Daily Sports Digest: NYSPHSAA Considers Cancelling State Tournaments Due to Costs

Nearly two years ago the state’s economy caused New York to cancel the and it appears more drastic cuts may be coming in the near future.

In a story first reported by MSG Varsity’s Rich Thomaselli the New York State Public High School Athletic Association is engaging in preliminary discussions that could cancel all of the state’s tournaments for two years, if not longer.

Spring Sports Practice Begins

Monday was the first official day of the high school spring sports season, with teams holding meetings and officially beginning practice. For pictures and video from Pearl River High School and a poll asking which of the Pirates' teams has the best shot at winning a section title this spring, click here. 

Pearl River has defending section championship teams in girls track and field, softball and girls lacrosse, though some members of those teams are still a little busy with the winter with the Pearl River girls basketball team set to play Averill Park in the state semifinals Friday 3:15 p.m. at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY. 

For example, senior guard Allison Cook is also a starter for the lacrosse team and sophomore guard Samantha Alicandri is the top candidate to take over at shorstop for the softball team now that Gemma Mahoney graduated.

Check back with Patch in the upcoming weeks as we will have previews of all of your favorite local sports and teams.

Today’s Schedule

Iona College, Westchester’s only Division 1 basketball program, returns to the NCAA Tournament tonight as they take on BYU in Dayton Ohio in the tournament’s “First Four.” The game will be played at 9:10 p.m. and can be seen on truTV.

College Sports Notebook

Making its first postseason appearance since 2006, the Manhattan men’s basketball team will meet Albany in the opening round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.

The Jaspers and Great Danes will meet for only the second time in the programs’ history and for the first time at the NCAA Division I level on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at SEFCU Arena on the campus of the University at Albany.

Sophomore Ralph Watts of Peekskill, a 6-foot-5 swingman, is averaging three points, two assists and two rebounds per game for Albany, with 14 steals.

Albany posted a 19-14 overall record and finished fourth in the America East with a 9-7 conference record.

The Jaspers took third place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with a 12-6 league record, marking their highest conference finish in six years. Jaspers first-year head coach Steve Massillon of White Plains, a former assistant to Rick Pitino at Louisville, orchestrated the biggest turnaround in NCAA Division I as the Jaspers finished the regular-season with 14 more wins than last season.

Junior guard George Bemoan of Roslyn was named fist-team all-MAAC after leading the conference in scoring with 18.6 points per game.

Liam McCabe-Moran of New Rochelle, a Rye High grad, is averaging five points and two rebounds for the Jaspers, with 21 steals.

Mortarboard musings

• The University of the District of Columbia men’s basketball team, seeded eighth, was held off by No. 2 seed Stonehill, 65-61, in the NCAA East Region quarterfinals at Laska Gym in Worcester, MA. The Firebirds, playing in their first NCAA Tournament in 25 years, finished the season 22-6 overall under coaches Jeff Ruland and Anthony Iati, both former standout players at Iona College. Stonehill (22-8) advances to the semifinal round against No. 3 seed Adelphi.

• The University of Vermont men's basketball team, which includes Brian Voelkel of Pleasantville, travels to Dayton, OH, to face No. 16 Lamar in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday starting at 6:30 p.m. The Catamounts earned a No. 16 seed after defeating Stony Brook 51-43 for the AmericaEast championship, a game in which Voelkel, an Iona Prep alum, pulled down 15 rebounds with seven assists, five points and a steal for good measure.

• West Virginia University, the No. 10 seed, will face No. 7 seed Gonzaga (25-6) in an NCAA Tournament second-round game on Thursday at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. The Mountaineers are coming off a 71-67 double-overtime loss to Connecticut, but senior forward Kevin Jones of Mount Vernon scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a very-strong losing effort. Jones is averaging 20 points and 11 rebounds per game.
• The Dominican College baseball team in Orangeburg, coming off tough conference losses to Saint Anselm, 8-6 in 10 innings, and Merrimack, 4-2, hopes to rebound today at Queens College in another non-conference game. Andrew Camardella of Pelham had two RBI against St. Anselm, and a two-run double against Merrimack.
  
  

Weekly Sports Poll

In poll the New York Jets and General Manager Mike Tannenbaum decided not to listen to our results as the team made Mark Sanchez the seventh highest paid quarterback in the NFL and told Peyton Manning to look for work elsewhere.

Over 51 percent felt the Jets would be best served to spend the money and bring in Manning for a few years to mentor the Sanchize, but Tannenbaum and crew feel that the fourth year quarterback is both the present and future.

It’s March, so this week’s poll question deals with the topic that will be on everyone’s mind for the next month: The NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky and Syracuse come into the field of 68 as the top two seeds but as we all know, anything can happen in March.

Let us know what number one seed you think has the best chance to win it all this season in our , and if you don’t think any of them will win let us know in the comments section.

Download the movie