News & notes

 The other shoe dropped for Siena on Friday when Ryan Moesch decommitted, a move that had been speculated upon after Gerry McNamara left for Syracuse earlier in the week. In fact, all four recruits signed by McNamara for the 2026-7 season have decommitted.

New Orleans Pelicans assistant, Mike Hopkins has emerged, according to reports, as a front-runner for the head coaching job at Siena, which AD John D'Argenio is at the moment denying, likely waiting until after either the NCAA tournament ends a week from Monday, or the NBA gets closer to the postseason in mid-April.

Stay tuned.

After playing mostly at first base and pitching out of the bullpen the last two seasons, Olivia DeCitise (Troy) is now a starter for UMass-Lowell, and was in the circle Friday at UAlbany. That was the good news.

The bad? The Lady Danes walked off the River Hawks, 7-6, in 8 innings. DeCitise (9-7) went the distance, and took the loss.

The series resumes tomorrow with a Palm Sunday doubleheader, moved from today due to cold weather. First pitch at noon.

While wrestling fans are waiting to find out when Chris Jericho will get back in the ring, Jericho is returning to his other love, music.

Jericho and his KISS tribute band, Kuarantine, will make their 518 debut at the Cohoes Music Hall on Thursday night. In an interview with the Albany Times-Union, appearing today & tomorrow, Jericho said the band was formed during COVID 6 years ago. Fozzy, his other band, is on hiatus so that Kuarantine can finally go on the road.

In terms of wrestling, Jericho's AEW contract has been frozen, killing off speculation about a return to WWE. For now, anyway.

Due to deadlines, some of Thursday's high school scores don't see print until today. To wit:

Baseball:

Lansingburgh 10, Hudson Falls 0. The Knights host another Foothills Council team, Gloversville, today.

Softball:

Mohonasen 18, Schenectady 0 (5 innings).

Men's tennis:

Queensbury 5, South Glens Falls 0.

Friday's results, as of now:

Women's lacrosse:

Albany 13, Ichabod Crane 3.

Burnt Hills 14, Glens Falls 6. 

Men's lacrosse:

Mechanicville-Stillwater 13, Schenectady-Mohonasen-Schalmont 3.

The rest of Friday's college results:

Baseball:

RPI 6, Skidmore 4. The series resumes in Saratoga for a Palm Sunday doubleheader.

Marist 11, Siena 0.

UMBC swept UAlbany, 2-0 & 8-3.

Union 15, Vassar 5 (7 innings-mercy rule).

Flag football:

SUNY Brockport 26, Russell Sage 12.

Softball:

Skidmore 10, Potsdam 1 (6 innings).

News & notes

 After 21 years coaching freshmen, then the junior varsity, before being promoted to varsity head coach, succeeding Tony Dzikas, Paul Yattaw has stepped down from the latter at Shenendehowa.

That means Shen needs to again find a new men's varsity head coach in basketball. With 8 months before practice begins for the 2026-7 season, the district has plenty of time to sign a successor. Yattaw coached all three divisions this past season.

Stay tuned.

Thursday's high school scores:

Women's lacrosse:

Colonie 21, Ballston Spa 4.

Shenendehowa 14, Niskayuna 6.

Hoosick Falls-Tamarac 15, Troy 14. The Troy women, in their first varsity season, will win some games, but at least they gave a good accounting in their home debut.

Men's lacrosse:

Queensbury 20, Amsterdam 5.

Glens Falls 12, Columbia 7.

Schuylerville 15, South Glens Falls 13.

Scotia 16, Hudson Falls 1.

Colleges:

Softball:

RPI swept Oneonta, 3-1 & 5-4. The 2nd game went just 5 innings due to weather.

Union 9, North Central (Minnesota) 1 (6 innings).

Union 4, Lawrence 2.

News & notes

 The fallout from Gerry McNamara's departure from Siena to Syracuse has begun.

On Wednesday, it was reported that star guard Gavin Doty, the Saints' leading scorer, was planning to enter the transfer portal. Doty is from the Syracuse area, and already there is speculation he might follow McNamara to Syracuse.

The same can be said for Ryan Moesch, who committed to Siena in November, and currently, is at Cushing Academy in Massachusetts. Prior to transferring to Cushing, Moesch had been at Chittenango High, and had drawn interest from Syracuse a year ago.

Geographically, it all fits.

Stay tuned.

In other Siena news, the women's lacrosse team blew away Merrimack, 15-3, on Wednesday afternoon, to go to 6-4 on the young season (2-1 MAAC).

The rest of Wednesday's college action:

Softball:

Union 7, Oberlin 4.

UAlbany 10, LeMoyne 2.

Westfield State 10, Skidmore 6.

High schools:

Flag football:

Colonie 10, Kingston 7.

