Saturday, Feb. 2: NYC coach accused of shooting player's father

   Leading off today: A New York City coach is under arrest for shooting the father of one of his high school basketball players during a dispute over playing time late last year, police said Friday.

   Todd Myles, 42, is facing attempted murder, assault and weapons possession for wounding Christopher Hooks, 47, police said.

   Hooks' son plays for Pathways In Technology Early College in Brooklyn. The father went to Myles' home on Dec. 22 and confronted him. The men argued and Myles allegedly pulled a gun and shot Hooks in the neck.

   Hooks survived, but did not tell detectives who shot him for more than a month, the New York Daily News reported.

   New York City Department of Education spokesman Doug Cohen called the allegations against Myles "incredibly shocking." Myles was reassigned away from students and termination proceedings have begun.

   Court sides with wrestler for now: A Rocky Point senior may have a path to competing for a state wrestling tournament berth following a favorable court ruling, Newsday reported.

   Kristopher Ketchum is the top 145-pound seed in this weekend's Suffolk League VI tournament at Sayville, the first step toward potentially reaching the NYSPHSAA tournament in Albany at the end of the month. He's been allowed to compete thanks to a ruling by a four-person panel in the Appellate Division Second Department in Brooklyn.

   Here's how the case got to where it stands now:

   Ketchum was called for a flagrant misconduct (profane language after a previous unsportsmanlike conduct warning) and disqualified from the Section 11 dual-meet tournament last month, a penalty that triggers a suspension from the next meet.

   The next meet happens to be today's league tournament. Without competing there, he could not go on to qualify for the state tournament.

   Section 11 Executive Director Tom Combs said the section unanimously denied an appeal, a development that was upheld Tuesday but a State Supreme Court justice in Suffolk County who agree to hold a hearing Feb. 13 but not to order immediate reinstatement.

   Ketchum's family sought relief from the Appellate Division and got it in a ruling less than an hour before rosters were locked down Thursday. The panel said he would be allowed to continue wrestling until the end of the lawsuit.

   A scrappy bunch: Eastport-South Manor improved to 14-1 with a girls basketball victory Friday -- not bad for a team that dressed just seven players and scored only eight first-half points.

   Sophomore Katie McCormick scored all 10 of her points in the final nine minutes as E-SM defeated Kings Park 36-27. The Sharks' Casey Travers had 19 points and 10 rebounds.

   Kings Park led 12-8 at halftime.

   "The odds are stacked against them," E-SM coach Steve Giacolone said of what usually is an eight-girl roster. "When you're playing with seven players, and we're going against teams that have 15 on the roster, people are laughing at you. But they play big."

   Boys hockey: Jack Shapiro scored six goals s red-hot Rye Town/Harrison defeated Horace Greeley 7-1 for its eighth consecutive triumph.

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   Greeley, ranked 11th in the most recent NYSSWA Division II ratings, was coming off a loss to powerful Suffern one night earlier.

   "We were definitely undermanned and probably jet-lagged from last night," coach Dan Perito said. "That's not an excuse. Rye Town/Harrison came out ready to play right from the drop of the puck. I don't think we were ready."

   Rye Town/Harrison next faces No. 4 John Jay on Monday.

   College-bound: Cicero-North Syracuse track and field star Jeremiah Willis will continue his jumps and sprints career at the University of Louisville.

   Willis, who was fifth-team all-state in football last fall, was also considering Indiana and Southern Cal.

   Willis won the long and triple jumps at the state indoor championships last winter and finished second in the 55 meters. In the spring, he won both jumps at the state outdoor championships and added eighth-place finishes in the 100 meters and as anchor for the 400 relay to sew up selection as Gatorade's New York male track athlete of the year.

   More later: You (hopefully) saw that I tweeted multiple updates from the NYSPHSAA Executive Committee meeting in Saratoga Springs on Friday.

   Hockey was the story of the day as a decision was made that will result in the state tournament being played with 15-minute periods next month. But the meeting as a whole had so many newsworthy developments as well as some twists I'd never seen in three years of attending the quarterly sessions.

   I'm still processing it all in between weekend errands and will blog more later on Saturday.