Leading off today: Madison Square Garden officials said yesterday they will allow the PSAL to continue holding its basketball championships at the arena, but they have imposed new rules aimed at preventing a repeat of last year's ugly brawling inside and outside the building.
The games, which will be held on March 16, will begin with the girls at 11 a.m., compared to a late afternoon start last year. In addition, there will be a total of 5,000 tickets distributed and no public sale. Each participating school will get 750 tickets, and the PSAL and then Garden will get 1,000, The New York Daily News reported.
Stephenson in fight: Abraham Lincoln basketball star Lance Stephenson was involved in an altercation yesterday with teammate Devon McMillan at the school, Lincoln coach Dwayne Morton confirmed.
Police assigned to the Brooklyn school broke up the incident, in which McMillan cut his hand. He was treated at a hospital and released. Stephenson does not face any charges, police sources said. McMillan, a childhood friend of Stephenson, and his parents did not wish to press charges, the sources told The Daily News.
Morton said he has not decided if or how he would discipline Stephenson and McMillan, who is currently academically ineligible to play. The coach said he would meet with the AD Renan Ebeid on the matter.
"But I want to make sure you know that if Lance does miss a game or something, it's because I talked to the AD and we decided to discipline him," Morton said. "This is not a suspension or anything. This is an in-house matter and I don't know why it got blown up this way."
One more NYC note: Third-year Brooklyn Thomas Jefferson girls basketball Coach Calvin Young is done for season, apparently frustrated after six players became academically ineligible last month. Young resigned and has
