Sunday, March 13, 2016: Sec. 3 advances two teams to hockey finals

   Leading off today: Forward Ryan McDonald scored quick goals in the first and second period to spark West Genesee to a 5-1 win over Saratoga in the Saturday semifinals of the NYSPHSAA boys Division I hockey tournament at HarborCenter in Buffalo.

   Marshall Winn also scored twice for the Wildcats, but it was McDonald's goals 22 seconds into the game and 31 seconds into the second period that set the tone.

   "We knew if we were scoring early and hard we could just control the game from there and keep it rolling," McDonald told Syracuse.com.

   West Genesee will meet Mamaroneck in Sunday's final. The Tigers advanced by topping Pittsford 5-2 as Alex Ewald scored two first goals.

   Ewald's second goal was the first of two Mamaroneck power-play tallies early in the third period.

   "We just felt like we were going to win this game. I really can't describe it," Ewald told The Journal News. "There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to come out and have a strong game."

   Ewald opened the scoring at 12:27 of the first period with a power-play goal he never saw.    "I just chipped the puck in deep and just tried to throw it on net on my backhand," he said. “I actually got laid out when I shot it so I had no idea where the puck went but my teammates started dogpiling on me."

   Division II hockey: Skaneateles scored all its goals in the third period to rally past Pelham and reach the Sunday final.

   Reggie Buell, Ray Falso and Reece Eddy connected to help the Lakers advance. Pelham lead after two periods thanks to Gibson Smith, who scored while the Pelicans were playing two men down following penalties.

   Falso scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third, and Eddy added insurance by finding the open net while Pelham skated 6-on-4 after a Skaneateles penalty.

   "They've been doing it all year, Skaneateles coach Mitch Major said. "These guys believe in themselves so much. ... I wasn't shocked, but I was happy that occurred, obviously."

   In the day's last semifinal, Kenmore East scored six times in the first period and blitzed Lake Placid 11-0. A.J. Marinelli recorded a hat trick in the first period on the way to a four-goal, four-assist performance and linemate Trevor Pray scored three and set up three more. Anthony Tulipane tacked on two goals and two assists.

   Kenmore East, which scored three times in 5-on-3 situations, held a 28-4 advantage in shots through two periods.

   CHSAA girls basketball: Buffalo Sacred Heart earned its first state title since 1993, beating Manhasset St. Mary's 61-53 in Class A at St. John Villa High School. Sarah Young finished with 23 points on 7-for-11 shooting from the field and 9-for-10 at the line.

   Micaela Ryan (20 points) made three first-half 3-pointers to help build a 29-22 lead, but St. Mary's rallied in the second half as sophomore Kadaja Bailey (21 points) led the way. The Sharks outscored St. Mary's 24-14 in the fourth quarter.

   Sacred Heart moves on to next weekend's Federation tournament in Albany.

   The CHSAA Class AA rep will be St. Anthony's, a 57-43 winner of Monsignor Scanlan to capture its second trophy in three years.

   Taylor Goode had 15 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Friars, who started five Division I college signees. Jayla Jones-Pack had 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Allyson Murphy added 11 points.

   The Friars built on their 27-21 halftime lead quickly. Jones-Pack tallied a basket off a rebound and quickly the margin was 33-21.

   Indoor track: It wasn't quite Beamon-esque, but it was still exceptionally good.

2016 NYSPHSAA boys basketball brackets 2016 NYSPHSAA girls basketball brackets 2016 NYSPHSAA boys hockey brackets 2016 N.Y. complete wrestling brackets (PDF) 2016 N.Y. boys swim championships N.Y. indoor track championships: Boys | Girls

   Beacon High senior Rayvon Grey captured a national championship and set a state record in the long jump on Saturday, leaping 26 feet, one-quarter inches at the New Balance Nationals at The Armory. Grey's jump of 25-8 in qualifying was good enough alone to break the state record of 25-7.75 by Uniondale's Marvin Forde in 1993, but he got better as the day went on.

   His winning leap ranks No. 6 all time for U.S. high school jumpers.

   "I remember hearing the measurement and everybody coming down to tell me how good the jump was. ... I was happy, and jumping around," Grey told The Poughkeepsie Journal.

   Sachem East junior Lauren Harris set a national record in the mile racewalk to begin Saturday's action. Her time of 6:57.36 clipped nearly three seconds off the year-old record of Ashleigh Resch from Beavercreek, Ohio.

   "The record was in the back of my mind," Harris, who won the 1,500-meter race walk state championship last weekend, told Newsday. "My coach was yelling out some splits. At the end, I saw my time and knew I broke the record. It was awesome."

   Harris received a paddle notification on the bell lap, indicating that her form was slipping towards a possible disqualification, but took it like a good walker always does -- in stride.

   "I knew that it was going to slow me down and make me keep my form for the finish," she said. "That was a great help. I would have gone really fast the last lap, risked my form and risked that first-place spot."

   Two girls relays also brought home championships for New York.

   Mamaroneck's Shari Rauls, Katie DeVore, Lauren Chapey and Lauren Shpiz won the 3,200 relay in 8:58.86. Rush-Henrietta's Tori Thompson, Stephanie Nwachi, Lanae-Tava Thomas and Sammy Watson couldn't match the school's national record of a year ago but did defend in the sprint medley with a time of 3:55.48, best in the country this winter.

   St. Anthony's placed second in the boys four-mile relay, but with a cool back story. Christopher Langer, Freddie Buckholtz, Ryan Kutch and Ryan Dearie clocked 17:16.45 to fall less than a tenth of a second short of the winning time, but their performance clipped five seconds off Shaker's state record from 2012 and crushed the school record by a 1979 quartet that included both Friars head coach Tim Dearie and assistant coach Bob Higgins.

   Earlier stuff: You can catch up on more highlights from Saturday action in the day's two earlier blogs here and here.