Leading off today: Is it time to start asking whether the best boys basketball team in New York this season plays in Class A?

   Jamesville-DeWitt, ranked No. 1 in Class A by the New York State Sportswriters Association, is doing its best to make a case. The Red Rams traveled to New York City yesterday and defeated Abraham Lincoln, No. 12 in Class AA, 73-63 at Baruch College.

   Overcoming a sluggish start, J-D (13-0) out-rebounded Lincoln 48-43 and forced 25 turnovers. Alshawn Hymes led with 28 points, Syracuse recruit Brandon Triche added 20 and 6-foot-8 freshman Dajuan Coleman had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

   Lincoln star Lance Stephenson scored just 15 points on 5-of-17 shooting but chipped in with eight rebounds, five steals and four assists. Maryland-bound forward James Padgett had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Railsplitters (12-5).

   Triche scored six straight points in the third quarter as J-D went on an 11-2 run to build a 58-47 advantage. The margin never dropped under seven after that.

   J-D already owned wins over state-ranked Rush-Henrietta, Brooklyn Bishop Ford and Syracuse CBA, so taking the matchup of winners in the two largest 2008 Federation tournament classes adds to the case for rating the Rams ahead of the likes of Niagara Falls, Mount Vernon, Albany Academy and half a dozen PSAL or CHSAA clubs.

   Speaking of playing up: If you're having trouble envisioning where J-D might fit in against a steady diet of Class AA competition, don't even try to grasp what Greenport's place in the Empire State hierarchy might be if the Porters beat Archbishop Molloy, a top-five CHSAA team, in the Big Apple Basketball Invitational tomorrow morning at Hunter College.

   Greenport (9-1) is ranked second in Class D, with its only loss coming by a 61-52 margin to Class A No. 13 East Hampton. Leading the way is 6-foot-3 senior guard Ryan Creighton, who surpassed 2,000 career points late last season. After games against Molloy, Ross and Stony Brook this week he should be in the all-time top 10 in state scoring and closing in on the big three of Sebastian Telfair (Abraham Lincoln, 2000-2004, 2,785 points), Kenny Anderson (Molloy, 1985-89, 2,621) and Ken Wood (East Hampton, 1985-69, 2,613).

   "It actually is strange," Creighton said via a recent e-mail. "I never thought I would be the leading scorer of my school or come close to being leading scorer of Long Island and possibly the state."

   Creighton scored 14 in the East Hampton loss but has been averaging over 30 points a game since, including a school-record 45 against West Babylon on 17-for-26 shooting on Dec. 30. As was the case with the Greenport career scoring mark he shattered early this season, the performance wiped the name of Porters coach Al Edwards out of the books.

   Besides prepping Creighton for the transition from high school swingman to college guard (he's undecided on a school thus far), Edwards is able to share his experiences with the young star.

   "The plus is that I had the honor to break his record," Creighton said. "The minus is that I can't be compared to him because he is a legend. I still have my senior year left and I still have to go to college. Maybe some day they'll remember my name as well as his."

   They just might do that for the same reason Edwards will still be remembered decades from now. Creighton, whose favorite player is LeBron James, envisions himself coaching basketball after his playing days are over.

   Before then, there's the matter of perhaps wrapping up his scholastic career with a state championship. The Porters are ranked only behind Maple Grove, which came down a class after winning the NYSPHSAA Class C crown last winter. Greenport finished 20-3 last season, dropping a 61-58 semifinal to Chateaugay.

   "I think we have more players this year that want to win and can help with scoring," Creighton said. "We all want to make it back to Glens Falls and become state champs."

   What could have been: Regarding today's leadoff item, the consensus seems to be that the overall strength we're used to seeing at the top of the PSAL and CHSAA just is not there this season. There certainly are some strong teams, but there's also a great deal of parity.

   Rice is a stride ahead of the pack in the CHSAA, but Bishop Ford, Christ The King and Bishop Loughlin are capable of picking off the Raiders on any given day. In the PSAL, Jefferson, JFK, Lincoln, Cardozo and Boys & Girls might all finish between 5-3 and 3-5 if you threw them into a home-and-home round-robin.

