VICTOR, N.Y. (WHEC) – Last year broke the curse – Victor boys basketball won their first Sectionals Championship since 1978. But it didn’t end there. The team won a few more games and got another banner for winning the state championship.

“The last time we won there wasn’t even a State Tournament. Once we won that, States seemed like a far fetched dream but it became a reality,” said senior captain Garrett Clar.

The Blue Devils began the 2023-24 season as defending state champions. It seemed like a longshot after they got the 7 seed in the Class Double A Sectionals. But on Saturday, Victor knocked off the top team in the State, undefeated Greece Athena.

“When you get a win in the Sectional Finals, especially in Blue Cross, the big house as everyone likes to call it, against the number one team in the state. It’s pretty amazing nonetheless and we got a great group of guys so it’s even better to do it with them,” said senior captain Nicholas Leonard.

“We obviously knew in the back of our minds that Greece Athena was the number one team in the state, still undefeated. The goal was to put the first loss in that loss column and raise the block,” said Clar.

The block was raised with the commotion of the celebration. But behind the scenes – attention to detail is what makes this team.

“These guys work together and no challenge is too big for them. Every day in practice how hard they work is I think what makes them special,” said head coach Tyler Roberts.

“Even though we have regionals in a week, we don’t want to have light practices throughout the week. We still want to get one percent better every day,” said Clar.

Counting out the 7-seed might not be too smart for a team that only cares about two numbers – one percent better every day and the winning score on the scoreboard.