Relief had finally set in as Saranac Lake’s 27-year boys basketball title drought was finally over.

And considering the heartache the Red Storm had endured in the past two seasons, it felt like they were certainly due.

After coming up short in the championship game in back-to-back seasons, Saranac Lake narrowly defeated the Northeastern Clinton Cougars 41-37 Saturday morning at the Clinton Community College gym to earn its first Section VII, Class B crown since 1998.

“It’s a surreal feeling,” junior guard Zack McCarthy said. “We came here two years before and lost in close games. The first year we were freshmen and didn’t really play much, but got the experience. Last year we kind of got a real taste of what it was, and then we knew what we had to do this year and it feels great to get it done.”

Saranac Lake’s Cedar Crist celebrates with his father and coach Daryl Crist after winning Saranac Lake’s first boys basketball sectional title since 1998 on Saturday at the Clinton Community College gym Plattsburgh. The Red Storm boys beat the Northeastern Clinton Cougars 41-37. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

The Red Storm never led by more than five points on Saturday, and pulled out the gritty win through a strong defensive effort, against a squad that topped them last year in the championship.

“I’m exhausted,” Saranac Lake head coach Daryl Crist admitted. “It was a really tough game, they’re a really tough team but it was something that was our goal and to fight to get there it’s awesome.”

Cedar Crist, who was named the game’s MVP, scored a team-high 13 points as Mik Denkenberger added 11 for the Red Storm, which improved to 15-7 overall. Teammates Dillon Wilson scored five, while McCarthy, Sam Clark and Gunner Harrison had four points each.

It was truly “a complete team effort,” as most of Saranac Lake’s games have been this season. Rather than just one player making key plays, they’ve relied on multiple different guys on both ends of the court.

“Sam Clark had a stretch in the first half, Zack Goetz had a stretch and Gunner Harrison (too), you can go right down the line,” Coach Crist said. “If you’re going to win these games, players have to make plays and we’ve stressed that and we just give them the confidence to go out and make plays.”

From left, Saranac Lake’s captains Cedar Crist, Dillon Wilson, Mik Denkenberger and Zack McCarthy hoist the Section VII championship trophy after beating the Northeastern Clinton Cougars on Saturday in Plattsburgh. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Saranac Lake led by just one point at the end of both the first and second quarters. But even when the Red Storm took a five-point advantage late in the third quarter, the Cougars responded with a three straight points to cut the deficit to two before the final period.

During the fourth quarter, McCarthy and Goetz recorded late-game steals, and the Red Storm forwards hauled in key offensive and defensive rebounds to en route to the title.

“We knew that Northeastern Clinton was going to be strong underneath and we were just really focused on battling,” Coach Crist said. “At halftime we were even with rebounds — they might’ve had an advantage on offensive — but I think Gunner Harrison coming in as a freshman kind of got us going in the offensive rebounding.”

Logen Magoon scored a game-high 19 points while Colton Castine had eight points for the Cougars, which ended their season with a 14-8 overall record. Ashton Turner and Maxx Rabideau scored four points each and Marcus Morales had two. It’s only the second time this season that Northeastern Clinton was held to below 40 points in a game.

During the regular season, the Cougars topped the Red Storm 49-37, and even won seven of its last eight games. But McCarthy said the energy was completely different this time around.

“We took the bus ride there last time and we were all mopey coming off the bus, tired and exhausted for some reason,” he said. “It was a long week. But we came out with a different type of energy today and we knew what to do and we go it done.”

Coach Crist credited his bench players, who he said helped prepare the starters.

“I’d like to say that we can’t do it without the boys like Levi Lambert, Noah Hastings, Finn Maiore, Austin Webb-Brown, Elias Willett, those guys pushed the guys that played in this game, and they really prepared us this week as they’ve done all season,” he said.

“And we had a really good plan for their zones, which I think we were a little bit more focused on attacking their zone pressure and just players got to make plays, and these players made plays,” Crist added.

Saturday’s title was the culmination of years in the making, and even something they’ve dreamt about. Most of the players have been competing alongside one another for several years.

“I’ve been playing with these guys since age 3 or 4 and it just feels so great to come all this way looking back from the top,” Cedar Crist said.

“We work hard every day for this,” Denkenberger said. “We play year-round just grinding every day to get to this moment.”

During the first practice of the season, the Saranac Lake team wrote down a list of their goals, No. 1 was of course winning that sectional title. But after falling short in back-to-back seasons, it came with a bit of adversity.

“People were hating on us and said we wouldn’t make it,” Denkenberger said. “And we (may have) lost to them earlier in the season, but we just proved them wrong (today).”

For Coach Crist, who took over the reins before the 2022-23 season and helped guide that team to its first championship appearance since 2007, winning the title means things they’re doing things the right way.

“We talk a lot about our journey and climbing the mountain and the boys just hung together and they believed, and they believed in each other,” he said. “They’re great teammates, we’ve got a great locker room.”

The players seem to have bought in. They’ve amassed 40 wins — and just 26 losses — since Coach Crist began. To put that into perspective, Saranac Lake had exactly 40 total wins across the seven seasons prior to when he took over in 2022.

“The foundation was laid three years ago with the players that have come through,” Coach Crist said. “Now its down into the younger guys where it’s just a belief in the program, family-focused kind of program. We all fight for each other and the program, we’re just operating at a really high-level because of the boys buying in.”

Up next, the Red Storm will compete in the NYSPHSAA Class B state subregional round against the Section 2 champions, who are yet to be determined. That game will be at 5 p.m. at the Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park on March 11.

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Saranac Lake 41, Northeastern Clinton 37

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Cougars 12 8 12 5 — 37

Red Storm 13 8 13 7 — 41

Individual stats

SL — Zack McCarthy 2-0-4; Cedar Crist 5-0-13; Mik Denkenberger 4-3-11; Dillon Wilson 2-1-5; Alius Martelle 0-0-0; Sam Clark 2-0-4; Connor Gillis 0-0-0; Zack Goetz 0-0-0; Gunner Harrison 1-2-4; Noah Hastings 0-0-0; Levi Lambert 0-0-0; Finn Maiore 0-0-0; Austin Webb-Brown 0-0-0; Elias Willett 0-0-0. Totals: 16-6-41.

NCCS — S. Rabideau 0-0-0; Reed 0-0-0; Turner 2-0-4; Carpenter 0-0-0; T. Rabideau 0-0-0; Magoon 7-4-19; Castine 3-2-8; M. Rabideau 1-1-4; Morales 1-0-2; Cudemo 0-0-0; Carpenter 0-0-0; Carton 0-0-0; Burgins 0-0-0. Totals: 14-7-37.

3-point goals: NCCS (2): Magoon, M. Rabideau. SL (3): Crist 3.