Saturday, Jan. 11, 2019: St. Joe's skates past McQuaid on overtime goal

   Leading off today: Friday's are considered "basketball night" throughout much of the state, but there was some darn good hockey played on this particular Friday.

   Sean Deakin scored 2:28 into overtime for and Joe Froncziak tuned aside 22 shots for St. Joseph's in a 2-1 triumph against McQuaid. Will Redding also scored for the Marauders, ranked No. 1 in Division I by the NYSSWA.

   McQuaid is ranked sixth this week.

    • Third-ranked Syracuse remained unbeaten with a 6-3 triumph against No. 8 West Genesee as Phillip Zollo contributed a hat trick and an assist. Syracuse built a 5-0 lead before the Wildcats made a closer contest of it.

    • Mamaroneck skated to a 2-2 tie with No. 2 Suffern, snapping the Mounties' seven-game winning streak. Mamaroneck's Ben Boren scored with 2:48 to go in the third period to tie the game.

   Suffern outshot Mamaroneck 41-15.

   More hockey: My column this week for PressConnects.com is on the Ithaca boys team, which is the only varsity squad in Section 4 and also stands out on the radar for playing about half its home games outdoors.

   Sigh (again): Look, I can appreciate the fact that nothing is going to get fixed in the middle of a season. That being said, it would be wonderful to hear someone from the Buffalo Public Schools to step up and say they'll make sure all of their schools are given more appropriate schedules in the future, even if that means having some basketball teams go independent.

   Thursday's blog noted scores this week that saw Bennett beat DaVinci 116-8 in a boys game and Olmstead downing Burgard 92-18 in girls basketball.

   On Friday, the Olmstead boys pasted DaVinci 100-7 and the Olmstead girls routed DaVinci 70-3.

   I guess I'm going to have to keep highlighting these scores until someone at BPS Stands up and commits to doing something constructive.

   We now return to actual basketball: Miles Brown poured in 17 consecutive points on his way to 38 for the night and Northstar Christian made 20 3-pointers to defeat C.G. Finney 95-81.

   Northstar is ranked 13th in the state in Class A and Finney sixth in Class C.

   The loss snapped Finney's nine-game winning streak.

   Brown also finished with 11 rebounds and eight assists.

    • PickinSplinters.com reports that Northstar may have a 6-foot-9 transfer student could potentially suit up soon. If that's accurate and the kid can walk and chew gum at the same time, then the Knights have the one element that many local observers felt was keeping them from having a real shot at a Section 5 championship and perhaps doing some damage in the state tourney.

    • Avon rolled past previously unbeaten Caledonia-Mumford 61-42 behind Connor Taylor's 26 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

   Cal-Mum was ranked seventh in Class C this week. The win may be enough to propel Avon into the rankings.

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    • Tommy Morreale hit for a school-record 47 points in leading Whitesboro to a 90-84 victory over Auburn in double overtime. Morreale scored 17 of Whitesboro's 27 points after the conclusion of regulation.

   Alabama follow-up: People who don't know any better are lauding a decision by an Alabama judge temporarily restoring the eligibility of high school basketball player Maori Davenport, who was suspended over cashing a check from USA Basketball after representing the U.S. in a summer tournament in Mexico.

   Pike County Circuit Judge Sonny Reagan issued an order stopping the Alabama High School Athletic Association from enforcing its eligibility ruling against Davenport until the court rules on a complaint filed by the player's parents.

   That allowed the 6-foot-4 Davenport, a high-profile college recruit who has committed to Rutgers, to play Friday.

   The second-worst thing that can happen to a governing body in high school sports is to have a court meddle with its rulebook. The worst is to have elected officials in the statehouse do the meddling, which is likely to happen if Davenport ultimately loses in court.

   Davenport is an unfortunate victim in the Alabama mess, but she isn't totally blameless. USA Basketball blundered by sending the check to Davenport -- the college players on the team were eligible to receive such compensation -- but the player, her family, her coaches and school administrators could have nipped the controversy in the bud by returning the uncashed check rather than reimbursing USA Basketball after issues arose.

   If the court ruling stands, Alabama starts down a slippery slope of athletes potentially taking money from sources a whole lot more unsavory than a national sports governing body and only having to return the money -- with no penalty -- after being caught.

   As for politicians, about all that many of them know about money is that like to spend yours.

   Fallen alum honored: The Canisteo-Greenwood wrestling team honored the memory of slain State Trooper Nick Clark on Tueday my debuting a new mat.

   Before becoming a Division III football All-American for Alfred UNiversity, Clark was a 2006 state wrestling champion at 189 pounds for Canisteo-Greenwood.

   Clark, 29 was killed last July in an early-morning exchange of gunfire with Bradford school principal Steven Kiley in Steuben County.

   More later: There are a bunch of football coaching changes to catch up on plus a few other stories that have been gathering dust deep in the bowels of my laptop. I'll round those up and post more later.