High School Boys Basketball

Nassau

Wed., Jan. 30
Floral Park at Malverne, 6:45 p.m. Billy and Brandin Butler's quickness vs. Justin Williams and Dashiem Cherry's precision from behind the arc.

Fri., Feb. 1
Baldwin at Uniondale, 4:30 p.m. This is a must-see Class AA-1 match-up. Baldwin got the better of the Knights earlier this month with a one-point victory at home. Since then both teams have been on a tear so there's no telling who'll come out on top.

Suffolk

Thurs., Jan 31
Amityville at Bayport-Blue Point, 4 p.m. The Warriors can gain some much-needed ground in League VI if they can get by Bayport-Blue Point. But the Phantoms are on a three-game win streak and senior guard Robby Ptacek has averaged close to 30 points a game during that stretch.

Hampton Bays at Port Jefferson, 6 p.m. Don't count Hampton Bays out of the League VII title race just yet. The Baymen may have lost to Port Jefferson at home by eight, but they've rebounded since. Most recently they beat rival Babylon and this time they're hoping for a better outcome against Port Jefferson. Getting by senior John Nielsen and the Royals, however, won't be easy.

Fri., Feb. 1
Connetquot at Whitman, 6 p.m. Will the Thunderbirds be the team to upset unbeaten Whitman?

1. Long Island Lutheran

2. Whitman

3. Half Hollow Hills West

4. Jericho

5. Baldwin

6. Uniondale

7. Bay Shore

8. Chaminade

9. St. Dominic

10. Lindenhurst

Here are some highlights of Brentwood's win over Lindenhurst:

Suffolk
Thurs., Jan 24

Bay Shore at Whitman, 6:30 p.m.: The Wildcats have their work cut out for them against Booker Hucks and the Marauders.

Nassau
Sun., Jan. 27

Xaverian vs. Long Island Lutheran at Hofstra, 4 p.m.: LuHi has faired pretty well against city talent so far.

Nassau

Matt Cajuste (Jericho): Cajuste's 13 points and seven rebounds against West Hempstead last week put him over the 1,000-point and 1,000-rebound plateau. He is the ninth player in school history to reach the scoring mark, said Jayhawks scorekeeper Martha Sammartano.

Anthony Porcelli (Wantagh): Porcelli may have only scored six points against Valley Stream South Friday, but his last two were the difference. His driving layup with seven seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 54-53 win at home.

Jamal White (Roosevelt): White scored 39 points and went 12 for 12 from the line in a 10-point win over Lawrence Friday.

Suffolk

Mikey Russell (East Hampton): Russell's scoring prowess was on full display Thursday night against Eastport-South Manor. The senior scored 30 points, including seven three-pointers, and added five assists in the Bonackers' 84-40 victory.

James Fabrizio (Ross): Fabrizio's six three-pointers off the bench lead Ross past Bridgehampton, 73-57, on Friday.

Anthony Brown (Huntington): Brown's three-pointer at the buzzer staved off Sayville in a 59-58 double-overtime win. He finished with a career-high 26 points.

BY KIMBERLEY A. MARTIN

Newsday's Top 10 Rankings

1. Long Island Lutheran

2. Whitman

3. Half Hollow Hills West

4. Jericho

5. East Hampton

6. Baldwin

7. St. Anthony's

8. Chaminade

9. Uniondale

10. Bay Shore

Here are some highlights from Glenn's win over Amityville on Friday night:

BY KIMBERLEY A. MARTIN

I could've just picked one player from each county -- but where's the fun in that?

Players of the Week

NASSAU
Austin Gilbert (Hewlett): Gilbert hit six of the Bulldogs' 10 total three-pointers in a 71-64 win over Oyster Bay on Friday. He finished with 22 points.

Tyrece Redd (Hempstead): Redd hit a bank shot from 6 feet at the buzzer to give Hempstead a much-needed league win over Elmont on Friday.

