Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014: Delarosa lifts Christ the King past Molloy

   Leading off today: Though plenty of talent was coming back, Jon Severe's graduation last spring left Christ the King as one of the big question marks in New York boys basketball for the 2013-14 season.

   One by one, though, the question marks are turning into exclamation points.

   Center Adonis Delarosa dominated both ends of the floor in an 87-66 victory for the Royals on Wednesday against Archbishop Molloy, setting up an anticipated contest Friday for the CHSAA Brooklyn-Queens Class AA championship.

   Christ the King is ranked 11th and Molloy ninth in the state this week. Loughlin is ranked 20th.

   Molloy held the 6-foot-11 Delarosa -- who picked up a scholarship offer Tuesday from Rutgers -- scoreless in the first quarter, but the Royals still built an 11-point lead behind senior Andre Walker, junior Travis Atson and sophomore Rawle Alkins. Once they opened up space on the inside, Delarosa went to work and piled up 31 points and 13 rebounds.

   "He allows our guys to score, and then he takes over in the third and fourth quarter because you kind of have to pick your poison with us," Royals coach Joe Arbitello said. "So he just makes everybody around him better. When he's playing at a high level like that, there's no answer for him in the league. Zero."

   Less than two weeks earlier, Molloy beat Christ the King while Delarosa was serving a mandatory suspension for a flagrant foul on Loughlin's Mike Williams, a Rutgers recruit.

   "Even though (Molloy) beat us last time due to my stupidity, I was suspended and they won, and they thought they were gonna come in and beat us and I wasn't having it," Delarosa told The Daily News.

   Said Arbitello: "He's playing like a senior at Christ the King should play."

   Loughlin rolled into the final by crushing Holy Cross 93-63. Seton Hall-bound Khadeen Carrington scored 26 points and Williams added 22.

   In Tuesday's New York Archdiocese semis, No. 6 Cardinal Hayes averted upset by beating Iona Prep 70-64 in overtime. In the other contest, fourth-ranked St. Peter's beat St. Raymond 68-57 as Latrell Curtis scored 25 points.

   Girls basketball: The Long Island Class A landscape changed in a hurry Wednesday.

   Jessica Rini scored 16 of her 20 points in the second half and converted a three-point play with a minute left to give Seaford 44-42 upset of ninth-ranked Wantagh in the Section 8 quarterfinals. The 6-1 Rini, who missed five weeks with a broken foot, also helped hold 6-4 center Alex Parlato to 14 points.

   Seaford will take on Cold Spring Harbor, a 53-52 winner over No. 14 Floral Park, on Sunday in the semifinals. CSH's Caroline Kiernan had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Holly Logan (11 points) made four free throws in the final minute to pull off the upset.

   Meanwhile, defending Nassau champion Garden City, ranked 16th, fell to No. 25 Levittown Division 50-46 as Laura Stuart piled up 15 points and 16 rebounds. The Blue Dragons will face No. 7 North Shore in the semifinals.

   Milestone: Jake Kinley scored 20 points to help S.S. Seward coach Rob Gravelle pick up his 300th career boys basketball victory. Nelson Fernandez added 18 points in the win.

   Gravelle is 300-107 in 19 seasons at Seward.

   Can't clear that hurdle: Lawrence, ranked 11th in the state in Class A, lost to Carey 64-63 in overtime Tuesday in the Section 8 quarterfinals, marking the third consecutive season the Golden Tornado bowed out in that round despite being the highest seed.

   Adrian Denner scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds, and Kieran Murchie added 16 points for Carey.

   Hockey progress: Webster Schroeder goalie Ryan Buetel posted the shutout with a 12-save effort as the Warriors, ranked 10th in the state in Division II, beat No. 4 Hilton 4-0 in the Section 5 semifinals Wednesday.

   Joseph Chinelly, Matt Montgomery, Jeremy Caulkins and Joe Schuler scored for Schroeder.

   In the other semifinal, No. 13 Victor downed Penfield 2-0.

   Wildcards revealed: Sixty competitors in each of the two state divisions were awarded wildcard berths into the NYSPHSAA wrestling championships that begin Feb. 28 in Albany.

   Sections 5 and 3 paced the field with 24 and 22 wildcards. respectively. Four wrestlers per weight class

were added to help fill 16-competitor brackets.

See: Division I wildcards

See: Division II wildcards

   Deer Park, Midlakes, Monroe-Woodbury, Wantagh and Warsaw each picked up three of the at-large berths, allocated by a points system after the completion of last weekends state qualifiers across the state.

   Getting in just under the wire was Monroe-Woodbury 220-pounder Rob Kelly, a senior who was about to leave school Wednesday thinking he would only be the first alternate in his Division I weight class. As he left the building, Kelly got a call from assistant coach John Gartiser to let him know points had been miscalculated and Kelly had in fact earned his first trip to the state tourney.

   Kelly was one of only three wrestlers this season to last the full six minutes with Monsignor Farrell's Rich Sisti, the state's No. 1-ranked 220-pounder.

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   "It's every young wrestler's dream to compete in the state tournament," Kelly, a two-time Section 9 runner-up, told The Times Herald-Record. "Since this is my last high school tournament, I'm going to wrestle as hard as I can. ... I'm going up there with nothing to lose. I definitely want to medal and get a top place in the state."

   M-W's Evan Barczak (120 pounds) and P.J. Smoot (126), sectional champs a year ago who lost finals last week, were among the others receiving wildcards.

   Also noteworthy:

    • Pine Bush senior John Stramiello, a three-time Section 9 champ with 200 career wins and a pair of sixth-place efforts at the last two state meets, is going as a wildcard for the second straight year after a runner-up finish at 113 pounds. Kyle Quinn of Wantagh, last year's 106-pound state Division I champion, also received a 113 at-large berth, adding to the depth in that class.

    • Two-time sectional champ Zach Colgan of Johnson City was the only Section 4 at-large selection in Division I.

    • The winningest Division I wrestler still on the outside looking in is James Szymanski, a 120-pound junior from Shoreham-Wading River. Despite a 46-3 record, Szymanski only accumulated enough points to be slotted as the fifth at-large in his weight class, so he'll need one of the qualifiers to withdraw in the next few days if he's to advance.

   In Division II, Geneseo's James Lukaszonas will also need someone to withdraw. Despite a 46-4 record this winter, he's only the No. 5 at-large competitor in the 170-pound weight class.

    • Midlakes' Jeryd Graham will be the winningest "second-chance" wrestler in Albany. The 195-pound senior went 49-9 this winter and landed the No. 3 wildcard spot.

    • Jamestown 152-pounder Dylan Lundmark qualifies as the lucky loser of the week. With a 37-10 record, the junior is the only athlete to be awarded a wildcard despite a double-digit loss total.