When the NY Phoenix open the USBL home schedule Sunday, kids will be admitted for free for all home games at M & T Bank Mohawk Harbor Arena. The Phoenix open at Frederick, Maryland on Friday before the home opener on Palm Sunday. Sounds like a good way to ger more families to the arena, especially on a Sunday afternoon.

News & notes

 With Gerry McNamara heading back to Syracuse, the search is on for a new coach at Siena.

The Albany Times-Union offered up a list of prospective candidates, but at the same time, reporter Mark Singelais isn't too keen on assistant coach Ben Lee's chances of being promoted. The Union College alumnus was McNamara's right hand man the last two years as they turned the Saints from a doormat to MAAC champions.

The other candidates:

Bobby Hurley (Arizona State): The Sun Devils are not renewing the former Duke star's contract, which expires in June.

Matt Langel (Colgate).

Luke Murray (Connecticut assistant under Dan Hurley).

Mike Hopkins (New Orleans Pelicans assistant). Hopkins, like McNamara, is a Syracuse alumnus.

John Becker (Vermont). It wouldn't be the first time an Albany nemesis came to work in the big town. The late Bill Musselman spent a couple of years with the Patroons in the late 80's. Becker & the Catamounts have been UAlbany's Achilles heel for years.

Of course, there's always the chance, and a friend suggested this to me, that Green Tech's Will Brown would merit some interest, but since he's been passed over for the Siena job at least a couple of times, it isn't likely at this point, but maybe later?

UAlbany ironman Amir Lindsey has entered the transfer portal. Lindsey appeared in 31 of UAlbany's 32 games this season as a sophomore, and led the America East in minutes played, averaging 37.4 minutes per game. Lindsey is the 4th player to enter the portal this off-season.

Tuesday's high school scores:

Men's lacrosse:

Queensbury 19, Hudson Falls 0.

Scotia 18, Broadalbin-Perth 2.

South Glens Falls 11, Colonie 7.

Mechanicville-Stillwater 10, Greenwich-Cambridge 2.

Burnt Hills 19, Columbia 3.

Schuylerville 10, Glens Falls 9.

Cornwall 18, LaSalle 4.

Women's lacrosse:

Ballston Spa 13, Albany 2. The Falcons cancelled a non-league game vs. Hoosick Falls to make room. League games take priority over non-league games.

News & notes

 Yesterday, we reported that Siena men's basketball coach Gerry McNamara was heading back to Syracuse.

Now, it's official.

WYSR in Syracuse is reporting that McNamara will indeed be the next coach of the Orange, after Adrian Autry had been let go earlier this month. Terms have not yet been disclosed.

On Friday, the NCAA hockey tournament returns to MVP Arena for the first time in 3 years. Bentley, Minnesota-Duluth, & Big 10 powers Michigan & Penn State make up the field.

Friday's doubleheader sees Michigan vs. Bentley at 5:30, and Penn State vs. Minnesota-Duluth at 9 pm. I'd imagine the Big 10 Network will carry these games. If they don't they'll likely stream on ESPN+.

The women's title has already been decided, with Wisconsin winning its 2nd straight title Sunday in beating Big 10 rival Ohio State, 3-2. Wynantskill native Maggie Scannell plays for Wisconsin. If that last name looks familiar, it should. Brother Owen played for LaSalle.

Troy High has moved the starting time of Friday's flag football home opener vs. Saugerties from 6 pm to 4:30 pm. This, I think, may have something to do with lighting issues at Picken Field, or scheduling conflicts involving the Sawyers. Thursday's women's lacrosse opener vs. Hoosick Falls-Tamarac also has a 4:30 pm start. Men's lacrosse is scheduled to play under the lights next Tuesday in their home opener vs. Voorheesville at 7 pm, so we'll see.

News & notes

 Well, that didn't take long.

Prior to the NCAA men's basketball tournament, Siena coach Gerry McNamara told reporters the school had his full attention.

Three days after Siena dropped a nail-biter in the 1st round to Duke, reports began surfacing that McNamara was heading back to Syracuse as its next head coach. ESPN had all but confirmed on Sunday night that McNamara was leaving Siena after 2 seasons and a MAAC championship.

That means Duke coach Jon Scheyer will see McNamara once, sometimes twice or more, every year beginning next season. As of Sunday night, McNamara and his reps were finalizing the contract.

What that means for Siena? They have to find another coach. Again. And they have to retool their ad campaign for WJMZ-FM, assuming the station continues carrying Siena men's basketball next season.

McNamara has his his uniform number, 3, retired, and spent 15 seasons as an assistant under Jim Boeheim, whom he played for, and Adrian Autry, the man he is replacing. The heat will be on Syracuse AD Bryan Blair, who was introduced at a presser just 5 days ago, to see if his faith in McNamara is justified.

In Amsterdam, they're looking to fill a sport for an assistant coach.

Jared Baldizon was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a student at another district. On March 19, Baldizon was fired by the Amsterdam school board, three days after his arrest.

