News & notes

UAlbany began its men's basketball season Saturday night at SEFCU Arena, but Lehigh were very rude guests, beating the Great Danes, 74-70. It's only the first game, I know, but there is cause for concern on campus.
============================================
If the hockey fortunes of RPI & Union are a barometer, next week's Battle For The Dutchmen's Shoes at Union should be a spirited affair, as the Dutchmen will look to not only retain the Shoes, but also avenge their hockey brethren's two losses to RPI recently.

Unfortunately, Rick Bennett's skating Dutchmen haven't been able to win at home so far this season, losing to Clarkson & St. Lawrence the last two nights. Clarkson completed a weekend sweep of the 518 by beating RPI, 2-1, last night, after the Engineers downed St. Lawrence, 6-2, on Friday. RPI attracted less than 4,000 fans to Houston Field House for the Clarkson game, which was still more than could be counted by hand for the football game earlier in the day at East Campus Village Stadium, situated behind the Field House, against Ithaca.

You could chalk it up to the cold weather, but you'd think RPI would draw more fans per game for both football & hockey than they have this season. Maybe it's the economics of fan budgets........
==============================================
2019 marks the 40th anniversary of Redemption Christian Academy, which is still based in Troy, although Redemption Christian Church relocated to Watervliet some years back.

It was Redemption that put future NBA and reality TV star Lamar Odom on the map, even though Odom, for whatever reason, played just one season in town.

On Saturday, Redemption's boys prep basketball team opened its season at Russell Sage College in front of a small, enthusiastic crowd for a game against Notre Dame Prep from West Haven, Connecticut. Unlike Section II basketball, it seems Redemption and like schools favor the college format of 20 minute halves, which women's hoops has abandoned. Russell Sage has new bleachers, but only one bank was visible Saturday, and RCA was not allowed to use them, forcing them to place chairs along the sideline in front of the exit.

Players on both teams had issues with the slippery floor throughout the game, resulting in a few extra turnovers for each club. There was no one there to put a broom to the floor at halftime (hey, it's the first game). In the end, Notre Dame defeated RCA, 79-73.

For what it's worth, this Notre Dame doesn't use the Fighting Irish handle commonly associated with the namesake university. These kids are the Green Knights. There were no programs, and RCA's volunteer PA announcer couldn't pronounce some players' names, particularly international players from Serbia, for example.

RCA's roster and schedules are not yet available online, but the prep team will be right back at Sage on Monday for a 4 pm twilight game.