks turned up the defensive pressure while executing at a high level offensively to run away from a private school and advance in the state Class A playoffs. The Macks used a 25-13 third quarter to beat Syracuse's Bishop Ludden, 75-61, Saturday afternoon before an estimated 3,500 at Glens Falls Civic Center. 

The Macks (21-3) will play Section IX champion Burke Catholic (18-4) of Orange County at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Civic Center. Burke defeated Section XI (Suffolk County, L.I.) champion Amityville, 68-50, in Saturday's first semifinal.

Lovell Smith led Macks with 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting while fellow senior Marcus Morris had 21 while hitting five of six three-pointers. Senior DaeQuan Warren added 11 rebounds, senior Samuel Smith had 10 points, four assists and three steals and senior Reyjzon Jordan had nine points and four assists.

McKinley shot 31 of 53 from the field (58.4 percent) while limiting Ludden to 19 of 52 (36.5 percent). The Macks were called for 20 fouls -- with Morris and Warren in foul trouble throughout the game -- while Ludden was called for nine. McKinley outrebounded Ludden, 38-26.

It will be McKinley's second state final, but its first since the very first year of the state tournament arriving in Glens Falls. The Ray Hall-led Macks lost the Class B final to Long Island's Malverne in 1981.

McKinley is the first Yale Cup team to make the state final in one of the two largest classes since 1984 (when Bennett won Class B). The state tournament had four classes (A, B, C and D) from its inception in 1978 to 2003; it then expanded to five (AA, A, B, C and D).

McKinley will face a private school for the third straight game. Last week, McKinley beat Rochester's Aquinas, 79-52, in the Far West Regionals. 

Here's the live blog from today's game: 

By Keith McShea

Hello from the mecca of high school boys basketball: The Glens Falls Civic Center and the state public school final four. 

Silver Creek takes on Pine Plains in the Class C semifinals today. Here's a capsule preview. McKinley hits the court tomorrow in Class A.

I'll provide play-by-play updates from the boys regionals in the live blog below and I'll have periodic #preptalkscores updates via Twitter which will also appear in the blog. 

Your tweets with the hashtag #preptalkscores are welcome -- as they will appear in the live blog as well. You can comment on these games or others. Every night, scoring update tweets (in any sport) are welcome to those on Twitter -- just use the #preptalkscores hashtag.

By Keith McShea

With only three teams still competing this winter season, PrepTalkTV Weekly returns tonight. You can watch it right here tonight at 9.

We'll review the events of last week, which brought an abrupt end to many teams' seasons. We'll also take a look ahead to what is in front of the McKinley and Silver Creek boys basketball teams and the Cardinal O'Hara girls. Our guests is PrepTalkTV veteran Marcus Morris, a senior standout from McKinley.

As usual after PrepTalkTV Weekly, I'll have a live chat following the show.

Here's a rundown of the show:

0:00 -- Opening, winter winding down
2:00 -- Interview with McKinley senior Marcus Morris and a review of the Macks' Class A regional win. 
10:00 -- Review of Silver Creek's Class C regional win and discussion of my Prep Talk column on Zed Williams and the Black Knights in Thursday's paper.
15:10 -- My iPhone video of the BataviaBuzzerBeater against Olean, with several replays and freeze frames and discussion (and semi-rant) of why the shot was totally good and should not be disputed. Also a shoutout to seniors in Olean rotation.
26:10 -- Wrapup of Section VI's 0-for-5 performance in girls basketball, a look at Randolph interviews, and a definite rant on Section V placing private schools in Classes C and D.
37:55 -- Look ahead to McKinley and Silver Creek's brackets in Glens Fallse
41:00 -- Closing ... perhaps our goodbye for the winter season? 

Here's the live postshow chat:

By Keith McShea

Hello on one of the most meaningful days on this school year's Western New York high school sports calendar.

We'll be reporting live from Rochester's Blue Cross Arena, site of the Far West Regional round that determines berths in next week's state public school final four. Meanwhile, Canisius and St. Mary's will play for Catholic state titles at Fordham University. Here's a preview of today's boys hoop action.

Also today: Girls basketball regionals at Buffalo State and state semifinal boys hockey with Niagara-Wheatfield in action in Utica. 

I'll provide play-by-play updates from the boys regionals in the live blog below and I'll have periodic #preptalkscores updates via Twitter which will also appear in the blog. 

Your tweets with the hashtag #preptalkscores are welcome -- as they will appear in the live blog as well. You can comment on these games or others. Every night, scoring update tweets (in any sport) are welcome to those on Twitter -- just use the #preptalkscores hashtag.

Check our scoreboard page for a complete schedule of tonight's games; the scoreboard will be updated as we receive game reports throughout the evening.

FINAL, Class D: Batavia Notre Dame 70, Sherman 32

Class D: Batavia 59, Sherman 24 after 3 quarters.

Batavia 36, Sherman 17 at halftime.

Batavia Notre Dame 20, Sherman 4 after the first quarter

FINAL Gates Chili 80, Jamestown 59

Gates-Chili 65, Jamestown 45 after 3 quarters.

HALFTIME: Gates Chili 41, Jamestown 31

CLASS A FINAL: Pittsford-Mendon 39, Grand Island 37

Pittsford-Mendon 30, Grand Island 28 after 3 quarters.

Pittsford-Mendon 24, Grand Island 20 at halftime.

Pittsford-Mendon 11, Grand Island 10, after the first quarter.

Bishop Kearney 64, Randolph 48