Leading off today: You can just go ahead and cancel the rest of the high school sports year. We have our winner for the most inspiring performance of the year, an exhibition of grace under pressure that's likely to go unmatched for quite some time.

   Luke Houston's 13-point performance Thursday in Pearl River's overtime victory was about much more than basketball. The sophomore guard, the son of a legendary player, drained his first three shots -- two of them from beyond the arc -- while making his first varsity start mere hours after the burial of his mother, Liz, who died last weekend at the age of 44 from complications of scleroderma, a chronic autoimmune illness.

   Luke's dad, Kevin -- an NCAA Division I scoring champion in 1987 while at West Point -- and uncle, Jerry Jr., played for Pearl River, and Jerry Jr. is now the varsity coach (assisted by his father). Liz cheered there in her younger days and witnessed dozens if not hundreds of games in the Pearl River gym.

   With one game already having been postponed last week, Pearl River turned down an offer from Hastings coach Dennis Hurley to reschedule Thursday's game. It turned out to be a great decision for reasons beyond the 69-66 final score.

   Michael Kay gave it an extensive mention Friday on his ESPN radio show, and The Journal News' Bob Baird recounted the performance this morning.

   Rice upends CTK: James Stukes scored 18 points and Jonathan Williams added 16 yesterday as Rice, ranked sixth in Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters Association, defeated No. 4 Christ The King, 71-58.

   "It was a major statement game," Miami-bound senior forward Durand Scott told The Daily News after chipping in with 11 points. "That showed we own the Catholic side. We've just got to go and get the public side."

   With Rice trailing 48-45 to start the fourth quarter, Scott forced costly turnovers that spaked a 9-1 Rice run to take the lead for good.

   She's at it again: Lancaster junior Melissa Kurzdorfer has set yet another New York state class record in the indoor shot put, this time throwing 47-9 to finish second the Dartmouth Relays.

   Kurzdorfer's progression of records began with 37-3.75 as a seventh-grader, 40-2 in eighth grade and 45-5.5 in ninth grade. She put the exclamation mark on her sophomore season with a 46-6.75 effort last March at Section 6's state qualifier.

   Next up? Grand Island's Stacey Schroeder holds the overall record of 48-3 as a senior in 1992.

   Julie Labonte of St. Justine in Quebec posted the winning throw of 51-5 at Dartmouth.

   At the same meet, Kellenberg's sprint medley relay team of Colleen Meenan, Kelsey Gardner, Candace Gibson and

Also worth checking out Boys basketball page 2008 all-state football team

Kim McKay ran 4:15.53 to edge Colonie by a tenth of a second and destroy the school record of 4:21.07.

   More weekend heroics: Sarah Johnson's 39 points broke a Carthage single-game record set by current coach Randi Smith 22 years ago and highlighted a 60-34 girls basketball victory over New Hartford. Johnson added 17 rebounds.

   Sophomore Brennen Campbell scored the last five points of the game and 19 overall as Perry's boys beat Geneseo in triple overtime, 69-63. Jeremy Kingston hit a 3-pointer with :08 left in regulation for Geneseo, and Perry's Keith Collings (15 points, 15 rebounds) hit a basket with :07 left in the second OT to extend the game.

   Senior Korye Hollingsworth scored 20 of his career-high 34 points in the third quarter to lead Roosevelt over Manhasset, 76-62.

   Upon further review: A month after turning thumbs down on the idea, Monroe County Athletic League ADs have granted Canandaigua an associate membership for 2009-2010, capping a year in which the organization has expanded from 20 to 23 schools.

   Dennis Fries, executive director of the league, said realignment of schools along geographic lines made the change of heart possible.

   Canandaigua is the furthest east team that Monroe County teams would have to travel to," he told The Daily Messenger. "And we are currently in an economic climate where all of the schools are looking to save money any way they can. We made some accommodations with league alignments and those traveling concerns in mind."

   “This is an important step for the future of Canandaigua teams and student-athletes,” Canandaigua Superintendent Don Raw said in a statement. "But perhaps even more importantly, it is a positive step for schools and students across the entire Finger Lakes region."

   With Canandaigua (BEDS number of 1,047 this year) and Victor (862) gone, the Finger Lakes League's largest schools are Wayne for football (682) and Newark (670) in other sports.

   Fatal fire: A Staten Island fire killed two former athletes early Saturday. Brothers Sha-ron and Seandale Gutter were found dead inside the home, The Advance reported.

   Sha-ron was a NYSSWA third-team all-state member of Curtis' 2002 PSAL championship team. He led Staten Island as a senior with 23 touchdowns and was second with 1,428 rushing yards. He capped his season with 106 yards and two TDs in a 30-6 win over Fort Hamilton in the title game.

   Seandale, 27, ran track at Port Richmond.

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