Leading off today: Center Chinonso Obokoh, a 6-foot-9 senior from Rochester's Bishop Kearney who's a force on defense and steadily improving on offense, committed to play basketball for Syracuse University next fall,
Scout.com reported Monday night.
"I think it's about time," Obokoh told Scout.com shortly after informing SU coaches of his decision. "It's been a long time with this, the past two years now. I just think it's the right time.
"I would say that I felt at home at Syracuse. Just everything when I got there. It was all positive. The coaches and the players. It felt right."
Obokoh and highly regarded sophomore teammate Thomas Bryant were on the Syracuse campus over the weekend for the Orange Madness event at the Carrier Dome and other team functions. He scratched a tentatively scheduled visit to the University of Texas after also considering James Madison, Temple and Villanova.
Obokoh, the only junior on the New York State Sportswriters Association Class A first team last winter, is the second commitment for Syracuse in the 2013 class, joining point guard Tyler Ennis.
Following up: According to Section4football.com, the much-awaited decision from the Section 4 football committee was to uphold the summer vote to advance the top two teams from each division into sectionals.
Pairings allegedly will be released Tuesday, but I'm told that there is at least a remote chance this one could end up in court -- though not necessarily the result of action by Spencer-Van Etten district officials.
As always, stay tuned.
(See story from earlier today here.)
Manhattan Invitational recap: It looks as though we have ourselves a looming battle on the national girls cross country scene, which has been the near-exclusive domain of Fayetteville-Manlius for the past several years.
F-M, winner of six straight Nike Cross Nationals titles in Portland, Ore., placed second to Wilmington, Del., Tatnall on Saturday in the featured race of the Manhattan Invitational at Van Cortlandt Park.
Tatnall senior Reagan Anderson won the race, covering 2.5 miles in 14:21.2 seconds, and three teammates were among the top four scorers in posting an 81-90 margin over F-M.
Eighth-place Alana Pearl was the top runner for F-Min 14:46.2.
Senior Jillian Fanning, slowed by a minor quad strain recently, did not run for Fayetteville-Manlius. Fanning won the event last year, and it's not a stretch to say the Hornets could have taken first place had she been available.
F-M coach Bill Aris declined to take the easy way out on that. "We lost by nine points," he told The Post-
