Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018: Lincoln edges Jefferson in Brooklyn clash

   Leading off today: Jasiah Lewis made a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 17 points as Abraham Lincoln edged Thomas Jefferson 82-76 in a clash of state-ranked boys basketball teams from Brooklyn on Saturday.

   Omar Rowe and K.C. Ndefo finished with 15 points apiece in the road win for the Railsplitters, ranked 10th in Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters Association. Freshman guard Jaquan Carlos scored 17 points for No. 8 Jefferson.

   Senior guard Dashan Crittendon (13 points) made back-to-back 3-pointers late in the first half to give the Orange Wave to a 44-42 lead, but Lincoln retook the lead in the third quarter and then pulled ahead for good late in the fourth.

   Lincoln was ahead 77-76 with less than a minute left when Josh Wilson drove into the left side of the lane, then pulled up to convert a floater that finally gave Lincoln breathing room.

   Next of Lincoln i a rematch Tuesday with Brooklyn Collegiate, which scored a 66-59 win when the teams played Dec. 7.

   Wrestling: New Yorkers won 11 of 15 weight classes in the Eastern States Classic at Sullivan Community College.

   Among the winners was 2017 NYSPHSAA champion Tyler Barnes, who carried a 70-match winning streak into the tournament and defeated Paul Calo of Southington, Conn., 8-2 in the 170-pound final.

   Barnes, a three-time Section 2 champ, hasn't lost since the Division 1 consolation semifinals of the 2016 state tournament.

   In the loaded 152-pound bracket, four-time state champion Jacori Teemer of Long Beach won the title with a 9-5 decision over Fox Lane's Matt Grippi. It was Grippi's third straight Eastern States final loss.

   The two appear destined for a rematch at states next month.

   "That's what I want," Grippi said. "I know I said this last year after I lost, but this time, I'm for real. This is my weight."

   Overseas win: Saratoga junior Kelsey Chmiel's international racing debut was a success as she won the Great Edinburgh International XCountry Challenge at Holyrood Park in Scotland.

   Running for Team USA against squads representing Great Britain and Europe, she covered four kilometers on a muddy course in 14:10.

   "She took it out, took the lead 400 meters into the race, and never looked back," said Saratoga co-coach Linda Kranick.

   Girls basketball: One day after handing Cicero-North Syracuse its first loss, Chicago's Whitney Young scored a 51-41 win over Jamesville-DeWitt, ranked No. 1 in the state in Class A.

   Meg Hair scored 15 points and Jamie Boeheim 11 for J-D.

      Shenendehowa, ranked 10th in Class AA, defeated Henry County (Ga.) 73-50 at the Say Yes to Success Tournament in Brooklyn as Cameron Tooley scored 27 points.

   Exiting Storrs: Former Ossining guard Andra Espinoza-Hunter, who took a leave from the UConn women's basketball team three weeks ago, has decided to transfer.

   "I just realized UConn wasn't really a good fit for me," Espinoza-Hunter told The Journal News.

   She was averaging 2.0 points and 7.0 minutes per game as a freshman.

   Espinoza-Hunter said she plans to take classes at Westchester Community College and visit schools while figuring out her next step.

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   Espinoza-Hunter returned from Blair Academy in New Jersey last year to score 965 points as an Ossining senior. She was named Gatorade's New York player of the year, and shared Miss New York Basketball honors as well as NYSSWA player of the year honors with Danielle Patterson of The Mary Louis Academy.

   Ex-lacrosse coach dies: Former Kings Park varsity lacrosse coach Pete Thompson died of colon cancer Dec. 31 at the age of 56.

   Thompson began his teaching career at his alma mater in 1985. Besides lacrosse, he was an assistant football and basketball coach.

   Sibling success: North Rockland bowlers Nick and Susan Varano each rolled 300 games last Sunday at Fishkill Bowl, apparently making them the first siblings in New York State Public High School Athletic Association history to achieve perfection on the same day in an NYSPHSAA-sanctioned event.

   Nick Varano is a sophomore and Susan Varano an eighth-grader.

   "I'm pretty sure I was more nervous watching her shoot it than when I was shooting it," Nick Varano said. "I kind of had a feeling that she was going to do it."

   Parting shot: Don't look at me, because I don't know what the hell happened either.

   I'm speaking, of course, of the annual farce known as the McDonald's All-American Game nominees lists that came out Wednesday.

   There's a lengthy history of outlandish omissions and dubious selections by the people in charge of the Mickey D process in New York. I won't cite individual players since it's certainly not their fault, but I think I can pick a quartet of overlooked girls and beat some combinations of nominated players 4-on-5.

   I'm not kidding either.

   You can go online to look up the names of the 10 boys and 17 girls who've been nominated. I won't provide the link here because that will just drive more traffic to them and encourage the folks in charge to continue their nonsense in 2019.

   Extra points: Officials at St. John Villa Academy on Staten Island announced the school will close in June.