Team Intent on Continuing Legacy as Cooperstown Seniors Depart
By ARYA PATEL
COOPERSTOWN
For the first time since 2019, the Cooperstown boys high school basketball team won the state championship title on March 23 at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena. Coached by John Lambert, the team won 52-43 against Berne-Knox-Westerlo, the reigning state champions. Throughout the season, which began in November, the team was undefeated. They ended the season with a record of 27-0.
The team will lose six graduating seniors this year: Cooper Coleman, Jackson Crisman, Brenin Dempsey, Christian Lawson, Benjamin Lewis and Miles Nelen. These seniors made a tremendous impact on the team, in particular toward the underclassmen who look up to them.
Junior Brody Murdock said, “Playing with people who feel more like brothers than teammates makes accomplishing what we’ve talked about since we were kids feel a lot more personal than it could’ve felt with anyone else.”
The team will miss the seniors, many of whom ended their high-school careers with enduring legacies. Both Nelen and Lawson reached 1,000 points this season and exceeded that milestone as the season progressed. Nelen was this season’s top scorer, averaging 27 points per game and scoring 720 points this year. Nelen was also named The Daily Star’s Player of the Year and Center State Conference Division III’s Most Valuable Player.
Jackson Crisman, Christian Lawson and Brody Murdock were recognized as CSC DIII All-Stars. Notably, Crisman shot a buzzer beater three-point basket in the state semi-finals against Lyons, securing a win for Cooperstown with a final score of 66-64. At this game, Lewis received the Sportsmanship Award from the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, recognizing his team spirit, kindness, and dedication to both his teammates and others. Coleman is also a key reason for this team’s banner season, being a part of the starting lineup and motivating others around him.
The team’s success is greatly accredited to Coach John Lambert, who was named Coach of the Year by “The Daily Star.” A quote Lambert used all season has been taken to heart by the team—“I know you can fight, but it’s our wits that make us men.” Nelen shared that this sentiment has encouraged him for the past several years.
Not only this group of seniors, but the entirety of the team has played together since their youth, all continuing their love for the game.
“We have played together since we were kids,” Crisman said, “and it was really special to win the championship with the same group I grew up with.”
For the Cooperstown boys varsity basketball team, the season ended with a state championship. The six seniors leave behind their legacy, and it is next year’s team that will carry it into the future.
Arya Patel is a senior at Cooperstown Central School.
