By: Matthew Salvi, Spring 2026 Intern
The 47th Annual New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Boys Basketball State Championships will return to Visions Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton for the second straight year and the fifth time since 2017. The tournament tips off on Thursday, March 19th and goes through Sunday, March 22nd.
“Section IV and the community are very excited to host this event once again,” said Jeff Baier, NYSPHSAA Tournament Director and Section IV Basketball Coordinator. “We have a great arena and hard working crew of volunteers who are ready to roll out the red carpet and provide a great experience for student-athletes, coaches and fans.”
Visions Veterans Memorial Arena hosted from 2017-19 following 38 consecutive years (1981-2016) at Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls. Glens Falls then won back the bid from 2022-24, and late in 2024, Binghamton won the bid back from 2025 through the 2027 season. (No event was held in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID.) From 1978-80, Rochester hosted the Boys Basketball State Championships.
Both girls and boys basketball state tournaments are in their third year of six classifications which has extended the tournament to a Thursday through Sunday event for a total of 18 games at each site. Over those four days, 24 teams will compete in each tournament in semifinals and finals with champions crowned Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday morning when the finals take place.
This year, Class AAA features three teams who have never won a state championship with Fairport (Section V), Corning-Painted Post (Section IV), and Mamaroneck (Section I) qualifying this year. CBA Albany (Section 2) rounds out the Class AAA teams and won its last title in 2010. The Class AA bracket has a field of teams who have never won the state crown – Penfield (Section V), Seton Catholic Central (Section IV), Amsterdam (Section 2), Rye (Section I).
Class A will feature two teams who both won in 2023 in separate classes. Tappan Zee (Section I) won the Class A for its first ever title and Westhill (Section III) took the Class B crown marking their sixth championship in school history. Maine-Endwell (Section IV) and Hudson (Section 2) are seeking their first every state championship.
The Class B representatives include a trio of schools looking to win their first championships in boys basketball. These schools are Olmsted (Section VI), Kipp Capital (Section 2) and Carle Place (Section VIII). Marcellus (Section III) will be looking to become a repeat champions as they won in 2025 avenging a 2024 state finals loss.
Class C will feature Lyons (Section V) which won its only title in 1989, and they will match up against Cooperstown (Section III). Which captured its only state title in 2019. The other matchup will feature Berne-Knox Westerlo (Section 2) against North Salem (Section 1). BKW dominated its competition in 2025 to go undefeated the entire season and win the state title while its opponent North Salem is seeking its first championship.
In Class D, Bridgehampton (Section XI) leads the group of qualifiers with nine state championships with its last state crown in 2015. Last year, Bridgehampton lost in the 2025 state finals. Sackets Harbor Central (Section III) had a similar result in 2024 falling the state final. The other two teams in Class D—Clymer (Section VI) and Bolton (Section VII)—are in search of their school’s first championship.
There will be six sessions of tournament play over four days. The first game on Thursday will begin at 2:30 pm, which will be the Class B semi-final between Olmsted (Section VI) and Marcellus (Section III).
Tickets can be purchased only online at www.gofan.co/NYSPHSAA. The cost is $13.60 for a general admission ticket for the entire session (includes fees). Premium seating behind the baskets are also available online as well. Suites may be purchased for each session at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena by contacting Chris Joyce at cjoyce@nysphsaa.org.
All semifinals and finals will be streamed on the NFHS Network, the official broadcasting partner of NYSPHSAA.