Keith Robinson delivers triple-double, Hudson basketball to play for state championship
· Yahoo Sports
BINGHAMTON - The fans behind the bench for the Hudson boys' basketball team could only stop cheering long enough to snap photos as the Bluehawks proudly stood on the floor at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena.
Out there, Keith Robinson, the team's senior star point guard, lifted a yellow sign that simply said: "State Final Bound."
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For the first time in school history, the Bluehawks will indeed play in a state championship game.
Hudson took down a defensive dynamo Thursday in Tappan Zee, the Section 1 champion that entered the game allowing an average of just 37.3 points per game. Junior guard Ryan Conte scored a career-high 20 points and Robinson finished with a triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists as the fourth-ranked Bluehawks stunned Tappan Zee 57-45 in the Class A semifinals.
"This is absolutely crazy," said Conte, who drained 9 of 10 shots from the field.
Hudson (23-2), which never trailed Thursday, will take on No. 1 ranked Westhill (26-0) Friday night for the championship. Game time is slated for 7:45 p.m. at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena.
The Bluehawks scored the first 10 points of the game and went 7-for-11 from the floor in the opening quarter to build a 16-6 lead.
"That was very big for us. We knew coming in they were a very good defensive team, so getting that lead on them early fueled us up," Robinson said. "We knew that it was our game. We kept firing and firing. It was a game of runs, but we never let up."
The Bluehawks made 52.3% of its shot attempts (23 of 44), compared to 33.9% accuracy by the Dutchmen.
Two baskets from Robinson opened the fourth quarter to provide Hudson a 43-29 advantage. Tappan Zee's Isiah Leveille scored and the Dutchmen decided to double-team Robinson every time he touched the ball the rest of the game, but the senior point guard handled that attention and twice set up Conte for baskets to extend the lead to 47-31.
"They tried to trap us and come back. We were able to handle it and get through," Conte said.
"They double-teamed me and my teammates stepped up," said Robinson, who will enter play Friday having scored 2,703 career points, which ranks No. 2 in Section 2 history. "With two people on me, somebody is open and you have to find them."
Robinson said the Dutchmen were the best defensive team the Bluehawks have faced. Tappan Zee allowed just one opponent prior to Thursday's game to reach 50 points. No opponent produced better offensive numbers against the Dutchmen this season than Hudson.
"I feel like our team lives off motivation. Once we make a run, we show that we're here to play. We go off of straight heart," Conte said.
"Listen, I can't be any more proud of these guys. Like I told them in the locker room, obviously, their game plan was to slow down Keith as much as possible. They did a pretty good job of that in the first half," Hudson coach Shawn Briscoe said. "Cam (Clarke) and Ryan tonight just stepped up huge. Cam had a lot buckets early (scoring eight points). Ryan killed it in the second half."
Briscoe said reaching 50 points was the goal entering the game, believing the Bluehawks would prevail if they reached that mark.
Thursday's contest marked the second time Hudson competed in a state semifinal. The 2016 team fell 58-38 against Olean in the Class B tournament.
Now, on Friday, the 2026 squad plays for a state championship.
"You dream of this," Conte said. "This is just so crazy."
This article originally published at Keith Robinson delivers triple-double, Hudson basketball to play for state championship.