The attack occurred in the neighboring Broadalbin-Perth district in 2024, while Baldizon was a teacher's assistant. At the time, Baldizon was an assistant track coach. At Amsterdam, he was an assistant men's varsity lacrosse coach. He is due back in court March 31.

Four days ago, 10 Section 2 teams were vying for state basketball titles.

This morning, only 1 came home a champion, and that was CBA on Saturday.

Bethlehem's magical run in the women's tournament came to a crushing end Sunday afternoon at Hudson Valley Community College with a 57-37 loss to North Tonawanda.

In Binghamton, Cooperstown thwarted Berne-Knox-Westerlo's bid to repeat as men's Class C champions, 52-43. The Bulldogs were held under 30% shooting from the field, which proved to be the difference.

Sunday's college scores:

Baseball:

UAlbany 10, NJIT 3. Troy High grad Austin Francis went 0-2 with a walk as the Danes finally shut him down. UAlbany returns home to play UMass-Amherst tomorrow at 3 pm.

St. Olaf 6, Union 5.

Softball:

Bryant 10, UAlbany 2.

Colby 9, Union 0.

Middlebury 11, Union 3.

Men's tennis:

Luther 7, Union 0.

Siena 5, Merrimack 2.

Brandeis 6, RPI 1.

Skidmore 6, RIT 1.

Women's tennis:

Hamilton 6, Union 1.

Water polo:

Siena 12, Mount St. Mary's 10.

Women's lacrosse:

Colby 10, Union 7.

News & notes

 Saturday's Mets-Astros pre-season game aired on WTEN, which was all well & good, but it should've been over on WXXA instead.

Why?

Fox23 had 3 hours of infomercials booked opposite Mets-Astros, which, in turn, bumped an NCAA women's 1st round basketball game to Cozi TV (Spectrum channel 1240). Seems to me they were afraid that if the game spilled past 4 pm, (and it did, just barely), they'd miss part of Fox's hyped Flag Football Classic, marking the return of Tom Brady to the field in a mere flag football game, and they'd rather diss basketball fans than risk missing even a minute of the alleged greatest player in football history.

For what it's worth, Houston won the game.

One title down, two to go.

Two Section 2 teams play today for state basketball titles, and the games, apparently, will be running concurrently in Binghamton & Troy.

Saturday's scores:

Women's Class AA semi-finals:

Bethlehem 50, Nyack 46. The Eagles play North Tonawanda today at 11:45 am at Hudson Valley Community College for the title.

Women's Class A semi-finals:

Tappan Zee 60, Albany Academy 52.

Women's Class C finals:

Frewsburg 59, Greenwich 52. Frewsburg was down 3 at halftime before taking the lead in the 3rd quarter, holding the Witches to 9 points each in the 2nd & 3rd quarters after making defensive adjustments.

Men's Class AAA finals:

CBA 78, Fairport 67. Galal Cancer & the Brothers completed a perfect season, which may be a first in school history. Austin & JJ Osinski had 21 points each to lead CBA, which won its first state crown since Cancer led them to the title as a player in 2010.

Men's Class AA semi-finals:

Penfield 62, Amsterdam 54.

Men's Class C semi-finals:

Berne-Knox-Westerlo 100, North Salem 66. BKW had 5 players in double figures, led by Jayden Buie & Dayne Coates with 22 points each. They'll play Cooperstown this morning at 11:45 at the Visions Center.

Women's lacrosse:

Burnt Hills 16, Valley Central 13.

Colleges:

Baseball:

RPI swept Vassar, 10-6 & 2-0.

NJIT 5, UAlbany 4. Austin Francis (Troy High) went 2-4 with 2 RBI.

Siena split a doubleheader with Niagara, winning the first game, 10-9 (10 innings), then dropping the nightcap, 9-6.

Wisconsin-LaCrosse 15, Union 3 (7 innings-mercy rule).

Softball:

Chicago 6, Union 5 (8 innings).

Union 10, Knox 2 (6 innings-mercy rule).

Siena split a doubleheader with Iona, winning the opener, 1-0, then losing the 2nd game, 5-0.

UAlbany split with Bryant, losing the opener, 6-3, before rebounding in the nightcap, 9-3.

RPI swept Utica, 5-0 & 9-2.

Men's lacrosse:

Skidmore 16, RPI 12.

UAlbany 10, UMBC 6.

Siena 15, Binghamton 9.

St. Lawrence 11, Union 10.

Women's lacrosse:

Union 10, Skidmore 9.

UAlbany 19, UMass-Lowell 10.

Fairfield 11, Siena 7.

Women's basketball:

Notre Dame 79, Fairfield 60. Jillian Huerter (Shenendehowa/Rutgers) played all but 4 minutes and scored 12 points in a losing effort, as the MAAC champs are 1 & done in the NCAA tournament.