Trojans win North Salem hoops tourney championship

January 17, 2024 at 11:59 p.m.

The Blind Brook boys’ varsity basketball team got back to work on Wednesday, Jan. 10 at Valhalla High School, looking to turn the page after a few rough games last week. With Eli Zimmerman, Bailey Estep and Ryan Stiler playing the best basketball they have played all season, they have a huge opportunity this week to add a few games to the win column. Despite their two-game losing streak, the Trojans still came into this Valhalla game with a 4-3 record.

A good Blind Brook crowd traveled to Valhalla to see the boys get back on the winning side. The Trojans got off to a slow start and took a while to settle in, down by a few at the half. However, in the second half they were able to get comfortable and start hitting their shots. Junior captain Noah Brookman made his presence felt, getting to the basket with ease and finishing with 15 points. Zimmerman and Estep put up 19 and powered the Trojans to the win over Valhalla, 67-63, despite Julian Amrisa of Valhalla scoring 19 and 15 from Michael Martinez.

The Trojans entered the North Salem High School tournament with confidence high after a win and a recovery day, but they knew this weekend would be a tough task. They took on Carmel on Friday night, the 12^th, at North Salem and knew this was going to come down to the last few minutes, even from the start of the game. Again, it was Brookman and Estep coming up huge for the Trojans, and they were ultimately the deciding factors of the game, Estep scoring 15 and Brookman 19. The game was tied with five seconds left, and Estep made a driving layup through traffic to put the Trojans up two, ultimately getting the game winner, and the Trojans secured the win in a nail-biter showdown by those two points from Estep. The final score was 58-56.

The boys returned to North Salem the following day, playing the winner of the Pawling vs North Salem game, and that ended up being North Salem. The game was over from the start, and after total domination the Trojans destroyed North Salem to be crowned champions of the North Salem weekend tournament by a 76-38 score. Brookman scored a career-high 29 points and took home the tournament Most Valuable Player award. Estep suffered an apparent injury in the first half but was awarded the All-Tourney award.

With this championship win and a big week, the Trojans upgraded their record to 7-3 and entered the following week with tons of confidence.

The Trojans were scheduled to travel to Westlake for a contest Tuesday, Jan. 16 starting at 4:30 p.m. followed by another away game at Pleasantville on Thursday, Jan. 18 with the same start time. Their next home game is Friday, Jan. 19 vs Rye Neck with a 6:15 p.m. start. The Trojans will then play another game at home on Monday, Jan. 22 vs Ardsley at 6:15 p.m.