left to right: Aram Yegoryan, Eddie Shamlian, Scott Zakian, Fred Dursunian, Allan Babaian.
Bastetball team is holding "open to all" practices at Louis Armstrong school located at corner of Northern Blvd & Junction Blvd every Tuesday night. Practices are open for the men's age group from 7-9 pm.
For additional information or to join the teams email us at HomenetmenNY@yahoo.com
July 5, 2008- Five Homenetmen of New York senior team players set there sites on the Homenetmen annual games held this year in Chicago. First they were very hesitant about going with only 5 players but they believed that if they were going to win they needed these five on the court. Their first game was against Toronto; a young upcoming team. Led by the inside presence of Scott Zakian New York took an early lead and closed the doors in the second half with the shooting of Allan Babaian.
Next morning New York’s opponent was New Jersey. New York started slow while New Jersey took a 14 point lead into halftime. New York knew that a loss now would require them playing more games and with only 5 players New York needed to rest instead of playing 3-4 games. In the second half NY came out with great intensity on defense and went on a 31 to 2 run to take a 15 point lead with only 4:32 left in the game. New York would go on and win the game by 16 points and face the two time champion Providence team in the afternoon game.
Against Providence New York started strong and took a 10 point lead early. Providence always played NY a box and one due to the 3-point shooting of Allan Babaian. With Scott Zakian hitting a couple of 3’s and Freddie Dursunian hitting mid range jumpers, Providence quickly went to man defense. The lead quickly disappeared when Providence started making shots and New York fell into foul trouble. With only 5 guys New York was forced to play soft due to foul trouble. Providence took advantage of this and pounded the ball inside and got to the free-throw line. Providence took a 20 point lead late in the game. New York never gave up and cut the lead to 6-points but couldn’t close the gap since Scott Zakian and Freddie Dursunian fouled out of the game with 2 minutes remaining. Providence would go on and win the game to advance to the finals. The New York team learned a good lesson from this to “never give up and always play hard”.
Saturday morning New York found out that New Jersey had beat Detroit and Toronto to advance. So New York and New Jersey would face each other once again this time in the semi-finals. The winner would play a rested and very confident Providence team who was waiting for the winner. Allan Babaian came out strong and aggressively hitting 3-point shots against New Jersey. He hit 6 three pointers to give New York an 18 point lead early in the game. With helpless New Jersey having no answer for Allan’s shooting and Eddie Shamlian’s defense against New Jersey’s best offensive player New York kept the lead in the 20 point range throughout. As the door slowly closed for New Jersey, New York new they had no time to celebrate their 68-35 victory because they had to face a very confident and fast Providence team in 3 hours.
The stage was set for a rematch of last year's final New York against Providence; who were going for a three-peat. Providence started strong hitting 6 of the first 7 shots they took against a new zone defense implemented by Scott Zakian to stop their guards from penetrating. With Providence not being able to drive and get to the line they had to rely on their outside shooting. New York used that to their advantage turning forced shots into fast breaks. Aram Yegoryan took upon himself to break the defense down and create for his teammates. While Providence was trying to stop Aram from getting into the paint Eddie Shamlian and Scott Zakian put New York up by 5 points going in the half. The second half started just like the first ended. New York came out hungrier and full of energy. Freddy Dursunian taking control of the offensive boards and giving New York multiple 2nd chance opportunities. Eddie Shamlian converted on several base line jumpers to give New York a game high 12 point lead with 10 minutes to play. New York knew Providence had one run in them so they turned to the defense that had helped keep this strong offensive team down for more then 32 minutes. As Providence chipped the lead away, a huge block by Aram and lay-up by Allan put NY up by 5 points. Eddie Shamlian again came up with the defensive play of the game, a huge steal with a minute to go and NY claming to a 3 point lead. Scott Zakian would hit 2 free throws late to put NY up 6 with 10 second in the game. New York had pulled off the impossible the unthinkable a 57-50 victory with 5 players. This was another great victory in the history of Homenetmen of New York Basketball, matching the first championship in 1991 when six players defeated the favorite Boston team playing in Boston.
ALL TIME BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT RESULTS
Men (19+)
1991 Champions
1992 Second place
1993 lost in semi finals
1994 Second place
1995 Champions
1996 Second place
1997 Champions
1998 Champions
1999 Second place
2000 Champions
2001 out in semi-finals
2002 Did Not Participate (DNF)
2003 Champions
2004 out in second round
2005 Champions
2006 out in second round
2007 Second place
2008 Champions
Junior boys (15-18)
1999 Champions
2000 Champions
2001 Second place
2002 Did Not Participate (DNP)
2003 DNP
2004 out in second round
Midget boys (14-12)
1999 Champions
2000 DNP
2001 DNP
2002 DNP
2003 Champions
2004 DNP
2005 out in 2nd round
2006 out in 2nd round
Junior girls (15-18)
1999 Second place
2000 DNP
2001 DNP
2002 DNP
2003 Second place
2004 out in semi finals
Girls (19+)
2005 out in 2nd round
2006 out in semi-finals
Veteran Men (35+)
1999 Champions
For additional information or to join the teams email us at HomenetmenNY@yahoo.com