Trevor Parker (Port Wash.): Parker hit the winning three-pointer off an inbounds pass with 4.1 seconds left as the Vikings squeaked past Babylon, 52-51.

SUFFOLK
Keith Robinson (Pierson): Robinson's first career triple double (15 points, 12 assists, 11 rebounds) gave the Whalers a 51-37 League VIII win over Ross Friday.

Tyler O'Rourke (Westhampton): O'Rourke recorded his first career triple double (23 points, 13 rebounds and 12 blocks) as the Hurricanes topped Shoreham-Wading River, 44-37, in League VI Friday.

Jasper Creegan (Ross): Creegan broke the school record with 46 points in a double-overtime victory against Shelter Island last Wednesday. The previous record of 33 points by Mark McGrath was set in 2003.

BY KIMBERLEY A. MARTIN

Here's this week's poll:

Newsday's Top 10 Rankings (as of Jan. 13)

1. Long Island Lutheran: Even though LuHi has three losses, the Crusaders have proven they're the best team on the Island. Jeriel Henriquez can do it all, while Matt Rooney, Rich Harkins and Kevin Johnson can spot up from anywhere behind the arc.

2. Whitman: Though the Wildcats have played an easier schedule compared to other teams, they're still undefeated. How long can they keep this up?

3. Hills West: Tobias Harris. That says it all.

4. Baldwin: The Bruins have won three straight since suffering a scare against Lawrence two weeks ago.

5. Uniondale: The Knights topped rival Hempstead for the second time this season.

6. Jericho: Last week, the Jayhawks showed they can win without center Matt Cajuste. Now they're 5-0 in conference ABC-I.

7. East Hampton: Mikey Russell's back and the Bonackers are now 6-0 in League V.

8. Chaminade: The Flyers are soaring after recent wins over St. Dominic, Westbury and St. Mary's.

9. Holy Trinity: With wins over St. John the Baptist, St. Mary's and Kellenberg, the Titans are 7-6 and undefeated (3-0) in the CHSAA.

10. Bay Shore: Things are finally starting to click for the Mauraders (7-3).

*Note: Before I get angry emails from Hempstead fans, I KNOW you guys played Uniondale only once. I swear when I checked box scores over the weekend, I saw two separate Uniondale-Hempstead box scores. That was either due to my own fatigue or a clerical error. With that said, the oversight has already been brought to my attention. Sorry Tigers! (But it still doesn't affect the poll standings.)

Here are some highlights from Hills West's 67-61 win over Deer Park:

BY JOSEPH STASZEWSKI

Stony Brook’s Mitchell Singer will miss the rest of the season with a torn left ACL. The All-Conference selection was injured during the defending Suffolk Class C champion’s 55-44 win over Bridghampton on Dec. 20.

“This is the best team we’ve ever had here and he was the main hub,” Stony Brook coach Mike Hickey said. "He is our leading scorer, our best defender and our leading rebounder. Everything was designed around him.”

Singer was averaging 18 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists on a team that is 7-0 overall and 5-0 in League VIII, according to Hickey.

BY MARCUS HENRY

Long Island Lutheran has several Division I caliber players on its squad. Jeriel Henriquez, Brian Wilson and Rich Harkins to name a few. While having talent is key, how that talent is utilized and how it blends together is just as relevant.

In Sunday's win over a pretty good St. Anthony's team, the Crusaders had four players in double figures. Henriquez had 17, Matt Rooney had 13, Kevin Johnson had 12 and Wilson added 10. It's tough for teams to defend that type of balance. The Crusaders didn't shoot the ball well from the outside, but they worked well together on defense, forced a ton of turnovers and looked for each other on offense.

"Here's the deal," Lutheran coach Brian Carey said after the game. "We don't have a selfish player on this team. They are always looking for each other."

Fortunately for the rest of the island, Lutheran is not in a league, so it won't kill a team's hopes of winning a county title.

