High School Fridays: Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons @ Catholic Central (boys basketball), 12/28/18

When the late Rich Gilooly played for Catholic Central in the 90's, there was still a Big 10 in high school basketball, and one can imagine Monsignor Burns Gym was packed to the rafters for every home game, for both boys & girls.

Nearly 20 years after Gilooly graduated, nearly 2 since he'd passed away, his alma mater hosted the first holiday basketball tournament in his honor. In an ironic twist, the Crusaders' opponent would be the school that combines with Catholic Central to form Holy Trinity in football.

Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons now plays in the Western Athletic Conference, and their record entering tonight was not that much better than Catholic Central's in the Colonial Council. The Golden Knights had three players not listed on their roster, per the program handed out by Catholic Central, and that oversight would cost the Crusaders dearly.

The Golden Knights came out of the gate like a house on fire. Rodney Parker, one of those players not on your program, and Todd Williamson did most of the damage as Bishop Gibbons ran out to a 26-4 lead after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Catholic Central's Jackson Brown found the scoring boulevard, and led the Crusaders back into contention. However, Brown's shooting touch was running on empty by the fourth quarter, and he finished with 25 points, sharing high game honors with Parker. Jack Mattfield & Patrick Clinton each had 11, and Dan Callaghan added 10 before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Williamson finished with 22 points, and Lorenzo Marchiso added 13, as the Golden Knights, down by two headed into the final frame, pulled away to win the game, 76-65.

Anyone that came to the game expecting to see Bishop Gibbons' Nacier Hundley, one of Holy Trinity's star players, was disappointed, as Hundley was out with an injury.

Bishop Gibbons will next play Thomas Corcoran High of Syracuse, which ended Troy High's season opening five game winning streak with an 86-78 verdict. The game stats have not been made available to media outlets as of press time. What we do know is that Troy historically has had trouble when playing teams from Western New York or NYC & Long Island, which play a different kind of defense the Flying Horses and other Section II teams aren't accustomed to. Troy & Catholic Central will renew a dormant city rivalry in the consolation game. The two teams have not met on the hardwood since 2015.
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In other action. LaSalle won a non-league twilight game over Nichols, 53-35. Again, game stats have not been made available to media outlets at press time for the second straight week. Apparently, the sports information department went on vacation during the Mohawks hockey tournament.....

News & notes

I've been talking up the basketball tournament at Catholic Central all this time, and only now am I finding out that it's not the Crusader Roundball Classic anymore.

Instead, the school is honoring one of their former coaches, as this year marks the debut of the Rich Gilooly Memorial. Obtained the information through CCHS' own website. Did El Cheapo Media know about it? Well, of course not. What else is new?
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This year's edition of the Mohawks hockey tournament at Union College underwent a format change, likely due to the visiting teams from Long Island, Mahopac & Rye-Harrison, and Section II acknowledging that their representatives, LaSalle and host Niskayuna-Schenectady-Albany, didn't have anything other than a token chance to win the tournament.

Since the downstate reps play each other in their own league, it was decided that there would be a point system for this year's tournament. Because of their own financial/manpower limitations, the Albany Times-Union didn't send anyone to cover the tournament. Again. Seems to happen almost every year. No television cameras to speak of, either, that I know of.

Anyway, Rye-Harrison, now 7-3 overall, beat LaSalle, 7-4, on Wednesday night, then blew away the host Mohawks, 10-4, earlier today. Mahopac, in reverse order of their travel partners, downed N-S-A, 5-2, then beat LaSalle, 4-2. I'm not even sure if they formally declared Rye-Harrison the tournament champs. If they didn't, why bother calling it a tournament?

LaSalle has now lost three of their last four, and will return to Union to play the Mohawks on January 5.

News & notes

Back on the beat after being off the last three days. Time to catch up on some recent news.
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LaSalle bounced back from a Friday loss to Queensbury to beat the winless Capital District Jets, 3-2, on Saturday night. Kyle McGee made 26 saves in the win. LaSalle squared their record at 3-3-1 going into today's first round game in the Mohawks tournament at Union College vs. Rye-Harrison, which is underway as this is being written.

