PREP BASKETBALL: 2009 Herald preview — Knights look to finally end state championship drought

ALBANY — 66-40.

That’s the score of last season’s GISA Class AAA championship game loss against Mount Vernon Presbyterian, which is written on the Deerfield-Windsor boys’ game shoes this year.

It’s a reminder of what the Knights are lacking, despite their success during the past four years: a state championship.

After reaching the state championship game in three of the past four seasons, and the semifinals in 2007 — only to still be chasing the program’s first state championship since 2002-03 — coach Gordy Gruhl’s team is more motivated than ever to take that next step.

“You don’t have the success these guys have had and not be winners, but certainly, there’s been a disappointment about not winning that final game,” Gruhl said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a team that’s been more motivated or worked harder as a group over the summer than this team has. There’s been some tremendous development, and some have been kids who have improved just over the summer, and that’s through hard work.”

The Knights also could be a state championship contender because four starters return. The guard-heavy lineup of Sean Jones, Michael Matthews and Banks Kinslow, along with the return of 6-foot-5 Jordan Alexander in the post, will get more help in height by Albany transfer Reggie Brown, who is a 6-6 guard.

They are all seniors, except for Kinslow, who is a junior.

Gruhl would stop short of saying that this is the program’s best chance to win state since 2002-03, however.

“I would say we have as good a chance as we have had in the past four years,” Gruhl said. “I certainly wouldn’t trade teams with anybody this year. I like what we have coming back.”

Matthews said he can sense something special about this year’s Knights.

“I can see something different,” Matthews said. “Just going to the gym, and us staying 30 minutes later, we’re working as hard as we can. We know this is our last chance as seniors. We’ve played together for four years. We really want it and are working harder than ever before.”

Brown, who also could help the Knights in the post after Evan Boyd’s graduation, is a player Gruhl thinks can make an immediate impact.

“He’s going to be a great part,” Gruhl said. “He can jump, rebound. The last couple of years, we lost inside a lot and he can really help us in there rebounding and scoring points for us.”

For Brown, who was

not part of a region

championship team at Albany, he sees this as a way to achieve many different dreams at once.

“It would really be special,” Brown said. “It’s every kid’s dream to win a high school state title. To accomplish that would be really great.”

And since Brown is in his first year on

the team, he already has heard plenty about last season’s heartbreaking state championship loss.

“Every day, they remind me,” he said.