BY MARCUS HENRY

It was another big night for Roslyn junior George Beamon as he scored 40 in his team's 75-64 win over East Rockaway on Friday. The high point totals will lead some to believe he's just a chucker who has never met a shot he didn't like. But with Beamon it's more than just the points. He had eight rebounds and eight steals to go with the 40. Complete efforts like that often go unnoticed when a player scores a ton of points.

Is Beamon for real? I think so. Hopefully basketball fans will look at Beamon for more than just the scoring. He's a 6-3 jumping jack who can rebound and play defense. It's early, but you can't start to talk about All-Island players without including Beamon.

Here are some highlights of Long Island Lutheran's win over Malverne on Friday:

BY RODERICK BOONE

With rival Hempstead in the house, it was the usual, electric atmosphere at Uniondale tonight. The two schools love playing each other and it's a rivary that transcends time.

Alumni from both sides always look forward to their two regular-season meetings, as do the longtime coaches.

"It's fun," Uniondale coach Tom Diana said. "I've coached here now for 13 years. I'm getting old. And if you don't enjoy Uniondale-Hempstead rivalry ... To me it's one of the biggest rivalries in New York state. There's nothing better on the schedule and coach (Ted) Adams has accomplished so much with that program. Their tradition, our tradition. These programs are really, really deep in success and tradition and players going onto higher levels and all that kind of stuff. To me, there is no more exciting night in basketball."

Raenard Reid made sure it was a memorable one for Uniondale. He was a beast inside, tossing in a game-high 20 points and grabbing 15 points. Hempstead's Terrell Williams flexed his skills as well, scoring 18 points.

Hempstead is chock full of young players and Adams believes the experience of playing in such a tough, hostile environment is only going to aid the Tigers in the long run.

"It does nothing but help us," Adams said. "It's almost like being in school and when they say you are administered an assesment. I don't necessarily want to see a score. What I want to see is the growth. And that's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for that growth factor. They are growing game-by-game."

Uniondale will get the chance to see just how much the Tigers will have grown in another few weeks. The two teams meet Feb. 6 on Hempstead's turf and you know the Tigers are going to have revenge on their minds.

Hey, that's what this rivalry is all about.

BY KIMBERLEY A. MARTIN

Matt Cajuste will return to the lineup tomorrow night against Westbury after missing a game due to an eye injury.

The Jericho center did not play against South Side on Tuesday after catching a finger in the eyelid coming down with a rebound against Floral Park last week. He was taken to the emergency room and received eight stitches.

Though Jayhawks' coach Wally Bachman is thrilled to have him back on the floor, the coach has always said Jericho basketball is about more than one person. Perhaps others will start to believe it to after its 64-57 win over South Side, without Cajuste.

"That's a sign of a good team," Bachman said Thursday. "To not have Matt there and still win the game. The kids did a great job without him and it showed the character of our players."

BY KIMBERLEY A. MARTIN

So, I'm sitting at my desk a couple days ago and the phone rings.

The caller proceeds to tell me that he read Wednesday's round-up item on Tobias Harris becoming the all-time leading scorer at Hills West with 735 points (surpassing Andre Lawrie, who had 730 in 2003).

The problem: The caller says he scored "well over 1,000" points by the time he graduated Hills West in 1999.

My first thought: get Bill Mitaritonna on the phone. STAT.

After playing phone tag for a day and a half, I finally reached him Friday afternoon. Turns out, Mitaritonna had asked for all of the old stat and record books when he took over the program in 2000. But all he was given was one book from the 1999-2000 season. For whatever reason, meticulous records weren't kept prior to that year.

So based on Mitaritonna’s stats, Lawrie was named the school's all-time leading scorer five years ago. (Strangely enough, no one protested that record.)

And with no way to prove otherwise, the coach has no choice but to go forward with the stats in his possession – meaning, as of right now, Harris holds the record.

But, Mitaritonna said, "If someone can provide me with old scorebooks that would be awesome."