What I neglected to mention, though, in recent reports, is there've been some cosmetic changes to the rules in the CDHSHL. Each period is now 17 minutes, not 15 as in past years, and minor penalties, which had been for 90 seconds in recent seasons, are now 2 minutes each, just like in the college & pro games. That, I think, would mean that major penalties would now be 5 minutes in the penalty box. Is it a coincidence that these changes coincide with the return of Albany Academy to the CDHSHL? We'll see.
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Speaking of bouncing back, Troy High's women's basketball team snapped a 2 game losing streak, both in Suburban Council play, by picking up another non-league win Saturday, beating Middletown, 44-22, on the road. Jenalyse Alarcon led Troy, now 4-4 overall and 2-4 in the league, with 15 points.

However, when league play resumes on January 4, Troy's schedule will still be brutal, as they'll host Shenendehowa to start a three game homestand that also includes Columbia (January 8) and Schenectady (January 11), before starting a road trip in Kingston on January 12. We know Kingston has a tough men's team. Are their ladies as good? We'll find out in a little more than two weeks, but Kingston will return the favor and come to Troy on February 2.
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It has become the norm, not the exception, to have teams from outside Section II taking part in holiday tournaments. We see this every year in the Mohawks hockey tournament at Union.

That being said, Troy High's first round game in the Crusader Roundball Classic at Catholic Central on Friday sees them taking on Thomas Corcoran High out of Syracuse, while the host Crusaders renew a former Big 10 rivalry with Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons. We should note that the two teams fuse together to form Holy Trinity in football.

The Crusader Roundball Classic remains a tradition at Catholic Central, despite the fact that Catholic Central's men's team is not what it was in past years. The Crusaders have fallen on hard times since prodigal son Chuck Mack left town, not long after his son, Anthony, decided to take the prep school route to college. Catholic Central is a second division club in the Colonial Council's Patriot Division, and we'll see how they'll fare on Friday.

News & notes

Former Shenendehowa star Kevin Huerter has adjusted well to life in the NBA.

Huerter, drafted by Atlanta back in June, scored 16 points Friday night as the Hawks, with one of the worst records in the league, defeated the equally moribound Knicks. It was just the 8th win of the season for Atlanta, and with Huerter, they have a blue-chipper who will be an asset for them for years to come. Seeing as how the Knicks and Brooklyn each play Atlanta about four times a year, it means the balance of the Hawks' TV appearances will be on MSG and the YES network, the latter of which holds the broadcast rights to the Nets. Otherwise, you'd have to pay premium prices to access the Fox Sports regional channels where the Hawks games otherwise appear.
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This is how bad things have gotten at The Record, otherwise known as El Cheapo Press because of their parent companies' penny pinching business strategy.

For two straight weeks, El Cheapo has actually reprinted some early week scores later in the same week. What that says to me is that while El Cheapo needs fresh material, not every school in Section II is cooperating with consistency. They had no reporters present for Thursday's Troy-Colonie basketball & bowling matches. As of press time, the bowling match still hadn't been reported to either El Cheapo or the more reliable Albany Times-Union.

For what it's worth, back when I was a student at Troy, they would include basketball results, especially if Troy won, during the next day's morning announcements. They don't do that much anymore. Hmmmmmmm...
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We told you last night that LaSalle pulled out a win at the last second of a non-league game vs. Green Tech. Final score was 62-61 in favor of the Cadets, and some of the players, including Connor Cepiel, who hit the game winning basket, crossed over to Conway Arena for the remainder of the LaSalle-Queensbury hockey game to cheer on their brethren. Now, that's solidarity.

Unfortunately, while the result was submitted late to the Times-Union, they don't have full game stats as of press time.
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As a public service, we have the updated Colonial Council basketball standings for the boys, courtesy of the Times-Union website, and we'll leave you with that 'til next time. Merry Christmas.

Conference: Colonial Council

	Conference				Overall
Team	W	L	PCT		W	L	PCT
Liberty Division
Schalmont	5	0	1.000		8	0	1.000
Lansingburgh	3	1	0.750		4	3	0.571
La Salle	2	3	0.400		3	3	0.500
Mohonasen	2	3	0.400		3	4	0.429
Ichabod Crane	0	5	0.000		2	6	0.250
Patriot Division
Cobleskill	5	1	0.833		6	1	0.857
Watervliet	5	1	0.833		5	1	0.833
Voorheesville	4	2	0.667		4	2	0.667
Catholic Central	1	3	0.250		2	4	0.333
Ravena	1	4	0.200		2	5	0.286
Cohoes	0	5	0.000		1	7	0.125

High School Fridays: Queensbury @ LaSalle (hockey), 12/21/18

Ten months ago, Queensbury played spoiler, as a late-season win over LaSalle denied the Cadets their second straight regular season title. Bethlehem clinched the title instead by virtue of the LaSalle loss, then went on to win the Section II title.

