Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014: Albany Academy holds off No. 1 Bishop Ludden

   Leading off today: Albany Academy saw its 18-point halftime lead trimmed to one before recovering for a 68-66 boys basketball win Friday over Bishop Ludden, the state's top-ranked Class A team.

   Albany Academy is ranked eighth this week by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

   "We played a great 16 minutes in the first half and then a bad 14 minutes before we closed it out pretty well," Cadets senior guard Matt Knezovic told The Record after scoring 24 of his career-high 26 points in the first half. "We got away from playing good team basketball and we got a bit soft defensively inside. It's great to beat the No. 1 team in the state and we're happy with the win, but we hopefully learned some lessons tonight."

   Albany Academy led 40-22 at halftime. Ludden closed it to 55-48 through three quarters and pulled within a point several times late in the fourth, but junior Ray Jerome scored off a feed from Knezovic with 45.1 seconds left and Knezovic made two free throws with :23.5 to play.

   Zach Walser led Ludden with 19 points. Hall of Fame coach Pat Donnelly was ejected after being hit with two technical fouls in the second quarter following several calls against the Gaelic Knights, including three fouls on Ben Hackett.

   Section 2 thriller: Lake George rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to edge host Argyle 69-63 in overtime in a matchup of 2013 New York State Public High School Athletic Association champions.

   Lake George is ranked third in Class C and Argyle second in Class D this week.

   Lake George junior Joel Wincowski scored a career-high 48 points, including seven of the Warriors' 10 in overtime. He also pulled down eight rebounds. Lake George took its first lead on a three-point play by Wincowski with 6:28 left. Another Wincowski three-point play gave the Warriors a 59-56 lead, but Brock Liddle responded with a 3-pointer with :10 left in regulation.

   "Joel played very well; we expected that from him,” Argyle coach Jack Sherwin told The Post-Star. "It was experience vs. non-experience. We had two freshmen on the court most of the time. They hadn't been in a game like that."

   The teams could meet again in the Adirondack League championship Feb. 15.

   Girls basketball: Jordan Beers scored 20 of her 27 points in the first half as No. 3 Franklin rolled to a 51-33 win at No. 9 Morris in a battle of state-ranked Class D teams.

   Beers added eight steals, and Marisa Cawley finished with 12 points and 19 rebounds for the Purple Devils.

   Change of heart: St. Joseph by-the-Sea defensive lineman Peter Mokwuah has switched his commitment from Rutgers to the Notre Dame football program, Sea coach Rich Clark confirmed to The Advance.

   Mokwuah had made a non-binding commitment to Rutgers in May, spurning offers from Connecticut, Penn State, Syracuse and Temple, but his stock climbed steadily in the fall. Scout.com rates the 6-foot-4, 315-pound senior as the No. 66 defensive tackle recruit in the country, with a three-star rating.

   "The academic part, getting a degree from Notre Dame would be huge," Mokwuah told the paper. "I'm a Catholic so that was a big plus. It was an aggregate decision."

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   Munson to Annapolis: Tottenville football star James Munson, who has been attending Army-Navy games since 2007, expects to enroll in prep school at the U.S. Naval Academy in the fall, The Advance reported.

   "I just remember the atmosphere," he recalled of the atmosphere at his first Army-Navy game. "I've never seen anything like it with the jets and 90,000 people. They all come marching in and the teams run out onto the field with the flag."

   Munson was a starting safety at Tottenville and caught 27 passes for 465 yards and 11 TDs as a senior receiver. He's likely to wind up at defensive back should he earn his Academy appointment.

   Not a great idea: DeSoto County (Fla.) High was forced to forfeit a girls soccer victory and assessed a $1,000 fine after an assistant coach played in a junior varsity and varsity match against Lemon Bay High this month.

   "I can't believe it happened," district superintendent Dr. Karyn Gary said.

   Bulldogs assistant coach Juany Gonzalez played for both the DeSoto junior varsity and varsity in the regular season finale for both teams, the Florida High School Athletic Association determined. Gonzalez and head coach Narce Hinojos were fired.

   Students reported the ruse to another coach at the school, who informed Gary. The superintendent then investigated and submitted a report to the FHSAA, which factored in the school's cooperation in opting to not assess the maximum fine of $5,000.