Last
March marked the 10th anniversary of Mount Vernon's 28-0 season en
route to a Federation Class AA championship in boys basketball.
And
this past weekend offered an explanation as to why 2000 was the last time New
York has seen perfection at the highest level. A string of upsets did a
number on a bunch of the state's top-ranked teams, reminding both
players and fans that the margin for error is brutally thin.
A few examples:
*
In Section V, a sub-.500
Fairport team handed Irondequoit its first
loss, 63-44. Irondequoit was ready to burst into the state rankings
after a thrilling mid-week upset victory of its own – 73-70 over
Rush-Henrietta – sparked by 30 points from
Josiah Smith.
* In
Section II, a 3-6
LaSalle Institute (Troy) team scored the biggest shocker of the
Albany-area season with a 68-66 triumph over Troy as
Tyler Reed poured
in 26 points and the team made 15 of 18 free throws.
* In the
CHSAA,
Bishop Loughlin (Brooklyn) (5-5) followed up a quality win against Dobbins
Tech five days earlier by upsetting Xaverian, 56-54.
And a good
Holy Cross (Flushing) team dropped its CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens opener to St. Francis
Prep before righting the ship Sunday and tacking another loss on
Xaverian, 71-60, as 6-foot-9 forward
Marcus Hopper led the way with 18
points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Of course, not all
the losses of note were necessarily upsets. Syracuse CBA, generally
regarded as the best Class AA team in Section III, fell to
Jamesville-DeWitt (DeWitt), New York's No. 1 Class A team.
Pete Drescher
made two 3-point buckets and a pair of 3-point plays to highlight the
59-46 victory for the Rams, who bridged the second and third quarters
with a 15-0 spurt. Junior
DaJuan Coleman had 14 points and 14 rebounds.
MORE BASKETBALL: TWO SCARY SCENES Two
incidents last week served as a reminder that emotions run high among
young people and that vigilance is essential if we're going to avoid
tragedy.
First, Newburgh's game at Kingston had to be stopped with 14.2 seconds to go and Newburgh was declared a 58-53 winner.
Officials
called the game after fans charged the floor during a skirmish between
players. Officers from the City of Kingston Police, Ulster County
Sheriff's Department and the state police handled the incident and
largely restored order within two minutes.
No arrests were made,
but it's likely that the lasting images some people will take away from
the chaos were vulgar chants from the home fans and the sight of a
police dog being brought onto the court to help restore order.
The
PSAL acted swiftly when two of its teams had an on-court confrontation
Thursday. South Shore was canceled out of its next scheduled game – the
PSAL Mid-Winter Classic at St. Francis College against McKee/Staten
Island Tech – after the altercation in its game vs. Thomas Jefferson.
The
league also left open the possibility of more sanctions after newspaper
accounts said a South Shore player allegedly struck an opponent in the head while officials were resolving a question at the
scorer's table.
Some fans ran onto the court after the
third-quarter punch before coaches and school safety officers
intervened. The players were ejected and the game continued, with
South Shore upsetting Jefferson, 69-64.
GIRLS BASKETBALL: MILESTONE VICTORYElba coach
Tom Nowak picked up his 400th Section V coaching victory as the Lancers
routed Oakfield-Alabama 55-22 to improve to 5-2 this season.
Nowak
should have some company in the Rochester area soon as Phil White of
Bloomfield (396 wins) and Steve Willoughby (Honeoye Falls-Lima, 392)
are closing in.
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
johnschianosports@gmail.com.