Tonight, revenge should've been foremost on the minds of Tim Flanigan's Cadets. It was just the second home game of the season, but a case could be made of LaSalle thinking ahead to Saturday's road match vs. the Capital District (Shaker-Colonie) Jets, who remain mired in the CDHSHL basement. Either that, or plans for revenge were left behind in the locker room with the rest of the egg nog.

It was easy to see that Queensbury still had something to prove. The Spartans outworked the Cadets for the puck virtually the entire night, and left the LaSalle goaltenders with little room to maneuver. With about three minutes left in the first period, Trevor Vogel put the Spartans on the board as he stuffed the puck past Leo Paul. Two minutes later, Tyler Vogel, Trevor's brother, whistled a one-timer past Paul, and it was a 2-0 Spartans lead at the first break.

Making matters worse for LaSalle was the loss of junior defenseman D. J. Pauley to a concussion in that first period. At last report, Pauley had been taken to a hospital for treatment. LaSalle was already short-handed, what with Pauley's younger brother, Nic, suspended for disciplinary reasons, and Reid Murray also dealing with concussion issues.

In the second period, Queensbury put the game away, as Brendan Murphy scored two goals in the space of about three minutes. Flanigan had seen enough, and lifted Paul in favor of fellow sophomore Kyle McGee. McGee acquitted himself well, giving up only one goal, Tyler Vogel's second of the game in the third period, despite being under constant pressure from the Spartans. Hunter Caola broke the shutout in the third, jamming one past Owen Smith to put LaSalle in the scoring column. However, it was too little, and too late. Queensbury takes the measure of LaSalle again, 5-1. The Cadets drop to 2-3-1 overall, 1-3 in league play.

It's right back into the fray for the Cadets at the Capital District Jets tomorrow night, then the annual Mohawks tournament at Union College on Wednesday.
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LaSalle's basketball team hosted Green Tech tonight as well, as their game started 45 minutes before the faceoff at Conway Arena. At press time, the score hadn't been reported to the press, but Connor Cepiel won it for LaSalle (3-3 overall) with a buzzer-beating jump shot. We'll update it in our next report.

Colonie @ Troy (boys' basketball), 12/20/18

Nobody had to tell Greg Davis & Troy High that they had a monkey on their collective backs headed into tonight's home game vs. Colonie. Troy had not beaten the Garnet Raiders in four tries since entering the Suburban Council.

Then again, Colonie hasn't been the same since Will Aybar & Isaiah Moll graduated, having only won one game, that against Averill Park in their last game on Tuesday. As it turned out, that made all the difference.

The first half was mostly a defensive struggle, with points at a premium. Colonie's defense keyed on Nazaire Merritt, but he still torched them for 13 points in the first half, and Troy entered halftime with a two point lead at 20-18. The defense, however, clamped down on Merritt in the second half, limiting him to just one three point basket, and Merritt finished with 16 points, a season low.

However, as has often been the case, Merritt's teammates stepped up to back him up. Lateef Johnson was the only other Troy player in double figures with 11. Jay-Quan Moore iced the game with a three pointer with under a minute left in the game, and finished with 8.

For Colonie, Aaron Satin had a breakout game, and led all scorers with 19 points. Marcus Shelton added 10, and Josh Aybar finished with 6, including the game's final basket, but it wouldn't be enough, as Troy goes to 5-0, finally snapping their losing streak vs. Colonie with a 51-46 verdict. Colonie falls to 1-5 in Suburban Council play, having had one game under their belts before everyone else began league play 2 weeks ago.

Troy's JV's destroyed Colonie, 72-46. Some of this year's JV's will be on next year's varsity, and that makes Troy even scarier going forward.

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Unfortunately, Troy's women lost to Colonie, 53-27. Alaina Holmes led Troy with 11 in a losing effort. Troy has yet to win a road game this season, and is on a two game losing streak heading to Middletown on Saturday.