The coach told Harris about the supposed record discrepancy, but the standout sophomore wasn’t fazed.

"He knows that -- barring injury," Mitaritonna said, "he has a legitimate shot of scoring 2,000 points."

And by then, all of this will be moot.

BY MARC JIMENEZ

It’s been quite a season for Half Hollow Hills West sophomore Tobias Harris. He scored 24 points during a 64-34 rout over Hauppauge on Tuesday to become Hills West’s all-time leading scorer. Harris now has 735 career points, moving him past Andre Lawrie (Class of 2003), who netted 730.

“This is probably the biggest accomplishment I have had in basketball,” said Harris, who also set a school record by scoring 39 against Northport on Dec. 14. “It feels good to set the school record and be at the top of the list. This was one of my goals to be on top of the scoring list. Another one of my goals is to score 1,000 points in my career."

Harris joined varsity as an eighth grader, where he was a sixth man, before coming into his own as a freshman. He scored 403 points as a ninth grader to set the school's all-time record as a freshman. Once again Harris bested Lawrie’s record. Lawrie scored 298 points as a freshman.

This season, Harris is averaging 31 points per game and is a budding superstar according to Hills West coach Bill Mitaritonna.

“He’s has worked very hard to accomplish this goal and his teammates deserve a lot of the credit for getting him the ball,” Mitaritonna said. “There’s no question that he is the best player I have ever coached. The sky’s the limit for him.”

BY KIMBERLEY A. MARTIN

Here are this week's rankings.

Feel free to chime in with thoughts -- but play nice...

Top 10

1. Whitman: The Wildcats are still undefeated at 8-0. Can anyone beat them?

2. Long Island Lutheran: They're flying high after a two-game sweep at the Above the Rim Classic in California.

3. Hills West: The Colts are 8-0 as well, but tomorrow face a tough League IV opponent in Hauppauge (7-1).

4. Uniondale: The Knights suffered a crushing one-point loss to Baldwin this week but have wins over Jericho and Bay Shore to fall back on.

5. Jericho: The Jayhawks have regrouped after a 14-point defeat to Uniondale. They're 3-0 in Conference ABC-1.

6. East Hampton: Jerome Russell has stepped up in cousin Mikey's absence, averaging 17.8 points a game. Behind him and Marcus Edwards, the Bonackers are 4-0 in League IV.

7. Kellenberg: The Firebirds may only be 4-3 but showed early in the season that they can hold their own against tough City competition. How would other teams stack up against Archbishop Molloy and Cardinal Hayes?

8. St. Anthony's: The Friars got their first league win with a 23-point victory over St. John the Baptist.

9. Baldwin: The Bruins are 2-0 in Conference AA-1 thanks to wins over Uniondale and Elmont. But Port Washington will be a big test tomorrow.

10. St. John the Baptist: For the second time, the Cougars lost by more than 20 points.

Here are some video highlights of Whitman's 64-47 win over Newfield:

Rank Class AA Record Prev

1. St. Raymond-CHSAA 11-0 2.
2. Rice-CHSAA 9-0 3.
3. Holy Cross-CHSAA 7-1 12.
4. Abraham Lincoln-PSAL 8-2 1.
5. Campus Magnet-PSAL 8-0 6.
6. Syracuse Henninger-3 9-0 7.
7. Bishop Maginn-2 7-1 8.
8. Thurgood Marshall-PSAL 8-0 9.
9. Mount Vernon-1 5-2 10.
10. Bronx JFK-PSAL 11-1 4.
11. Christ The King-CHSAA 5-2 5.
12. Niagara Falls-6 4-1 14.
13. Rochester East-5 9-1 15.
14. Albany CBA-2 8-1 19.
15. White Plains-1 7-1 11.
16. Boys & Girls-PSAL 8-3 13.
17. Scarsdale-1 9-0 17.
18. New Rochelle-1 7-1 16.
19. Bishop Loughlin-PSAL 7-2 18.
20. Utica Proctor-3 8-1 21.
21. Syracuse CBA-3 7-1 22.
22. Archbishop Molloy-CHSAA 7-2 25.
23. Walt Whitman-11 6-0 NR
24. Poughkeepsie-1 6-1 NR
25. Paul Robeson-PSAL 6-2 NR


