Schenevus ended a 60-game losing streak in boys basketball Friday with a 39-37 triumph against Gilbertsville-Mount Upton in Section IV action as Andrew Beams poured in 15 points.
Patrick Weinert added 11 points for Schenevus, which nearly surrendered a seven-point lead in the final 1:30.
"I'm so proud of my kids," first-year coach Tony Dilello told The Daily Star. "They've worked so hard all season and it's a reward for them. I think this is going to catapult us. The kids are going to start believing in themselves."
Free throws made the difference, with Schenevus (1-4) going 19-for-38 and G-MU just 2-for-2 from the line.
Schenevus' win came one night after Friendship snapped a 43-game losing streak spanning 971 days by downing Canaseraga 38-37 in overtime in Section V action. The Golden Eagles scored five points in the final 19 seconds of regulation and then rattled off seven of the first eight points in OT for their first triumph since the first round of the 2007 sectional tournament.
More basketball: A classic finish at the Rainbow Classic
Pittsford Sutherland remained unbeaten in Class A boys action with a 63-61 win over crosstown rival Mendon. Dan O'Keefe (15 points) scored on a drive to the bucket with :02 to go in overtime in the Rainbow Classic at the University of Rochester.
The event raised more than $21,000 for the Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong, bringing the nine-year total for the award-winning
Classic to well over $200,000.
* Guard Branden Frazier scored 19 points as No. 13 Bishop Loughlin topped No. 25 Abraham Lincoln 58-43 in Class AA boys basketball at the New Heights Holiday Hoops Festival at Fordham's Rose Hill Gym.
Lincoln rallied from a 28-19 deficit and knotted the score at 32 in the third quarter, but Jayvaughn Pinkston scored five points to key a 17-2 Loughlin run that extended into the fourth period.
Earlier in the week, Lincoln edged No. 11 Boys & Girls 61-58. Bishop Ford transfer Kamari Murphy produced 10 points, 18 rebounds and five blocked shots in the win, with Shaquille Stokes adding 18 points and five assists. Reuben King, a junior transfer from Nazareth, added 10 points.
* No. 3 Christ the King edged No. 8 Cardozo 57-54 behind Omar Calhoun's 21 points and 18 by Maurice Barrow.
Girls basketball: Averill Park rules the Section II roost
The Averill Park girls, ranked No. 1 in Class A by the New York State Sportswriters Association, scored a 45-36 victory over Class AA No. 3 Shenendehowa, as senior guard Michela Ottati returned from an injury to score 12 points on a quartet of 3-pointers.
Ottati, a transfer from Amsterdam, left with a second-quarter knee injury but returned to score the basket that snapped an 18-18 tie and gave AP the lead for good.
"Michela is a very important part of our team and when she went down, I think everybody kind of held their breath," Averill Park coach Sean Organ told The Saratogian. "I got out there and Michela, she was in pain. She felt like she tweaked her knee a little bit, she said she had some tingling and some numbness and she said she couldn’t quite feel her foot. I think she just cramped up."
* Taylor Palmer made five 3-pointers and scored 26 points for PSAL power South Shore in a 64-62 win over Mount Vernon's girls in the South Shore Invitational. Shanyce Stewart of Mount Vernon put up 10 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.
* Playing Long Beach (Calif.) Poly continues to make for a long day for New York City’s finest teams.
Last week, Long Beach Poly handled St. Michael Academy, the 2009 Federation champion, a 69-47 setback in the final of the Iolani Classic in Honolulu. This weekend, Christ the King suffered a setback at Poly’s hands.
A day after topping nationally ranked Dillard (Fla.), CTK fell to Poly, 58-54 in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix. The Royals cut into Poly’s 10-point lead in the third quarter as Penn State recruit Ariel Edwards (19 points, 8 rebounds) made a 3-pointer and Bria Smith converted a three-point play, but foul trouble and missed free throws down the stretch derailed the rally.
More basketball: Transfer issue heating up
Keep an eye on developments out of New York City following a report by The New York Post that puts the PSAL’s transfer policy under question. The newspaper’s investigation showed that eligibility approvals and denials appear to be issued rather inconsistently, leading coaches to wonder out loud whether favoritism is being shown.
PSAL eligibility coordinator Alan Blanc gave the OK to Lincoln junior Kamari Murphy last week on the grounds that he was not on Bishop Ford’s active roster when the PSAL began its investigation Dec. 4, even though Murphy had played in seven scrimmages for his former school.
"It's blatant," Boys & Girls coach Ruth Lovelace told the paper. "There's separate rules for different people. It's really sad."
The relationship between the PSAL and CHSAA has not been especially good in recent years, and the Murphy ruling is not likely to help. Blanc could not be reached for comment, the paper reported.
Odds and ends
* McQuaid defeated Massena 3-2 to give coach Al Vyverberg his 304th career victory, making him the all-time winningest hockey coach in Section V. Former Irondequoit coach Al Maerz held the sectional mark.
* Monsignor Farrell swept through four matches at the CHSAA Duals before the weekend blizzard swept in, and Ben Villaret broke the New York City record for career wrestling victories. Villaret went 3-0, tying the Staten Island and NYC career mark (147) set last year by Brian Traub of Petrides with his first victory of the day.
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at