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While today's match vs. Colonie hasn't been reported at press time, it looks like Troy's bowling team has turned the corner, having routed Shaker, 20-12, on Tuesday at Spare Time Latham (formerly Latham Bowl). We should have information on the Troy-Colonie bowling match within the next 24-36 hours.

Tuesday roundup

LaSalle Institute snapped a three game losing streak on the hardwood Tuesday night, beating Cohoes, 56-24. The Cadets are now 2-3 on the young season.

Meanwhile, Mohonasen has suddenly hit the wall, as the Mighty Warriors, playing their second game in as many nights, dropped a 64-61 decision to Voorheesville, despite Duncan Tallman's game high 26 points. Mohonasen is also 2-3 in league play, tied for 3rd with LaSalle in the Liberty Division.

Over in the Suburban Council, Troy moved into first place in the Gray Division after beating Shaker, 65-56. The Bison do have one non-league win this season, but are now 0-6 in league play, while Troy goes to 4-0. Nazaire Merritt led four Troy players in double figures with 23 points. Worth noting is that Latyce Faison has been out with an undisclosed injury, and no return date in sight. Troy comes home to play Colonie tomorrow night, hoping to snap a four game losing streak to the Garnet Raiders, who broke their losing streak last night, beating Averill Park. After tomorrow, Troy will get a week off before the Crusader Roundball Tournament at Catholic Central High next week.

As far as the women are concerned, it seems like last season may have been an aberration, as Albany is back atop the Suburban Council Gray Division. The undefeated Falcons beat Averill Park Tuesday night. The Lady Warriors have played one more game, and sit at 4-2. Troy is three games back after the loss to Shaker.

As the Carpenters famously put it, "We've only just begun".......

Shaker @ Troy High (women's basketball), 12/18/18

Tonight's game, with apologies to Sesame Street, was presented by the number four.

Why? Because Troy High had lost three straight to Shaker entering this game, and were looking to extend their home winning streak to four in a row.

The cold & wind kept folks away from Zotto Memorial Gym. Either that, or this is a typical Tuesday.

In any case, Troy's Jenalyse Alarcon got it started, just a couple of minutes into the game, with the first basket of the evening. However, Shaker sophomore center Madison Mahoney answered on the other end, and Shaker took control, leading 9-3 after the first quarter, and 17-14 at the break.

However, Troy would come back, and come back strong, as Alarcon was bolstered by Alaina Holmes, who finished with 9 points despite being in foul trouble for most of the second half. Mahoney finished with 6 points before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Alarcon made the key baskets in the fourth that put the game into overtime.

In overtime, though, Troy ran out of magic. Sole Carrington, playing with four fouls herself, sank a pair of important free throws in the extra frame. Madeline Malicki hit two more, and Holmes' desperation three pointer landed shy of the hoop at the buzzer. Shaker escapes with a 47-44 win, ending Troy's home winning streak. Carrington and Julia DeBeatham shared game high honors with Alarcon, as all three finished with 14 points each. Troy falls to 2-3 in the Suburban Council, 3-3 overall.

Troy begins a 2 game road trip Thursday night at Colonie, then closes the 2018 portion of the schedule on Saturday in Middletown.

News & notes

Just to give hockey fans equal time, here's the current Capital District High School Hockey League (CDHSHL) standings, courtesy of www.hometeamsonline.com.

STANDINGS

	League			Overall
Team	GP	Record	Pts	GP	Record	GF	GA	Last 6	Streak	Win %
CDHSHL
Bethlehem	4	3-1	5	7	6-1	42	15	5-1	Lost 1	.857
Albany Academy	3	3-0	4	4	3-1	22	11	3-1	Won 3	.750
CBA	3	3-0	3	5	4-1	25	17	4-1	Won 4	.800
Shenendehowa	2	2-0	3	6	4-2	22	22	4-2	Won 2	.667
Niskayuna/Schenectady/Albany	3	2-1	3	5	3-2	16	13	3-2	Won 1	.600
Guild/Mohon/S-G	5	2-3	3	8	3-4-1	25	38	2-3-1	Lost 1	.438
Burnt Hills/Ballston Spa	3	1-2	2	5	3-2	36	27	3-2	Lost 1	.600
Queensbury (D2)	3	1-2	2	6	4-2	22	18	4-2	Won 2	.667
La Salle	3	1-2	2	5	2-2-1	20	20	2-2-1	Won 1	.500
Saratoga	2	1-1	1	6	4-2	28	22	4-2	Won 1	.667
Adirondack	3	0-3	-	6	0-5-1	16	43	0-5-1	Lost 5	.083
Shaker/Colonie	4	0-4	-	6	0-6	8	42	0-6	Lost 6

