Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012: Nazareth to close its doors for good in June

   Leading off today: Nazareth Regional High School, home of the defending girls Federation Class AA basketball team, will close its doors in June due to declining enrollment, it was announced Wednesday.

   Principal Providencia Quiles broke the news to faculty and students in the morning. The school opened in 1962 and saw enrollment plummet from 602 to 311 students in the last six years. Nazareth reportedly is about $3 million in debt to the Brooklyn Archdiocese.

   The announcement from the board of trustees was a stunning blow to students -- no more so than the members of the girls basketball team, most of whom arrived at the Brooklyn school after St. Michael Academy in Manhattan closed its doors in June 2010.

   Most of those players made the move in order to stay with coach Apache Paschall, who died of cardiac arrest Jan. 3. He had been diagnosed with skin cancer at the start of the season. The Lady Kingsmen are ranked 16th nationally by USA Today.

   Last June, St. Peter’s High School for Girls in Staten Island and Rice High in Harlem, both featuring traditionally strong basketball programs, were also forced to close.

   More Nazareth: The meeting scheduled for Wednesday that was supposed to rule on Nazareth's request for forfeits for games with Christ the King and Bishop Ford has been postponed until Monday.

   Bishop Ford Principal Frank Brancato said the postponement of the principals committee came at the request of one of the schools. That was almost certainly Nazareth; on top of the announcement of the closing and the controversy about forfeits being sought in the aftermath of Paschall's death, The New York Post reported this week that the Lady Kingsmen may be under investigation for the possible use of an ineligible player in at least three recent CHSAA games.

   CBA regains upper hand: Christian Leppanen score all eight of his points in overtime to lift No. 15 Albany CBA to a 52-50 Big 10 victory over No. 5 Troy on Tuesday in a Section 2 matchup of ranked Class AA boys basketball squads at Troy.

   The teams have split two-regular season contests and could play again next week to break a first-place tie in the division.

   CBA shot just 3-for-28 in the final 12 minutes of regulation, including 2-for-17 in the fourth quarter. Troy had a whole different set of issues, going 3-for-9 from the free-throw line after the third quarter and 16-for-31 for the game.

   Long night in Oneonta: Three Chenango Valley players scored at least 24 points to lead the way in a 92-88 victory over host Oneonta in a four-overtime Southern Tier Athletic Conference boys basketball contest.

   Zack Collins scored 30 points, Chris Ruffo 25 and Robert Heller 24 for the Warriors (10-6), who trailed 38-23 at halftime. Heller's buzzer 3-pointer tied the score at 55 at the end of regulation.

   Bryce Wooden scored 23 of his 29 points after the end of regulation to pace Oneonta (10-6). Mike Calkins added 25 points.

   More Oswego details: The Palladium-Times in Oswego said it obtained the content of a controversial note girls basketball coach Phil Reed gave to his girls basketball

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players last week, helping precipitate his departure.

   Reed was placed on leave for the remainder of the season after at least one parent complained about the note and unusually hard practice on Friday.

   The paper said it obtained the email, in which Reed expressed disappointment over the team's 3-11 record. In part, it reportedly read, "I’ll be honest with you, this type of season is so foreign to me that I don’t really know how to deal with it -- it makes me sick my last couple of years have been so difficult -- I guess allowing teenagers to make good decisions for themselves is a big mistake! I should have been the rotten bastard that I needed to be to get you players to practice the right way!”

   AD Scott Sugar and Superintendent Bill Crist put the coach on leave Friday pending further investigation of the note and the extent of that day's practice. The district announced earlier this week Reed would not return to coaching this season; his status as a teacher was not affected.

   Section 5 football changes: Wayland-Cohocton football coach Jim Brownell resigned three months after a 23-22 loss to Wellsville in the Section 5 Class C final. Brownell was 25-34 overall, but 14-5 over his final two seasons. He will remain as AD.

   Red Jacket has hired Marc Vitticore, son of former Indians coach Dom Vitticore (161-78 in 29 years), as its new coach. The 32-year-old Fairport resident graduated from RJ in 1997 and served on the football staffs at Fairport and Lyons.