Monday, Jan. 20, 2014: Iona Prep standout may need surgery

   Leading off today: The season may be over for Iona Prep junior Matt Ryan, who has popped up on the radar of numerous Division I basketball programs since last summer.

   Rivals.com reported the 6-foot-5 junior may have labral tears in both hips. He'll know more after an MRI exam this week, but an unfavorable diagnosis could mean he'll need surgery and potentially be shelved until Labor Day.

   "The past couple of weeks I've been feeling something in my hips," Ryan told Rivals. "I just had to get it checked out and the doctor said I may have a torn labrum in both hips."

   After a solid sophomore season for the Gaels, Ryan's stock began to soar on the AAU circuit. He picked up 20 offers, including Boston College, Notre Dame, Pitt, Providence, Rutgers, Vanderbilt and several of the Ivy League schools. A handful of other ACC schools have also shown interest.

   Ryan has been contacting colleges in the past week to update them, and the coaches have been reassuring. "Right now, the coaches I've talked to said it's not affecting it once so ever," he said.

   Milestone: Freshman Korina Guerra scored eight points in the final 38 seconds to spark Ursuline to a 61-60 girls basketball win Sunday over Somers JFK, giving coach Beth Wooters career win No. 500.

   "It's crazy. I'm just very excited and I'm happy for my team and my coach, and I'm just really proud to be playing Ursuline basketball,” Guerra, who finished with 21 points, told The Journal News.

   More girls basketball: Rye rallied from 10 points down in regulation to score a 60-56 win over Irvington, the state's top-ranked Class B team. Maddie Eck led the winners with 19 points, and Alanna Morque and Katie Popp chipped in with 17 and 16, respectively.

   Popp, a freshman who went 5-for-6 at the free-throw line, played most of the game with what appeared to be a broken pinky. She said the injury occurred in the first quarter.

   Following up: Class B Hoosick Falls scored the first 11 points of the game and went on to a 52-37 victory over Lake George, the state's top-ranked Class B boys basketball team on Saturday.

   Last week, Hoosick Falls knocked off then-No. 3 Hoosic Valley.

   "It is definitely a confidence-booster and we have to keep playing well," Falls' Levi Brewster told The Times Union after snapping Lake George's 18-game winning streak.

   Junior point guard Andrew Hoag finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

   Making plans: Goaltender Dylan Sulzbach became the fifth New York freshman to make a verbal commitment to play men's lacrosse, announcing Wednesday that he will attend Penn State.

   On Sunday, Manhasset midfielder Steven Schneider made it six commitments for New York's class of 2017 by saying he'll play for North Carolina.

Many reporters use Twitter to deliver remote updates. We track those tweets from a variety of venues 24/7. Visit the page to see what's going on.

   Sulzbach played in 11 varsity games last spring for McQuaid and has since transferred into the Pittsford school district. As far as I can tell, he's the first Section 5 athlete to commit to a Division I program in any sport as a freshman. He was also considering Denver, Harvard, Princeton and Virginia.

   Bronxville middie Ara Atayan (North Carolina), Cold Spring Harbor attackman Ian Laviano (Virginia), Smithtown East middie Connor DeSimone and St. Anthony's long stick Tyler Senerchia (Bucknell) previously committed.

   The battle's on: The NYSPHSAA announced last week that it has narrowed the field to four finalists in its inaugural Battle of the Fans.

   The staff of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association watched the video submissions and selected Norwich, Pittsford, Pleasantville and Skaneateles as finalists.

   Judges based their selections on positive sportsmanship, participation, school spirit, originality, organization, student-section leadership and their overall impression of the atmosphere.

   NYSPHSAA reps will visit each of the finalists for an upcoming game night.