As you can see, defending champion Bethlehem won't run the table this season, having already lost to Shenendehowa on Friday night. The numbers are a bit skewed because of non-league play, and, in Albany Academy's case, the one loss reportedly was in NEPSAC (New England Prep School Athletic Conference) play. 

LaSalle snapped its 3 game winless streak over the weekend, as previously reported, and will host Queensbury on Friday before visiting the Capital District Jets (still listed as Shaker-Colonie in the above grid) on Saturday night.

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Speaking of streaks, Lansingburgh is on one in boys' basketball after beating Mohonasen on Monday. The Knights have now won 2 in a row. 

As we showed the grid over the weekend, the Suburban Council is experiencing a changing of the guard in boys' hoops. I don't think anyone expected Shaker, Guilderland, & Colonie to all be winless at this point in the season. Everything, of course, runs in cycles in high school sports.

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We've posted the standings because you're never going to see them in the local newspapers. Space limitations, you know. We're just doing a public service.

Whitesboro @ Troy (girls' basketball), 12/15/18

Historically, when Troy High schedules basketball games with teams from downstate or Western NY, the Flying Horses have struggled. Today's twilight matinee saw the Troy women host Whitesboro. For the second straight day, the house wasn't packed, even though, unlike the boys' games, there is no admission for women's action.

While the one weakness Troy has had the last few years is a lack of offensive depth, Whitesboro is guilty of virtually the same thing. Senior forward Kelsey Wands led Whitesboro with 14 points. No other Lady Warrior had double figures. Sound familiar? Of course. Troy had the same problem last night in a loss to Guilderland. Hannah Scott, daughter of Whitesboro coach Todd Scott, had 6, but pops had a reason to blow his cork, feeling Troy's pressure defense was a little too much to the point where they might've been benefiting from some home cooking, although I'd chalk that up to sour grapes. The elder Scott was close to getting a technical foul in the 3rd quarter, but calmed down.

For Troy, Alaina Holmes & Jenalyse Alarcon led the way, as both were in double figures, with 11 (Alarcon) & 13 (Holmes) points, respectively. Troy bounces right back and beats Whitesboro, 42-34, in a fast-paced game played in less than 90 minutes.

For what it's worth, Troy made it a sweep, as the JV's also defeated Whitesboro. Both Troy squads are now 3-2 overall.

Coach Ryan Meikle's club returns to Zotto Memorial Gym on Tuesday to host Shaker, then begins a two game road trip at Colonie & Middletown heading into the Christmas break.

News & notes

LaSalle snapped its three game winless streak in hockey with a win Friday night over "Guilderville", 5-2. Coach Tim Flanigan's club now gets a week off from game play before returning to Hudson Valley Community College next Friday to play Queensbury. The annual Mohawks tournament at Union College follows a few days later.

Meanwhile, defending champion Bethlehem saw its Section 2 winning streak end with a loss to Shenendehowa. Sounds to me like coach Juan de la Rocha's Plainsmen are ready to take back the league title after being out of the title hunt the last few years.
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As promised, here's the Suburban Council boys' basketball standings, following last night's action, courtesy of the Albany Times-Union:

Team	W	L	PCT		W	L	PCT
Blue Division
Bethlehem	5	0	1.000		6	0	1.000
Saratoga Springs	3	0	1.000		5	0	1.000
CBA	3	1	0.750		3	1	0.750
Shenendehowa	3	1	0.750		3	1	0.750
Niskayuna	2	2	0.500		4	2	0.667
Shaker	0	4	0.000		1	5	0.167
Colonie	0	4	0.000		0	5	0.000
Guilderland	0	5	0.000		0	5	0.000
Gray Division
Columbia	4	0	1.000		4	0	1.000
Troy	3	0	1.000		3	0	1.000
Averill Park	3	1	0.750		4	1	0.800
Schenectady	2	1	0.667		2	1	0.667
Ballston Spa	2	3	0.400		2	3	0.400
Albany	0	4	0.000		1	5	0.167
Burnt Hills	0	4	0.000		0	4	0.000

