Thursday, March 21, 2013: LuHi's Facey wins Gatorade basketball award

   Leading off today: Long Island Lutheran senior standout Kentan Facey has become his school's second star in three years to be selected Gatorade's New York boys basketball player of the year.

   The announcement came Thursday, a day ahead of LuHi's Class AA semifinal against Abraham Lincoln in the Federation tournament in Albany.

   The 6-foot-9, 205-pound forward has led the Crusaders to a 24-2 record and the No. 1 spot in the New York State Sportswriters Association Class AA rankings. The UConn recruit is averaging 14.5 points, 12.2 rebounds and 3.8 blocked shots this season.

   Another UConn recruit, Ossining's Saniya Chong, won the Gatorade girls basketball award last week. LuHi's Achraf Yacoubou was the boys recipient in 2011.

   Coaching news: Hackley girls basketball coach Shelagh Amann has resigned after posting a 202-43 record and winning five state independent schools titles in 10 seasons, The Journal News reported.

   “It was a personal decision on her part,” Hackley AD Jason Edwards said. “We respect her decision, but from my perspective as the AD, she’s a huge loss for Hackley School."

   Amann previously spent nine seasons as coach at Maria Regina and has 353 career victories.

   Just for fun: In honor of the NCAA basketball tournament, MaxPreps.com is rolling out a fantasy tournament consisting of 50 state champions and 18 at-large teams based on two sets of national rankings.

   MaxPreps is projecting Christ the King as its New York representative, figuring the Royals to win the Federation tournament this weekend.

   Details of the fantasy tourney can be found on the MaxPreps site.

   Awaiting a decision: The high school baseball future of Westhill senior Juan Carlos Pena is in the hands of State Supreme Court Justice James P. Murphy in Syracuse, who is expected to render a decision by next week, The Post-Standard reported.

   Pena is seeking to overturn a Section 3 ruling that he is essentially a fifth-year senior athletically, making the potential pro draft pick ineligible to play this spring. (See earlier story.)

   Pena and his attorney, Danny Mevec, argued in court that extenuating circumstances prevented Pena from playing high school baseball in 2010 while living in the Dominican Republic. He had played the previous season

More N.Y. postseason coverage All sports • NYSSWA site for brackets of tournaments from the past and present seasons. Boys basketball • Federation schedule • Road to Glens Falls for scores and stats. • NYSPHSAA tourney brackets • Current state rankings. Girls basketball • Road to Troy for scores and stats. • Federation schedule • NYSPHSAA tourney brackets • Current state rankings. Ice hockey • NYSSWA site for tournament brackets. • Current state rankings. Wrestling • 2013 state meet results: D-I | D-II • Final state rankings.

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in Perth Amboy, N.J., as a freshman, thereby starting his four-year eligibility clock under NYSPHSAA rules.

   Streak over: Western High in Las Vegas has ended a 110-game losing streak spanning parts of seven softball seasons. Western scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to edge Canyon Springs High from North Las Vegas 12-9, The Review-Journal reported.

   The Warriors had started 2013 with two losses under first-year coach Jordan Connell.

   "There were over 100 people there," Connell told MaxPreps. "There was a lot of energy. Pretty much every girl on the field was crying. I was just happy to witness this."

   Texas tragedy: A Texas freshman died Sunday, nine days after being hit on the hip by a discus. Joshua Ramirez was stretching in Plainview on March 8 when the discus hit him.

   A district athletic trainer advised him to treat it with ice, and Ramirez reported increased pain two days later during a follow-up exam at a hospital. He was admitted and placed in intensive care.

   The cause of death was not immediately determined.