Leading off today: The Wilson Magnet boys basketball team has forfeited its 10 victories this season because it used an ineligible player, the
Democrat and Chronicle reported today.
The unidentified player was too old to compete under state rules, according to Carlos Cotto, the new executive director of athletics for the Rochester City School District, and coach Chris Connell.
The disclosure dropped the Wildcats' record to 0-13 entering tonight's game against Greece Olympia. A statement said the district learned Wednesday that the student didn’t meet eligibility requirements. Connell told the paper the student missed the age cutoff by three weeks.
500 wins for Panzanaro: Peekskill boys basketball coach Lou Panzanaro picked up his 500th win last night with a 70-61 triumph against Poughkeepsie.
In the same game, Ralph Watts scored his 1,000th career point. Watts, a senior who transferred from Lakeland before last season, scored a game-high 24 points as Peekskill improved to 14-0. Poughkeepsie is 12-2.
Panzanaro is 500-102 in 26 seasons and has won 10 sectional and five state championships.
"It honestly isn't real to me," Panzanaro told The Journal News. "Other than standing in this room and cutting cake, it doesn't feel real. This was just another hard-fought basketball game."
The game was originally scheduled to be played at Poughkeepsie, but officials there agreed to move the game to Peekskill in anticipation of the milestone.
Coleman girls sneak by: Despite losing three starters to fouls, the Coleman Catholic girls basketball team, ranked 15th in Class D, pulled out a 54-50 win over Spackenkill in two overtimes.
Anne Shults scored 10 of her career-high 23 points in overtime for Coleman (10-1). She forced OT with a basket with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter, then made a three-pointer and seven of her 10 free throws in extra time.
Good games tomorrow: You've got to love tomorrow's girls doubleheader at Pittsford Sutherland. It could very well be a preview of the Section 5 Class A semifinals, made even more interesting by the fact the games will be played so late in the season.
Pittsford Mendon (11-1), ranked third in the state, plays No. 9 Honeoye Falls-Lima (12-2) at 5 p.m., followed by Sutherland against No. 4 Newark (11-2).
