Leading off today: Conor Murnane scored 15 points last night as Briarcliff pulled off a 67-65 upset of Pleasantville in an overtime boys basketball game.
Pleasantville is ranked first and Briarcliff 10th in the New York State Sportswriters Association Class B rating.
Ryan Huegel added 12 points for the Bears (13-3) Matt Nicolai of Pleasantville (16-1) scored 17 points and made a 3-pointer with three seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Climbing numbers: We're still waiting out possible developments with one or two more players, but New York appears to have produced its largest crop of Football Bowl Subdivision scholarship players since 2004.
There were 26 New Yorkers among the estimated 2,500 high school seniors nationwide who signed a National Letter of Intent yesterday. That compares to 21 signings in the first week of February last year, 19 in 2008 and just 17 in 2007. There were 28 scholarship players in 2004.
As of this afternoon, the list consisted of:
Chris Brathwaite, DT, Holy Cross (Virginia)
Jasen Carlson, OL, Southwestern (Buffalo)
Malcolm Cater, LB, Riverhead (Syracuse)
Andre Davis, DE, Maryvale (Buffalo)
Dominique Easley, DL, Curtis (Florida)
Sean Fitzpatrick, TE, Pittsford (North Carolina)
David Fluellen, RB, Lockport (Toledo)
Reuben Frank, LB, Poughkeepsie (UConn)
Jimmy Gaines, LB, Canisius (Miami, Fla.)
DaQuan Jones, DT, Johnson City (Penn State)
Zach Jones, DT, Roy C. Ketcham, (Buffalo)
John Kinder, QB, Lawrence (Syracuse)
Jeremiah Kobena, RB, Cardinal Hayes (Syracuse)
Patrick Laird, WR, Monroe-Woodbury (Army)
Jerome Lewis, DE, Rochester Bishop Kearney (Virginia Tech)
Macky MacPherson, OG, Syracuse CBA (Syracuse)
Lyle McCombs, RB, St. Joe's By The Sea (UConn)
Jared McFarlin, WR, Monroe-Woodbury (Army)
Mitch McKearn, LB, James I. O'Neil (Army)
John Molloy, K, Harrison (Buffalo)
Adam Redden, S, St. Francis of Athol Springs (Buffalo)
Steve Rene, RB, Canarsie (Syracuse)
Marvin Staten, RB, Tottenville (Akron)
Jordan Thomas, WR, Union-Endicott (Rutgers)
Mario Tull, S, Xaverian (Syracuse)
Rob Welsh, DT, St. Anthony's (Syracuse)
Among the highlights is the trio of downstaters committed to Army, which had virtually ignored the state for the last several years. Monroe-Woodbury receivers Patrick Laird and Jared McFarlin and James I. O'Neill linebacker Mitch McKearn will attend West Point on the fall.
McKearn's father, Col. Mark J. McKearn, was a tight end for the Cadets and is now the brigade for the U.S. Military Academy.
"I live about 200 yards from Michie Stadium," said the 6-foot-3, 205-pound McKearn. "Growing up I didn't think about going to West Point a lot. Now this feels like the best decision to go to the best college in the nation."
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Nothing settled, yet: No. 4 Rye and No. 13 Pelham played to a 3-3 tie in a game between state-ranked Division II hockey teams at Playland Ice Casino that likely previewed the Section 1 playoffs.
Last year, Rye won a pair of 2-1 regular-season games but Pelham won the sectional final 3-1 en route to the NYSPHSAA finals.
Rye's Paul Mundinger scored three straight goals -- two on power plays -- on assists from Taka Katsuta), but Pelham earned a tie on Will Mac Innis' goal with 2:03 left. Mundinger and Katsutahave combined for 49 goals and 40 assists in 16 games.
Mystery at Loughlin: Sophomore basketball star Tayshana "Chicken" Murphy has transferred out of Bishop Loughlin, Lions coach Rocco Romano told The New York Post. The paper reports that her next stop could be powerful St. Michael Academy, the defending Federation large-school champion.
According to the paper, Murphy was involved in a fight at a boys basketball game Jan. 22 and did not play in Loughlin’s games against St. Peter's and Bishop Kearney, after which the transfer process began. It was not clear as of yesterday whether she was being expelled from Loughlin.
The LIons are winless in the high-powered CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Division I after winning Division II last season behind Murphy, whose tuition at Loughlin reportedly was paid by NBA star Ron Artest.
Massena mourning: Excessive speed is being blamed for a crash that killed Massena wrestler Robert Rochefort on Tuesday, The Watertown Daily Times reported.
The 17-year-old senior was driving on Route 37 at about 5 p.m. when his vehicle went off the road and hit a steel utility pole, state police said. Passenger Steven LaClair, 17, was taken to Massena Memorial Hospital with injuries and later released, hospital officials told the paper.
The annual Massena peewee tournament scheduled for Saturday at the school has been postponed.
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