Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017: No. 3 Irondequoit pulls out overtime victory

   Leading off today: Alex Goldsberry and Gerald Drumgoole accounted for all of Irondequoit's 10 points in overtime in a 52-49 win over Greece Athena in a Monroe County boys basketball showdown Wednesday.

   Irondequoit is ranked third and Greece Athena 15th this week in the NYSSWA Class A ratings. (Full rankings here.)

   Drumgoole (17 points) made a layup with 21 seconds left in OT to extend the lead to four before Nigel Scantlebury answered with a layup with :13.7 left. Goldsberry then made a pair of free throws with :07.2 to play.

   "It was a typical Athena-Irondequoit game," Irondequoit coach Chris Cardon told the Democrat and Chronicle. "You have rivalry week in college and you have this."

   Righting the ship: Beacon has clinched a berth in the Section 1 boys Class A basketball playoffs by means of Tuesday's 61-64 win vs. Carmel.

   The Bulldogs improved to 6-13, which on the surface doesn't look like much. But Beacon began the season 7-3 and was regarded as a contender until it was revealed on Jan. 4 the team had an ineligible player on its roster. That dropped the record to 0-10, but Beacon has gone 6-3 since.

   Monster performance: St. Francis Prep junior Emily Engstler was credited with a quadruple-double in Wednesday's 66-51 victory over Nazareth. She piled up 27 points, 29 rebounds, 11 assists and 10 blocked shots.

   More girls basketball: Four players scored in double figures for Staten Island Academy in a 75-52 victory over Albertus Magnus in a non-league girls basketball matchup.

   Staten Island, the state's top-ranked Class A team, was coming off a 68-58 loss to Long Island Lutheran, ranked No. 1 in Class AA. Albertus Magnus is ranked fifth in Class AA this week. (Full rankings here.)

   Sophomore guard Sophia DeMauro and senior forward Clare Mitchell each scored 18 points in the win.

   The loss to LuHi wasn't as close as the score may have indicated. The Crusaders led 64-35 after three quarters.

   "We wanted to use the loss as a motivation to be better. Play harder and sort of just go out there and prove that loss

doesn't define us and we can move on from that," Mitchell told News 12 Varsity. "We will use that to make us better."

   By the way, SIA is getting by with a seven-player roster this season. "We can't even do five-on-five drills,"first-year coach Nicole Sarcone told The Advance.

    • Double-doubles by Marina Maerkl and Julia Hauer helped Binghamton Seton Catholic, ranked fourth in Class B, edge Class AA Binghamton 50-45 in a Southern Tier Athletic Conference semifinal.

   Maerkl finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Hauer had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Seton Catholic will play Elmira, ranked 15th in Class AA, for the championship Friday.

   On the move: Marlboro baseball coach Dave Onusko has resigned to join the staff at Vassar College as an assistant.

   Onusko coached the Iron Dukes for 20 years, accumulating more than 275 wins, five Section 9 titles and a NYSPHSAA state championship last spring.

   "I retired from teaching three years ago," Onusko told Hudson Valley Sports Report, "and I got the next two years in still coaching. But over that period of time there was a sense of removal. Not being in the building with the boys every single day was different. Difficult. Part of my core belief of high school sports was keeping an eye on them, being there for them."

   Reading material: There was a good feature this week out of Watertown on the Sackets Harbor girls basketball team. Sean Haley was asked to step in as coach after a 1-2 start and has the squad sitting at 13-5 and ranked 16th in Class D now.

   "When Mr. Haley came in, he made it clear that we were only going to look forward and make the best of what we have," guard Jamie Lynn Mendelson said.

   Haley, a veteran of more than 20 years, coached the program to its last sectional title in 2009.

   "It's always difficult to have a change in coaching, but the kids looked forward and it's going in the direction it needs to go," he said.