Leading off today: Niagara Falls avenged its state Class AA championship loss to Bishop Maginn in March by routing the Golden Griffins yesterday in boys basketball, 78-58.
"We were looking forward to this game even before the season started," senior guard Kelvin Agee, who led all scorers with 28 points, told The Times Union at The College of Saint Rose. "We worked in practice on their press and went 5-on-7 so it would be easier to deal with it in the game."
The Wolverines (8-0), ranked No. 5 in Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters Association, had dropped a 69-38 verdict to No. 2 Maginn in the 2008 NYSPHSAA final in Glens Falls.
The Wolverines blew open a nine-point game with a huge third quarter, twice building the lead to 24 points.
Maginn lost senior point guard Bunduka Kargbo (20 points) to an ankle injury with 2:33 remaining. His status for Saturday's game at Newburgh Free Academy is unknown.
Brickhouse puts on a show: Playing all 36 minutes, Daquan Brickhouse scored eight of his 28 points in OT as Peekskill edged Iona Prep in a Slam Dunk semifinal, 80-76.
Brickhouse, the MVP of last year's Slam Dunk, added 11 assists and four rebounds to advance Peekskill, ranked seventh in Class A, to the final against Yonkers Gorton tonight.
"I kept trying to give him a break," Red Devils coach Lou Panzanaro told The Journal News. "I couldn't take him out. He kept saying, 'No.'"
The showdown of unbeatens featured 11 lead changes and nine ties. No. 5 Iona Prep went up by 63-61 on Jeff Mack's layup with 47 seconds to go in regulation. Ralph Watts responded with a 3-pointer with :11 left for the lead, but Brian Voelkel drew a foul on a move to the basket with nine-tenths of a second left and made the first of two free throws to force overtime.
Voelkel, a junior forward, finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds and four assists for Iona Prep, which got 20 points from Sandro Carissimo. With Voelkel slowed by led cramps and guard Andre Pope nursing a leg injury, Peekskill raced to a 74-67 lead in OT
In the other semifinal, Corey Green scored eight of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, including a putback at the buzzer, to lead Gorton to a 53-52 win over White Plains, which surrendered an 18-point lead.
Newark cruises: Junior center Javon McCrea scored 38 points, grabbed 20 rebounds and blocked six shots to lift Newark, ranked eighth in Class A, to a 73-59 victory over Class AA No. 11 Jamestown in the Elmira Coaches Vs. Cancer Tournament. Jace Havrilla added 20 points, including six 3-pointers, for the Reds.
STOP-DWI Classic: Bishop Ford recovered from an 18-3 deficit to beat Philadelphia's Simon Gratz, 62-55, in the quarterfinals of the STOP-DWI Holiday Classic in Binghamton.
Hofstra-bound Chaz Williams scored 27 points and