Why is CBA in the Blue division after winning the Gray division last season? Only league officials know, and they're not sharing. They want the Blue division to be the stronger half of the league, and they think this makes up for Mohonasen leaving for the Colonial Council. The biggest surprise to this point seems to be Columbia, as Curtis Sankey's Blue Devils sit a 1/2 game in front of Troy, The two teams meet in East Greenbush on January 8, with Columbia looking to snap a 3-game losing streak to the Flying Horses, for whom Sankey starred in the late 70's and early 80's. 

We knew Colonie was in a rebuilding phase in football, but boys' hoops, too? You have to believe Troy coach Greg Davis will keep his team from salivating for revenge when the two teams meet on Thursday. Troy would like to go to the Crusader Roundball Classic at Catholic Central in two weeks still undefeated, as they've owned Shaker in recent years, but in this league, you can't look too far ahead.......

High School Fridays: Guilderland @ Troy (boys basketball), 12/14/18

After a week's rest, Troy High's boys' basketball team was back on the court tonight in front of a smaller than normal, but raucous nonetheless, home crowd at Zotto Memorial Gym, as the Flying Horses welcomed the Dutchmen of Guilderland.

Last year, Troy snapped a three game losing streak to Guilderland, but early on, it seemed as though the Dutchmen, who seemingly are in rebuilding mode this season, might have the upper hand. William Lia put the guests on the board first, but seconds later, Nazaire Merritt nailed a 3 pointer to put Troy up, only for Guilderland's Brandon Caulfield to answer with one of his own.

And so it went throughout the first half. The Guilderland tandem of Lia and Ryan "Iced" Teaney combined for 22 points. Merritt had that all by himself, but Guilderland led by three at the break, 33-30.

In the third quarter, Merritt went ice cold, but the rest of the Troy offense perked up, particularly Lateef Johnson, who had 5 points at the break. Johnson broke out in the second half, and finished with 17. Lia also went cold, but then also got into foul trouble, and was sent to the bench with four personals near the end of the frame. He didn't return until there were a couple of minutes left in the fourth quarter, but there's no truth to the rumor he spent his time on the bench on his cell phone selling cars. Lia finished with 14 points.

Merritt, the subject of a feature article in the Albany Times-Union today, got it going again late in the third quarter, and teamed with Johnson to put Troy up for good. Merritt finished with a game high 30 points. Makai (Don't Be) Cruel had 9, all in the fourth quarter. Likewise, Alex Wolfe scored all 5 of his points in the second half, and Troy runs its record to 3-0 with an impressive 67-58 win. In a losing effort Teaney led Guilderland with 17 points.

Next up for Troy will be a road test vs. Shaker on Tuesday before returning home to play Colonie, seeking to end a four game losing streak to the Garnet Raiders, before the Christmas break. For what it's worth, Troy also won the JV game in more convincing fashion, 79-43. Ouch!
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However, Guilderland salvaged the women's game, as the Lady Dutch beat Troy, 61-54. Troy falls to 2-2, but has to come right back home for a non-league tilt with Whitesboro tomorrow afternoon. Yesterday's bowling match between Troy & Guilderland had not been reported by press time.
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LaSalle's struggles continue on the court, as Jon Desso's Cadets have now lost three in a row, the latest a 44-34 setback to cross-town rival Lansingburgh. The Cadets have failed to reach 40 points in their last two games. The skating Cadets' match vs. "Guilderville" had a later start, and was not completed by press time.

Remembering Bill Kirsch (1932-2018)

As I was growing up in the 70's, Siena College's athletic teams were then known as the Indians, and they were one of the first teams to change their name, before the hubbuh over the depiction of Native Americans became a national thing. They went without a team nickname for some time, including their first trip to the NCAA men's basketball tournament, if memory serves me correctly, nearly 30 years ago.

That tournament run represented a milestone in Siena history. They had made their first major inroads in Division 1 sports, and a lot of the credit goes to former player, coach, & athletic director Bill Kirsch, who passed away Sunday at 86.

