New Mr. Basketball playing for hometown
GLENS FALLS -- Tobias Harris sat on a bench outside of a Civic Center locker room, unlacing his golden high tops. Turns out Mr. Basketball takes his shoes off just like the rest of us, one at a time.
Like the Mr. Basketballs who come through this place each spring, there's a rarefied air around Harris. The Division I scholarships, his to Tennessee, the different way the ball leaves their hands, the height on their dunks.
For a while Saturday, East High School of Rochester made Harris fairly ordinary. Sure, he got his, but they stayed in the game, even tied it late off a Harris turnover. But almost inevitably, with about eight seconds left, the ball ended up in his hands and through the hoop for the game-winning shot and a trip to the state Class AA for his Half Hollow Hills West team.
Had he lost, it would have been surprising, but not shocking. The track record of Mr. Basketballs here recently includes more losses than wins. It also includes a curious lineage.
Two years ago, Sylven Landesberg played one game here in the Federation Tournament for Holy Cross, a resounding loss to Lincoln.
That Lincoln team happened to include Lance Stephenson, who'd go on to be the next season's co-Mr. Basketball.
Stephenson's last game here, also in the Federation Tournament, ended in an embarrassing loss to Rice. The player he shared it with, Jamesville-DeWitt's Brandon Triche won a Class A state title, but lost his final high school game in the Federation Tournament to Long Island Lutheran.
A Long Island Lutheran team that included none other than Tobias Harris. Got all that?
Tobias has a chance to do more than end the little Mr. Basketball losing skid on Sunday against Christian Brothers Academy of Albany. He could likely become the first player to win a state title and a Federation championship for two different schools.
Tournament director Doug Kenyon and public address announcer Bill Wetherbee, keepers of the tournaments' histories if anyone is, couldn't recall a player to pull such a double.
It's one astute fans in Glens Falls could have seen coming. During a Long Island Lutheran game here last year, Harris' family members noticeably exchanged words with the coaching staff from behind the bench. A divorce was imminent, like as soon as the final whistle blew.
Harris, along with his brother Tyler, a year younger, transferred back to Hills West in their hometown of Dix Hills. It's the school he began his high school career at and the one he'll end it at, whether that comes Sunday or next week.
"I wasn't really having that much fun," Harris said of his season last year.
He is now. Reunited with coach Bill Mitaritonna, who calls Harris "part of his family," he said he's having the most fun he's ever had playing basketball.
"There's not a day we don't stop practice to bust out laughing," Mitaritonna said.
Lest the transfer stain his reputation, or paint him as a diva, Harris comes across as a good kid.
Minutes after a win he called an "escape," Harris had a modest, sunny disposition.
He pointed down the hall, to where a few East High School of Rochester players sat with their heads between their hands, and said, "That's a good team right there."
He's the kind of kid who learned the finer points of the finger roll from George Gervin - his father, a former NBA agent, set it up - and sharp elbows from his sister, Tesia, a junior at the University of Delaware.
"We don't play that much anymore because it ended in a fight," Harris said. "She don't like to lose, I don't like to lose either."
Good thing he doesn't do it much. Hills West's only loss this season came via forfeit over a player eligibility issue.
It's a far cry from last year, when the Colts lost in the first round of the playoffs.
Tobias and Tyler scored 39 of the team's 59 points on Saturday. Mitaritonna insists he's happy to have him the smooth 6-foot-9 kid back for than the obvious reasons.
"First of all, I missed him," Mitaritonna said. "He's such a magnetic personality."
Sunday, Harris will get a chance to end that Mr. Basketball slide, make some history, and probably most importantly, win a state title for his hometown rather than an adopted private school. He'll be playing for his friends, for Dix Hills.
"It's different," he said of this tournament. "The whole community is behind you."