   Having said that, a feature on FiveBoroSports.com this weekend caught up with a couple of NYC-bred players who could have been difference-makers this season. Instead, Doron Lamb and Lamont "Momo" Jones, friends since elementary school, are playing guard for Oak Hill Academy

Also worth checking out Boys basketball page 2008 all-state football team

in Mouth of Wilson, Va.

   Lamb spent his previous two years at Bishop Loughlin. Jones most recently played at American Christian Academy in Pennsylvania, which closed its high school building over the summer, after starting out at Rice.

   More basketball: Casey Sheehan put on one of the most memorable shows by a Greece Athena hoopster since the John Wallace era, scoring a career-best 32 points as the Trojans downed No. 17 Irondequoit, 59-58, in the Mike Dianetti Classic at Aquinas.

   The junior nailed his first four three-pointers (he made seven in the game) and scored 17 of Athena's first 24 points. He surpassed his 12.6 points a game average by the end of the first quarter.

   "The basket was looking real big and I was just on fire; I didn't know how I kept doing it," he told the Democrat and Chronicle.

   In Friday action, Newark drilled Waterloo, 67-24, to give the Reds' Ron Ceravolo his 400th victory. Junior center Javon McCrea finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds for the state's No. 8 Class A club.

   Indoor track: New Yorkers fared exceedingly well at the Yale Invitational over the weekend, with Colonie freshman Kyle Plante scoring a double of :08.20 in the 55-meter hurdles and :56.0 in the 400 run. Sam Roecker anchored the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake distance medley relay to a victory Friday in 11:59.71 over North Shore (12:00.32), and then she returned Saturday to win the 3,000 in 9:51.18, second in the country this season.

   Other noteworthy victories included Shenendehowa's Dan Harris in 8:40.94 for the 3,000 meters and St. Anthony's freshman sensation Olicia Williams winning the girls 800 in an eye-popping 2:12.87.

   In the Stanner Games at the Armory, Roslyn's Emily Lipari won the 3,000 meters in a meet-record 9:50.21 to nip Roecker for the national lead. Senior Terrance Livingston of Great Neck South took over the national lead in the 1,000 (2:30.81) and the 600 (1:20.41).

   Impending cuts: Two upstate sources involved in the scheduling process have told me that it's considered a certainty that the maximum length of the varsity football season will be scaled back to 12 games (nine within the section and three in the state tournament) as part of the NYSPHSAA's cost-cutting initiative in light of the state's budget problems.

   Speculation is all over the board on the effect on JV and modified/freshmen schedules, but it appears that reports that teams at those levels will be told to trim two games may not be accurate. They'll almost certanly be told to drop one game, but the proposed two-game reductions apparently were intended for sports with 18- to 24-game seasons like soccer, basketball and lacrosse.

   By the way, the NYSPHSAA football tournament is locked into Thanksgiving weekend dates at the Carrier Dome, so a reduction in the varsity schedule would translate into a Sept. 11-12 start to the season. It was just two years ago that some squads opened on Aug. 31.

   PSAL shifts girls soccer season: The Public Schools Athletic League announced Friday that it would be moving girls soccer from the spring season to the fall beginning next school year, The Advance reported.

   The sport has been played in the spring for the last 28 years, but the PSAL has been facing the threat of a Title IX challenge. Advocates for playing in the fall believe that will open the door to more scholarship and financial aid opportunities.

   "We have top-notch girls soccer teams and look forward to the next season," PSAL executive Eric Goldstein said. "We'll work hard to give the girls teams, and all of our fall athletes, the best possible schedules and playing conditions."

   According to the PSAL, there are 80 girls teams compared to 107 boys teams in the organization.

   There will be several logistical issues for many schools. Though varsity and JV football games will be played as doubleheaders to smooth out facilities scheduling, practice space will still be at a premium. That could lead to both the boys and girls league schedules being cut by 25 to 50 percent— a blow to the New York City Liberties Union, which pushed for the season change even though summer travel-league soccer is generally more of a magnet for college recruiters than high school soccer.

   As far as personnel goes, numerous girls soccer coaches already have fall coaching assignments and will have to choose between sports. Additionally, the New York City area already has a shortage of game officials, a situation that will be made worse by having the PSAL and CHSAA playing boys and girls seasons at the same time.

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