Monday, Jan. 17, 2017: Panas' Burcescu wins Gatorade volleyball award

   Leading off today: Walter Panas junior outside hitter Yvette Burcescu was named Gatorade's state player of the year in girls volleyball on Tuesday.

   Burcescu, a Tulane University recruit, led Panas to its first state championship of any sport in school history with 663 kills, 125 service aces and 103 blocks.

   Piling up the threes: Argyle senior Kobe Lufkin is apparently the state's new king of 3-pointers, The Post-Star reported.

   Lufkin made two 3-pointers in an 85-62 win over Whitehall to on Thursday to give him 344 for his career, passing the presumed state record of 343 by Williamsville South's Joe Licata from 2007-11.

   Lufkin has 49 3-pointers this season after recording 92 as a freshman, 76 as a sophomore and 127 last season.

   Artavius Fisher of Kingston made 334 shots from behind the arc from 2000-04.

   Sentenced: The man who said he thought a slender black 15-year-old runner with autism was going to mug his wife was sentenced to three years of probation for shoving the boy to the ground during a cross country race in Rochester.

   Martin MacDonald, 57, also was sentenced to 80 hours of community service, and the judge issued an order of protection barring him from having contact with Syracuse Corcoran runner Chase Coleman for five years. MacDonald read a written statement in court in which he apologized to Coleman.

   Coleman was wearing a team uniform and racing bib when the incident occurred in the fall. MacDonald told police he was not aware that Coleman has autism. he pleaded guilty Nov. 17 to endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree harassment.

   That's a long wait: Kenny Hoppe stopped 30 shots as North Rockland scored its first boys hockey victory over Suffern since the 1979 postseason.

   Steven Apicella scored the winning goal with 19.4 seconds to play.

   "Really, this is just one win, but it's a really, really big one," North Rockland's Dylan Cool told The Journal News.

   Girls basketball: Long Island Lutheran's Amani Free scored a game-high 23 points against a former rival, leading the Crusaders to a 63-50 win over Jamesville-DeWitt at the Say Yes To Scholastic Success Showcase.

   LuHi is the state's top-ranked team in Class AA. J-D is ranked No. 5 in Class A.

   Free, a former Cicero-North Syracuse star who transferred to LuHi, added 14 rebounds.

    • At the Rose Classic, The Mary Louis Academy defeated 2016 Federation Class AA champion Ossining 61-54 to cap a great weekend. Ossining is ranked fourth and Mary Louis 25th.

   Vanerlie Valcourt scored 14 points, and Danielle Patterson added 11 a day after being selected for the 2017 McDonald's All-American Game. Valcourt and Kania Pollock double-teamed Andra Espinoza-Hunter for most of the game and held the UConn-bound star to 13 points.

   Mary Louis had defeated highly regarded Regis Jesuit from Colorado on Saturday and then posted a 63-52 win over No. 18 Baldwin on Sunday.

   Precautions announced: In the wake of post-game violence after the teams' first meeting, New Rochelle has taken rescheduled its boys basketball rematch with Mount Vernon and restricted access.

   The game was originally scheduled for Friday afternoon but will now be played the following day at 3 p.m. Only a select number of spectators will be admitted to the gym and will be mostly limited to school and team personnel, family members and media.

   New Rochelle coach Rasaun Young said the school's JV team was attacked on its way to the bus and a player was punched following its game at Mount Vernon on Jan. 4, The Journal New reported. The varsity game was played earlier that afternoon without incident and Mount Vernon won 79-64.

   Earlier today: I wrote a blog early Tuesday afternoon revealing an attempt by state-ranked University Prep in Rochester to move down from Class AA to B in boys basketball.