Leading off today: After struggling to consecutive overtime victories in the first two rounds, Lithonia, Ga., Miller Grove routed Boys & Girls 79-58 last night to capture the 30th Beach Ball Classic boys basketball championship in Myrtle Beach, S.C..

   Miller Grove took control in the first half and held the 'Roos to 22-for-67 shooting from the field. Highly regarded 6-foot-9 junior Tony Parker piled up 20 points and a tournament-record 27 rebounds in the semifinals, then tacked on 20 and 13, respectively vs. Boys & Girls. He was a deadly 9-for-11 from the field and also blocked four shots to complete his three-game week with 61 points and 58 rebounds.

  Boys & Girls struggled against the winners' frontcourt height -- 6-9, 6-8 and 6-8. Mike Taylor scored the Kangaroos' first seven points but finished 6-for-22 from the field with 16 points.

  "They did an excellent job on the boards and got a lot of second shots," coach Ruth Lovelace told The Sun News. "They got a lot of transition baskets and controlled the ball."

   Huh? I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate that Vestal coach Ryan Hayes has lost interest in his job.

   That would certainly explain what happened at halftime the other night while the Golden Bears were en route to a 47-27 loss to Maine-Endwell in the STOP-DWI Holiday Classic's Regional Division II championship game in Binghamton.

   In a rematch of Vestal's 66-58 OT victory on Dec. 17, Maine-Endwell held the Golden Bears without a field goal for the final six minutes of the second quarter to build a 22-11 lead.

   Rather than regroup in the locker room at the half to discuss ballhandling (Vestal had three field goals and 11 turnovers up to that point), Hayes put his players through a series of sprints from baseline to baseline according to The Press & Sun Bulletin.

   "People can say what they want about the halftime gimmick or this or that," Hayes said. " ... I just wanted to make sure that (the players) understood that what we were doing out there isn't acceptable as far as a Vestal jersey goes."

   Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

   Look, I have no problem whatsoever with a coach holding his players accountable or with drilling home a message with some good ol' hard labor. (Chris Connell, who retired from Wilson Magnet last year after a marvelous career as both a coach and an educator, used to have players carry bricks while running punishment laps at practice.) But that needs to be done in the confines of your own gym, out of sight of fans and opponents.

   Humiliating players the way Hayes did is completely out of line. About all it proved is that he's fresh out of ideas about how to coach, how to motivate and how to lead.

   Perhaps it's time for him to turn the job over to an adult. Because what happened the other night was a disgrace to his profession.

   Way to go, P-S: Who has the best high school sports program in Section 3? We'll have one answer in June at the completion of the inaugural Post-Standard Cup competition, announced this morning by Syracuse's daily newspaper.

   The Post-Standard Cup is similar to the All-Sport Championship launched by the New York State Sportswriters Association during the 2008-09 school year. The newspaper awards points for state, sectional and league championships by teams.

   Baldwinsville holds a 61-51 lead over second-place Fayetteville-Manlius through the end of the fall season. The Bees won a NYSPHSAA championship in girls volleyball and sectional titles in girls volleyball, football, boys soccer, girls soccer and field hockey.

   It's a great initiative by The Post-Standard and one that other media outlets should consider undertaking.