College Snaps 49-Game Losing Streak

After three years of futility, the Ulster County Community College men’s basketball team finally found a friend.

The Senators, who had lost 49 straight games since early 1987, snapped out of the doldrums Wednesday night in Coach Chris Farina’s first game, edging Berkshire Community College 73-72.

Berkshire was unable to get off a shot in the game’s final 17 seconds, and its last chance at victory was thwarted when David Vandermark came up with a steal as the gun sounded.

That’s when bedlam broke out among the Senators.

“We didn’t know how to act,” Farina said. “We never talked about the streak. I thought we were going to the nationals. I looked at my assistant, and we were wondering if we were in the same game. All you could hear was ‘The streak is over! The streak is over!’ We might as well have beaten Kansas the way the kids reacted.”