Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019: Cardinal Hayes hands No. 2 Loughlin its first loss

   Leading off today: Cardinal Hayes erased the memory of its loss this week to Mount St. Michael by scoring a 61-58 victory over Bishop Loughlin in CHSAA boys basketball action Friday.

   Hayes, ranked seventh in the state in Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters Association, played at a deliberate pace intended to keep the score lower than what would have been projected on paper against No. 2 Loughlin.

   "We didn't want it to be 90s and 80s," Hayes coach Joe Lods said. "We wanted fewer possessions, more shots."

   Hayes was in command at 51-32 midway through the fourth quarter before Loughlin, which entered the game with a 15-0 record, went on a run to close the gap to five with 26.5 seconds remaining.

   Jaylen Murray led the winners with 17 points and Iowa-bound point guard Joe Toussaint had 16 points and eight assists. Justin Champagnie topped Loughlin with 21 points to go over 1,000 for his career.

   Niagara Falls wins: Niagara Falls is shaping up as the best bet to come out of the Western Region for a berth in the NYSPHSAA Class AA semifinals. The Wolverines, ranked ninth in the state, improved to 13-2 with a 78-60 win over Lewiston-Porter, ranked 10th in Class A.

   Freshman point guard Willie Lightfoot scored 11 of his team-high 24 points during the Wolverines' 26-11 third quarter that erased a two-point deficit, and Niagara Falls shot 7-for-11 from behind the arc in the second half. Moran Montgomery scored all 11 of his points during the second half for the winners.

   Lew-Port is in the middle of a challenging stretch of games. The Lancers host unbeaten Cardinal O'Hara on Tuesday and then play at defending Federation champion Park School on Friday.

   More boys basketball: Caleb Smith and Chase Curtis put up double-doubles to lead No. 12 McGraw to a 43-36 upset of No. 5 DeRuyter in Class D action in Section 3.

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   Smith scored 13 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Curtis scored 12 points to go with 10 rebounds.

   Girls basketball: Graceann Bennett of Lake George scored 20 points to help hand Warrensburg its first loss of the

season, 59-51.

   The Warriors, ranked 19th in the state in Class C, won the ninth straight game. Warrensburg (14-1) is ranked 10th in Class C this week.

   Mikayla Duffy added 12 points and Nikki Hladik 11 for Lake George, which outscored Warrensburg 20-12 in the fourth quarter.

   Indoor track: Hyde Park FDR junior Sarah Trainor won the girls two-mile run at the 24th annual New Balance Games at The Armory with a time of 10:38.97 for the nation's No. 2 clocking this season.

   Trainor won by more than 19 seconds over Mary Hennelly of Suffern.

   The Millrose Games mile qualifier was coming off a 600 meters/two miles double two weeks earlier at the Freedom Games.

   "The level she is competing at right now is something we've never seen before," coach Bryan Halling said. "Her range is ridiculous."

   Boys hockey: T.J. McKee and Ryan Caraher scored less than a minute apart to put Mahopac ahead for good in a 4-2 win over John Jay Cross River. Mahopac is ranked 11th in Division I and JJCR fifth in Division II.

   Suffern blanked Pelham 5-0 as Ryan Schelling and Kyle Foresta scored twice apiece. Suffern is ranked second in Division I and Pelham seventh in Division II.

   More reading: I tweeted out a link last week to a very well done sportsmanship public service announcement produced by the Saranac Lake Central School District.

   I had a chance to speak with AD Eric Bennett this week to learn more about how the idea came together and the video was made. I wrote about it in my weekly column for the Press & Sun-Bulletin.