There hadn’t been an overtime in five days worth of semifinals, 16 games in all.

And on the first day of championship games, the first three titles were decided in overtimes.

First Tuckahoe—school where comebacks are almost as common as study halls, in all sports, especially football and basketball—beat Keio Academy in come-from-behind fashioon for the Class C boys title, its second gold ball in three seasons. It would have been a truly remarkable story if Keio had won. Imagine, a team of foreign-born players winning a championship in basketball, in a basketball hotbed.

Then Haldane’s girls, who lost a streak of 14 consecutive championships to Blind Brook last year, got revenge and beat Blind Brook for the ‘08 title, 41-40 in overtime. Brittney Shields won her fifth gold ball, and called it the sweetest, because of the revenge, and because it’s her senior year and every game now can be her last.

The game of the day, of the week—perhaps the best game and best atmosphere in this building since New Rochelle-Mount Vernon in 2005—was the Class B title game between North Salem and Briarcliff. North Salem won that one in overtime, too, knocking off the defending champ and favorite (even though North Salem was the No. 1 seed). The place was almost full, and it was loud and rowdy and the kids at times lost their cool—especially Joe Lombardi at the end of the game. He tried to punch the ball out of the arms of Marc Miller, and threw three uppercuts at the ball. He should have been thrown out of the gym, but he got a technical foul and fouled out and Miller’s three free throws iced the title.

But overall, the atmosphere was phenomenal. Just phenomenal. And today the big schools come to the gym for four title games. Whether any can match the crowd, or the quality of the Briarcliff-North Salem game, is doubtful. But we wouldn’t miss it for the world, just in case.