Leading off today: The Jasper-Troupsburg boys basketball team will try to play out the string with JV replacements for six varsity players dismissed from the team following allegations of under-age drinking at a recent party.

   The development stems from the disclosure that volunteer assistant coach Jordan Butler was charged by New York State Police last week with first-degree unlawful dealing with a child, a class A misdemeanor, for allegedly providing alcohol for the party, The Evening Tribune reported.

   The team will play on with three remaining varsity players and seven call-ups from the winless junior varsity, which will forfeit the remainder of its schedule. Jasper-Troupsburg (8-4) is ranked No. 12 in Class D by the New York State Sportswriters Association.

   J-T Superintendent Chad Groff said six student-athletes violated the athletic code of conduct. They will serve 30-day suspensions from sports and be required to attend a counseling session before regaining eligibility to play sports.

   "The parents, athletes, and coaches were asked to make that decision, and the consensus was to have the JV players move up," Groff said in a statement.

   Tied at the top: Rod Chando racked up his 560th victory in 36 years of coaching boys basketball at Red Hook to tie the Section 9 mark held by Jerry Kaplan of James I. O'Neill. The milestone came in a 63-50 triumph against Wallkill as the Raiders improved to 11-3 behind nine points and 14 rebounds from sophomore center Chris Loftus.

   Chando, 60, was inducted into the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004. Included in his 560-173 record are four consecutive sectional championships beginning in 2003.

   Going up: Bishop Gibbons, the reigning Section 2 Class A champion, will move to Class AA next season, the sectional boys basketball committee has decided.

   The Section 2 classification committee was set to meet today, and basketball chairman Mike Lilac told The TImes Union he expected that vote to be a formality. He said Bishop Gibbons will not appeal the ruling. A year ago, the basketball committee recommended that both Albany Academy and Bishop Gibbons should move up one class for this season, but Section 2 chose to only elevate

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

Albany Academy. Later last year, Gibbons (17-8) won the Class A title over Albany Academy at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

   Father denies charge: The 41-year-old father of a Dover basketball player accused of punching two Haldane teens during a game Friday denied the charge, The Journal News reported.

   Gildo Lacourt of Wingdale is facing one misdemeanor charge and two violations for allegedly strikig two students near the end of the game at Dover Middle School.

   "I don't acknowledge this," he told Dover Town Justice John Fusco. "It is not true."

   Lacourt said outside the court that he only pulled two Haldane off his son. "No way would I strike any child. My son was being kicked in the face," he said. "I am not a violent man."

   He was charged Friday with a misdemeanor, endangering the welfare of a minor. Two new charges, second-degree harassment, were added Tuesday.

   About that 100-0 game: Times Union columnist Mark McGuire nicely summed up the way a lot of people feel about Micah Grimes, the Texas girls basketball coach who was fired in the aftermath of a 100-0 victory:

   "If this idiot ever gets another job in coaching, please let it be here in the Capital Region," he wrote. "I would love to cover every one of his games."

   Extra points: Greenport's Ryan Creighton is up to 2,499 career points through 13 games this winter, moving the senior swingman to No. 8 on the all-time state list and placing him just 33 away from tying Bobby Hodgson (William Floyd) for No. 2 on the Long Island list. . . . Hamburg senior Joe Whelan has been selected New York's male cross country runner of the year by Gatorade. Other fall winners announced thus far are Miguel Maysonet (Riverhead football), Mary Cushman (Irondequoit girls volleyball) and Emily Lipari (Roslyn girls cross country).

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