Leading off today: The emphasis will be on girls coaches next March in Glens Falls when the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame inducts nine new members. Among those be honored are Vincent Cannizzaro, Warren Fuller, John Lauro, Ken Thomas and Michele Tidick.

   Cannizzaro fashioned a 456-49 record at Christ The King in Middle Village with 16 diocesan titles, 12 state CHSAA and 10 Federation championships. His Royals earned season-ending No. 1 rankings from USA Today three times.

   Fuller has won 515 games at Wyandanch and collected 19 league and 17 sectional championships as well as the top trophies at three NYSPHSAA Final Fours and two Federation tournaments.

   Lauro rolled up 417 wins at Tuxedo, North Salem, Sleepy Hollow, John Jay and Horace Greeley. His teams won sectionals 11 times and the NYSPHSAA tournament four times.

   Thomas served on the sidelines at Haldane, Poughkeepsie Lourdes and Millbrook. He won 347 games with an 84 percent winning percentage and won 14 sectional, four NYSPHSAA and three Federation titles.

   Tidick has won 404 games at Vestal, seven Section 4 championships and one state crown.

   Also being honored in the upcoming class are:

   Jim Gatto, boys coach at St. John’s Prep, who has won more than 500 games in a career spanning more than 40 years.

   Dick Harvey, who won 445 games while running the boys program at Kenmore West.

   Mechanicville boys Coach Joe Loudis, who has won 401 games and 10 league championships in more than 40 seasons on the bench.

    John Meehan, who amassed 297 wins while coaching the boys at Kerhonkson, Rondout and Marlboro.

   The induction by the Basketball Coaches Association of New York will be held March 29 during a brunch in Heritage Hall at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

   Some Saturday highlights: The seventh-place game at the Slam Dunk Tournament in White Plains will be remembered for quite awhile. Briarcliffe rallied from 12 points down in the third quarter to beat Stepinac in three

overtimes, 88-86, despite 54 points from George Washington recruit Tony Taylor. Taylor was 16-for-29 from the field and made seven three-pointers.

   First loss for Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln, top-ranked in Class AA by the NYSSWA, suffered its first loss on Friday at the Bojangles' Shootout in Marvin, N.C. Lincoln rallied from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to take a lead before dropping a 57-55 decision to Cincinnati Moeller, which was led by 24 points and 12 rebounds from Michael Davenport.

   Moeller dropped the final to national No. 1 St. Benedict's Prep from Newark, N.J., 56-45, as Louisville recruit Samardo Samuels posted 23 points.

   I caught some of St. Benedict's on an ESPN game against Oak Hill Academy a couple of weeks ago and was thoroughly impressed to the point that I don't think I've seen a more talented team in the last five years.

   Sharp objects alert: Jeff Gold of The Journal News zoomed to the top of the unofficial writer of the year standings by doing a feature on my favorite sport: fencing.

   Gold took a look at the 12-year-old program at Nyack, where Ron Mason and Doug Villari have more than 50 students involved in a sport frequently described as "physical chess."

   Mason previously started the fencing program at Clarkstown and will take on a similar challenge at Tappen Zee next year. There are a handful of programs scattered throughout the Westchester/Rockland area and down south through New York City and Long Island.

   I began taking an interest in the sport in the mid-1980s while looking for fodder for an Empire State Games preview story. Over the years, I've watched the Rochester Fencing Centre (now the Rochester Fencing Club) produce numerous Olympians.

   I have never met a top-level fencer who was anything but highly intelligent. I'm not sure whether it's because the "physical chess" aspect of the sport attracts power thinkers or perhaps because the amount of work required to reach the top requires intense discipline that carries over to academics, but "Fencing For Dummies" would be the most oxymoronic book title ever.

   Extra points: Good piece of reading this month from The Journal News' Harold Gutmann, who looked into the hardships caused by a shortage of ice time for hockey players. It's not unusual for downstate games to be played on Sunday nights, with the opening faceoff coming after 8 p.m. The combination of late games mixed in with some early-morning practices can't be construed as good.

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