JOHNSTOWN – The Raiders have completed a successful, winning regular season and are now prepping for the Region 3 championship tournament. The tourney will be played this coming Friday through Sunday at Finger Lakes CC in Canandaigua.

There are 17 men's basketball teams in Region 3. The top eight squads earn berths in the postseason tournament. FM has been assigned the #8 seed and will play #1-seeded Herkimer on Friday.

Herkimer's Generals (26-3) have had a most impressive season, but the Raiders played them twice this season and played them on even terms. The FM Five went to Herkimer on January 8 and came close to winning. Herkimer finally won the game by a single point, 58-57.

The Generals then marched into the Raiders Den on February 4.  Again, the Raiders fought them on even terms. FM led 65-62 going into the final minute of play, and still led 65-64 until, with 18.4 seconds left, Herkimer scored the winning basket. The Generals needed every weapon in their arsenal to win that one-point squeeker.

Photo:  Barceem Dukes scoring against Herkimer on Feb. 4

Head Coach Ed Collar's Raiders enjoyed two six-game winning streaks this season. FM also defeated #3-seeded Corning CC, at Corning on January 19.

FM finished the regular season with an overall mark of 15-12 and a Mountain Valley Conference record of 9-9. They ended the campaign by winning two of their last three games.

Seedings and Friday game times:

#1 Herkimer vs. #8 Fulton-Montgomery  8:00 p.m.
#2 Mohawk Valley vs. #7 Columbia-Greene  1:00 p.m.
#3 Corning CC vs. #6 North Country CC  3:00 p.m.
#4 Finger Lakes CC vs. #5 SUNY Delhi.  6:00 p.m.

                  C.J. Bonny, website writer

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