Leading off today: New York City basketball czar Ernest Lorch was arrested yesterday by the United States Marshals Service after failing to appear for arraignment on sex abuse charges in Massachusetts last week, The New York Daily News reported.

   Lorch, 77, founder of the famed Riverside Church basketball program, was taken into custody at a Westchester County assisted-living facility and later released on a $25,000 bond, the paper reported. Lorch must appear in court on Dec. 3 in White Plains for an extradition hearing, according to Jane Mulqueen, the chief of the child abuse division of the Northwestern District Attorney's office in Massachusetts.

   Lorch is accused of assaulting and attempting to rape a 17-year-old boy during a trip to the University of Massachusetts in the late 1970s. The alleged victim, now 50, contacted authorities in Massachusetts earlier this year. Lorch was indicted by a Massachusetts grand jury last month on two sex-abuse charges. A bench warrant was issued after he failed to appear for his Oct. 27 arraignment in Northampton District Court.

   Attorney Frederick Cohn said his client is in failing health and will challenge extradition.

   Lorch founded the Riverside Church Hawks basketball program in the 1960s. It grew into one of the nation's best known basketball programs and was represented on the court by the likes of Mark Jackson, Chris Mullin, Elton Brand and Ron Artest over the years. The ability to influence players' college decisions made Lorch a major power broker in the metro area.

   Coach resigns: East Islip girls basketball coach and football assistant Matt Johnstone resigned last month and surrendered his teaching certificate amid allegations on sexual improprieties, Newsday reported this week.

   The paper said Johnstone surrendered his teaching certificate to the state Department of Education and permanently waived his right to ever apply for any new state teaching or administrative certificates. He had been reassigned to administrative duties that did not involve contact with students, a district official said.

   According to the paper, Johnstone and the East Islip district are being sued for $40 million by one of his former players who alleges he engaged in a sexual relationship with her while she was a high school student. The lawsuit alleges the girl's mother advised school officials in February 2008 and again in October of that year that Johnstone had engaged in a sexual relationship. At the time the girl has already reached the age of consent in New York, Newsday reported.

   Johnstone did not return calls seeking comment and his attorney declined to comment, the paper reported. The school district also declined to comment.

   Pitch count announced: As expected, the PSAL has gone ahead and instituted a pitch count for baseball pitchers in New York City. Hurlers throwing the maximum 105 pitches in a game will be required to get four days of rest before throwing in another game, and those throwing 76-90 pitches will need three days of rest. It'll be two mandatory days for 51-75 pitches and one day for a pitcher throwing 26-50 pitches.

   As The New York Post notes, the big flaw in the rule championed by New York City Councilmen Louis Fidler and Oliver Koppell us that other leagues might now follow

along. The CHSAA doesn’t plan to institute similar restrictions, and the Ivy League (the largest NYC private-school circuit) hasn't talked about the issue yet.

   Oh, deer: The only way this story could have been any better is if the athlete's first name was Bambi.

   Sarah Glidden, a sophomore runner for Hortonville, Wis., literally ran into some bad luck last week at the Division 1 cross country sectional at Wausau's 9-Mile County Forest course. With a little more than 100 meters to go in the 4K race. she was

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knocked over by an antlerless deer that suddenly darted from the woods.

   Glidden was knocked off stride but stayed on her feet and kept going. She finished 18th, which wasn't good enough to qualify for the state meet, and suffered a minor leg bruise.

   Weekly awards: Pelham junior setter Lauren Keller was selected the MaxPreps/American Volleyball Coaches Association state player of the week.

   Keller amassed 35 assists, five digs and six aces in three games last week.

   Sectionals must be here: Two annual complaints reared their head in the last week or so.

   In Section 1, the topic was seedings in the girls tennis tournament, where there are questions as to whether Westchester County players are unfairly seeded too high at the expense of other competitors.

   According to The Journal News, some Rockland County coaches say they the perception that their players cannot compete with their Westchester counterparts is unfounded. They say their players receive tougher draws than they deserve.

   And in Nassau and Suffolk counties, the dreaded power rankings in football were an issue down the stretch for reasons far too complicated to summarize here. Let it suffice to say, however, that it doesn't make much sense to set up conferences that are so large that schools only play around half of the other teams.

   Extra points: Abraham Lincoln lineman Ishaq Williams, the state's most coveted football prospect, has his college choice narrowed to USC, Syracuse, Penn State, Notre Dame and Alabama, The New York Post reported. If Syracuse looks out of place on the list, considered that it is the alma mater of his parents, Shaun and Anastasia, who met there.

   Whitehall's football season ended Saturday with a loss to Rensselaer in Section 2 Class D, but junior QB Codie Basque isn't done with sports for the season. He left after the game for Park City, Utah, where he is attending a two-week FIBT bobsled drivers' school as he bids for a spot on the U.S. Junior National team in two-man bobsled, The Post-Star reported.