Friday, Feb. 6, 2015: Two hoops coaches close in on Sec. 3 basketball records

   Leading off today: There could be a record-setting week coming up in Section 3, where the records for career coaching wins in both boys and girls basketball could be broken Tuesday.

   Syracuse Corcoran coach Jim Marsh could tie the girls mark of 492 set by former Nottingham coach Willetta Spease on Friday against Henninger. On the boys side, New York Mills coach Mike Adey could equal the 539 wins of retired Vernon-Verona-Sherrill coach Al Knapp on Saturday night.

   If they both win, it sets up a Super Tuesday on which each could break the record.

   Adey has 537 wins in 35 seasons at Rome Catholic, New Hartford and New York Mills, where he's won 314 games and two NYSPHSAA championships since 1998.

   Marsh is in his 31st season with the Cougars.

   Bellport star scores 58: Senior Arella Guirantes tallied a career-high 58 points Thursday as Bellport defeated Kings Park 72-48 in Suffolk County girls basketball.

   The guard added 19 rebounds, six steals and five assists. She finished 18-for-20 from the free-throw line and made a pair of 3-pointers.

   The scoring outburst ties her for 20th on the state's all-time single-game list. Guirantes went over 2,000 career points last week.

   "The ways she was getting it was impressive," coach Rodney O'Neal told Newsday. "She was double-teamed, triple-teamed. They keyed in on her, and she stepped up to the challenge."

   Five years later: A lot can change in five years. If you don't believe that, just check in with David Sills IV.

   As a seventh-grader in 2010, the young quarterback made national news by making a verbal commitment to USC. The Trojans' coach at the time was Lane Kiffin.

   Well, Sills is a senior now at Elkton (Md.) Eastern Christian Academy after starting out at Bear (Del.) Red Lion Christian Academy. He signed his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday, but it wasn't with Southern Cal. Instead, Sills signed with West Virginia, MaxPreps reported.

   Steve Clarkson, the QB's personal coach, predicted in 2010 Sills "probably will be the most celebrated high school recruit in history." By the end of the senior season, he carried only a three-star rating from 247Sports.com.

   Looking ahead: Middletown school district officials announced Friday the Faller Field stadium complex will host the 2016 NYSPHSAA boys lacrosse finals.

   Middletown hosted the 2012 state championships, and will host the state's Eastern semifinals in June.

   "It's huge for us," AD David Coates said in a statement released by the district, "and it's huge for our community."

   Coates said Middletown intends to bid of the 2017 and '18 championships as well.

   Middletown has hosted the NYSPHSAA boys soccer final fours since 2010, and will continue to do so through 2017. It also hosted the state outdoor track championships in 2013.

   Joining forces? Officials from the Warsaw and Letchworth school districts are considering combining their football teams to combat declining enrollments and student interest, The Livingston County News reported.

   Warsaw's school board voted Tuesday to approval a one-year trial, and Letchworth officials are expected to consider the proposal Monday.

   Warsaw is projecting 19 varsity and 18 modified players last season, Superintendent Joe Englebert said. Letchworth's numbers are 22 and 31, respectively.

   Neither school fielded a JV team last fall.

   A combined program would have a projected 23 varsity, 34 JV and 33 modified players. The combined enrollment would place the team in Class C; both were in Class D last fall.

   Extra points: Bob Herzog, a sportswriter at Newsday for 39 years, has been selected for induction into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame.

   "It's a tremendous honor to be recognized for your life's work and your life's passion," Herzog said. "For me, that's sports and sportswriting. This honor is especially sweet because it recognizes my journalistic accomplishments at Newsday, the paper I delivered as a boy and dreamed of working for when I first got the sportswriting bug in high school."