Class A

1. Peekskill-1 9-0 1.
2. Eagle Academy-PSAL 9-0 2.
3. Buffalo Grover Cleveland-6 6-0 3.
4. Buffalo McKinley-6 6-1 9.
5. Jamesville-DeWitt-3 8-2 7.
6. Lawrence-Woodmere-AIS 7-0 5.
7. Transit Tech-PSAL 7-0 8.
8. Jericho-8 5-1 4.
9. Newark-5 8-0 10.
10. Lutheran-AIS 5-2 6.
11. Bishop Ludden-3 8-0 14.
12. Pearl River-1 6-1 19.
13. Albany Academy-2 6-2 13.
14. Cornwall-9 8-1 15.
15. Geneva-5 7-0 16.
16. Buffalo Canisius-CHSAA 6-1 NR
17. Vernon-Verona-Sherrill-3 10-0 NR
18. Oneonta-4 9-2 12.
19. Indian River-3 8-1 NR
20. East Hampton-11 6-1 NR


Class B

1. Buffalo Nichols-CHSAA 10-0 1.
2. Acorn Academy-PSAL 7-0 3.
3. Windsor-4 9-0 4.
4. Ogdensburg Free-10 7-2 6.
5. Marcellus-3 10-0 7.
6. Bishop Kearney-5 7-2 5.
7. Briarcliff-1 6-2 2.
8. Rochester Charlotte-5 6-0 8.
9. Hastings-1 7-1 9.
10. North Salem-1 6-1 10.
11. Hannibal-3 8-1 13.
12. Alden-6 7-1 14.
13. Hornell-5 8-1 15.
14. Ichabod Crane-2 8-1 16.
15. Buffalo City Honors-6 6-2 11.
16. Bayport-11 6-2 12.
17. Olean-6 8-2 NR
18. Dobbs Ferry-1 6-3 18.
19. Red Hook-9 6-1 NR
20-T Pleasantville-1 5-2 20.
20-T Fonda-Fultonville-2 9-2 NR


Class C

1. West Canada-3 9-0 2.
2. Schenectady Christian-2 7-0 3.
3. Maple Grove-6 7-1 1.
4. Avon-5 8-0 4.
5. Stony Brook-11 4-0 5.
6. East Rochester-5 8-1 6.
7. Port Jefferson-11 5-1 8.
8. Cambridge-2 9-1 15.
9. Caledonia-Mumford-5 7-1 NR
10. Cooperstown-3 9-1 7.
11. Lansing-4 7-0 17.
12. Randolph-6 7-1 10.
13. Oxford-4 7-1 11.
14. East Rockaway-8 6-1 14.
15. Onondaga-3 6-2 13.
16. Oakfield-Alabama-5 8-1 12.
17. Friends School-8 4-2 9.
18. Leake & Watts-1 3-1 18.
19. Rensselaer-2 8-1 19.
20. Solomon Schechter-1 5-2 20.



Class D

1. Chateaugay-10 8-0 1.
2. Prattsburgh-5 8-1 3.
3. Batavia Notre Dame-5 6-1 2.
4. Brocton-6 7-1 5.
5. Jasper-Troupsburg-5 6-1 6.
6. South Kortright-4 9-1 NR
7. Greenport-11 6-2 7.
8. Richfield Springs-3 8-1 8.
9. Laurens-4 8-1 4.
10. North Warren-2 7-1 10.

1. Whitman

2. Long Island Lutheran

3. Hills West

4. Uniondale

5. Jericho

6. East Hampton

7. Kellenberg

8. St. John The Baptist

9. St. Anthony's

10. Baldwin

- Kimberley A. Martin