As a Division 2 school, Siena bought airtime on WAST (now WNYT) for a weekly half-hour program with Coach Kirsch. It didn't survive the decade, and if memory serves me, UAlbany (then known as Albany State) did the same for their basketball coach, the late Dick "Doc" Sauers. It was seeing that Siena program that was my first memory of Kirsch and the school.

Kirsch was a star player at Siena in the 50's, a successful coach in the 70's, and as athletic director, oversaw the construction of the Alumni Recreation Center, the home for Siena's women's hoops team. It was just a few years ago that Kirsch was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame.

The current Saints will almost certainly dedicate the remainder of the season to Kirsch's memory. Lord knows they need some divine inspiration.

Rest in peace, coach.

News & notes

Ever since entering the Suburban Council in 2015, Troy High's bowling team had been mired in the basement of the league's Gray division. It may be early in the 2018-9 season, but Troy, now with a co-ed team, one of a number of schools going co-ed rather than field separate teams for men & women, may have finally turned the corner.

Now, we all know everything runs in cycles in high school sports. We've seen it in football, soccer, & basketball. Bowling is no different. After one week of play, Troy sits at 2-0 after beating Ballston Spa on the road, 26-6, on Thursday night. The Flying Horses haven't been this good on the lanes in a long, long time. Troy still has to play the likes of CBA, Shenendehowa, et al, so there's no guarantee they'll get through the season unscathed. In fact, I'll own to the fact that they might not. Stay tuned.
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File this under "what's wrong with this picture".

Courtesy of the Albany Times-Union, this is the Suburban Council's women's basketball standings after play on Friday:

Conference: Suburban Council

	Conference				Overall
Team	W	L	PCT		W	L	PCT
Blue Division
Saratoga Springs	3	0	1.000		4	0	1.000
Guilderland	2	0	1.000		2	0	1.000
Colonie	2	1	0.667		2	1	0.667
Shenendehowa	1	1	0.500		1	1	0.500
Shaker	1	2	0.333		2	2	0.500
Columbia	1	2	0.333		1	2	0.333
Bethlehem	0	3	0.000		0	3	0.000
Niskayuna	0	3	0.000		0	3	0.000
Gray Division
Albany	3	0	1.000		4	0	1.000
Averill Park	3	1	0.750		3	1	0.750
Troy	2	1	0.667		2	1	0.667
Ballston Spa	1	2	0.333		2	2	0.500
Burnt Hills	1	2	0.333		1	2	0.333
Schenectady	0	2	0.000		1	3	0.250

Notice that there are only six teams in the Gray division, and eight in the Blue. Mohonasen's departure to the Colonial Council has created an imbalance that the Suburban Council is loathe to resolve for whatever reason. As we noted last week, CBA, the reigning Gray division champ on the boys' side, is listed in the Blue divison as of now, giving the Blue eight teams to the Gray's seven. Should be the other way around.

With next Friday's road game at Guilderland, Troy's women begin a brutal stretch of five games in nine days leading to the holiday break. That schedule plays out thus:

December 14: @ Guilderland.

December 15: Whitesboro (non-league twilight game).

December 18: Shaker.

December 20: @ Colonie.

December 22 @ Middletown (non-league matinee).

The ladies would then get 13 days off before league play resumes on January 4 at home vs. Shenendehowa. Talk about Murderers' Row. For first year coach Ryan Meikle, this will be a true test of how far he's brought the Troy women in such a short period of time.

Conversely, Troy's boys (2-0) only play three games in the space of a week (home vs. Guilderland, @ Shaker, home vs. Colonie) before a week off, followed by the Crusader Roundball Classic at Catholic Central. Remember, the Troy boys have never beaten Colonie since entering the Suburban Council.

We will have the Suburban Council boys' standings next week.

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Y'think maybe UAlbany is feeling the pressure after letting two of their top players from last season, David Nichols and Scotia native Joe Cremo, leave? The Great Danes are 2-6 headed into tonight's home game vs. Monmouth. Cremo is at Villanova, Nichols at Florida State, both with the idea of enhancing their chances of getting drafted by the NBA. They saw what happened when the Lady Danes' leading scorer, Shereesha Richards, got the el snubbino from the WNBA a couple of years back. Mid majors, especially the ones in this market, never get a lot of love from the NBA or WNBA. Their scouts would rather pay attention to the "Power 5" conferences.