Wednesday, July 23, 2014: The New York high school year in review

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   The implications for the numerous out-of-state competitions billing themselves as "national" championships are uncertain, but some of those events will seemingly have to abide by more stringent rules in order for New York teams to participate.

End of an era

   The Big 10 Athletic Conference, a force in Section 2 sports for most of its 37 years, ceased operations on July 1, the fallout from Amsterdam leaving for the Foothills Council and Troy also deciding to depart.

   The Big 10 began with five public city schools and five Catholic schools. The league shrank to nine teams when Linton and Mont Pleasant merged into Schenectady, a school whose most recent BEDS number (2,012) was about 50 percent larger than the five private schools combined.

   Amsterdam previously applied for Foothills membership in 2012 but fell one vote short of approval. Having Schuylerville also come in to keep the number of teams even in most sports alleviated misgivings that some members had.

   The Rochester-based nonprofit organization attempting to revive the summer Empire State Games finally threw in the towel after more than two years of planning and fundraising failed to salvage the amateur sports festival.

   "It's unfortunate because this was all for the kids," said Vincent Hope, the foundation's president.

   Offshoots of the late-July ESG, including the Empire State Winter Games, Empire State Senior Games and Empire State Games for the Physically Challenged are still active.

   And Bishop Ford High School in Brooklyn became the latest of the many Catholic schools to fall victim to declining enrollment, with officials closing the doors in June. The CHSAA school saw its enrollment slip from 1,347 to 499 in the past eight years, and the school projected just 422 students for next year.

Odd way to end a title run

   Amityville, which would have been a serious contender in Glens Falls, was stripped of its Suffolk County boys basketball trophy after Section 11 officials determined the team used an ineligible player in the Class A tournament. The decision advanced runner-up John Glenn to the Long Island championship game.

   The player in question was an eighth-grader who had gone through the appropriate selective classification process to play on the JVs but was not re-certified for eligibility upon being moved up to the varsity. He appeared briefly in at least two playoff games, including the 74-73 win by Amityville (18-2) over John Glenn in the sectional final.

   The gaffe wasn't unprecedented. In 2012, Section 1 stripped Biondi of its Class B crown and a spot in the first round of the NYSPHSAA tournament due to an eligibility issue with a player who had been representing Mount Vernon in football and Biondi in basketball for two seasons.

Basketball championships

   Christ the King had to grind out two exhausting victories in Albany to defend its Federation boys Class AA championship in March. The Royals defeated PSAL rep Cardozo 54-51 in overtime in the semifinals, then downed Long Island Lutheran of the AIS 58-52 in the final.

   Ralwe Alkins scored six of his nine points in the fourth quarter for the Royals, who took the lead midway through the period after being held to just four points by LuHi in the first quarter. Christ the King trailed by as many as 14 in the second quarter.

   "It goes to their resiliency," winning coach Joe Arbitello told The Daily News. "It goes to their mind-set."

   Tournament MVP Andrew Walker went 7-for-10 from the field and led Christ the King with 25 points, including 13 in the third quarter.

   In the Class A final, senior forward and tournament MVP Joe Cremo finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and four assists to lead Scotia-Glenville (27-0) past Holy Trinity 68-52. Cremo tallied 46 points and 21 rebounds in two weekend games in front of the home crowd, including a semi vs. Albany Academy.

   In girls action, Erin Storck's 3-pointer from the corner began a 7-0 run to close out the game as Long Island Lutheran downed Ossining 63-57 for the Class AA trophy. LuHi junior Lauren "Boogie" Brozoski, who has committed to Michigan, finished with 18 points and was named tournament MVP.

   It's not a basketball season if the PSAL doesn't do something that makes a few eyeballs do the around-the-world 360. It the girls side of the game that generated this year's big controversy.

   In one of the most cynical moves in recent memory in the world of New York high school sports, Francis Lewis honored Chelsea Robinson in a brief senior night ceremony before the Patriots walloped Boys & Girls 81-50 in the PSAL Class AA round of 16 -- never mind Robinson hasn't played so much as a minute in the PSAL until she stepped on the court vs. Boys & Girls.

   The 6-foot-1 post player arrived via The Taft School in Connecticut in a transfer over the Christmas break. Reports indicated her name never made it onto the school's inactive list until four days after the late-January deadline; combined with black-letter PSAL law -- "No PSAL student-athlete may participate in the same sport for more than one school (public, private, parochial) in the same sports season" -- allowing her to suit up raised plenty of eyebrows. The controversy only grew worse with each subsequent win -- vs. Truman in the quarterfinals, 15-time defending champion Murry Bergtraum in the semis and South Shore in the final.

   "Francis Lewis, they portray themselves as a school of higher academic excellence and portray themselves as a school that does things the right way," Truman coach John Burke told The Daily News. "It's very shady. It's not what it seems to be. I'm surprised by Francis Lewis."

More basketball

   A pair of boys basketball games went way beyond the normal 32 minutes, extending to five overtimes. In mid-February, Coleman Catholic defeated Ellenville 94-84 to advance to the Mid-Hudson Athletic League championship game.

   In the Section 2 boys Class AA semifinals, Guilderland edged Columbia 102-100 in five overtimes despite horrendous shooting at the free-throw line. Billy Floyd went 9-for-11 on free throws and finished with 22 points for Guilderland, which was just 17-for-43 as a team from the line.

   Regulation ended tied at 63 before the teams logged 20 minutes of overtime in Columbia coach Jim Obermayer's farewell game after 26 seasons on the job.

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