Salandra, Diplomats, Fall in Elite 8

The Top Spot:

Salandra, Milligan star in defeat

Don Bosco Prep alum Georgio Milligan of Spring Valley led all scorers with 23 points and Hackley School grad Jon Salandra of Harrison had a game-high 11 rebounds, but Franklin & Marshall fell to No. 3 MIT, 69-54, in the NCAA Elite Eight in Lancaster, PA.

The Diplomats wrapped up the season with a 28-3 mark while MIT improved to 29-1 and advanced to their first Final Four. 

The Engineers ended the first half with a 6-0 run and went into the break with a 30-23 advantage. 

Milligan shot 6-of-6 from the line and 3-of-5 from behind the arc. The senior scored 20 or more points in three of the Diplomats’ four NCAA Tournament games, and led the team in scoring in his final season with an 18.9 per-game norm.

Salandra, a sophomore, averaged 9.5 points and six rebounds per game this season.

Yesterday’s Results:

Sport: Girls Basketball Class AA Regional Finals (Friday) 

Game: Ossining vs. Binghamton.

Score: Ossining Won 90-76

Highlights: With Geno Auriemma in the stands, Ossining’s Saniya Chong showed why she is one of the best players in the country as the junior scored 39 in the win. Chong also had ten assists and she was recently featured in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd. 

Sport: Boys Basketball Class A Regional Finals (Friday)

Game: Tappan Zee vs. Marlboro

Score: Tappan Zee Won 53-34

Highlights: Tappan Zee beat Marlboro 53-34 and the Dutchmen head to the school’s first ever state final four. Tappan Zee won on the strength of a 20 point effort from Patrick Peterson and 15 points from Billy O’Shea.

The Dutchmen will play in the Class A State Semifinal at 10:45 a.m. Saturday in Glens Falls, NY.

Sport: Girls Basketball Class A Regional Finals (Friday)

Game: Pearl River vs. Red Hook

Score:

Highlights: Early foul trouble hurt the Pirates, but in the end the team was able to rally as Pearl River beat Red Hook 59-41 and advanced to the state’s final four.

Christa Scognamiglio led Pearl River with 21 points and senior forward Christy Carty added 16 points and 14 rebounds in the win.

Pearl River will play in the state-semi finals Friday at 3:15 p.m. The game will be at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY. The state championship game will be held the next day.

Sport: Boys Basketball Class C Regional Finals (Saturday)

Game: Tuckahoe vs. East Rockaway

Score: Tuckahoe Won 72-58

Highlights: The Tigers beat East Rockaway 72-58 and advanced to the state semifinals as Sky Williams and Shyheim Nixon each scored 20 points and Justin Nolan added 15. Mark Raymond had a big second half for the team, scoring 12 of his 13 in the final two quarters.

The Tigers will take on Section II’s Mechanicville in the final four this Saturday at 5 p.m. The game will be played at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

Sport: Ice Hockey Division 1 State Championship 

Game:  Suffern vs. Pittsford

Score: Suffern Won 3-2

Highlights: For the first time in 20 years the Suffern Mounties are state champions.

After a four overtime thriller on Saturday that Suffern won in penalty shots, the Mounties faced off against Pittsford for the state title Sunday.

Suffern started out in an 0-2 hole but Steve Scholer was able to stop the bleeding as he scored late in the first to put the Mounties on the board. Scholer would find the back of the net again as he tied the game early in the third and Willie Sanchez would score the eventual game-winner minutes later.

Suffern goalie Tyler Stark had 20 saves in the win.

Sport: Ice Hockey Division 2 State Final Four

Game:  Pelham vs. Kenmore East

Score: Kenmore East Won 3-2 (OT)

Highlights: Pelham’s dreams of a state championship were smashed Saturday as the Pelicans fell to Kenmore East 3-2 in overtime in the state semi-finals.

Andrew Dzenis got things started for Pelham, scoring in the first period unassisted. After Kenmore East tied it up in the second, Colin Reilly found the back of the net on a power play to take the lead.

Austin Ford tied the game at two late in the second and Dan Giliforte gave Kenmore East the win with a goal early in overtime.

Pelham’s Josh Borofsky led the defense with 18 saves.

College Sports Notebook:

Iona Is Going Dancing

In just his second year at the helm, Head Coach Tim Cluess has the Gaels in the NCAA tournament stealing one of the final at-large bids to get into the big dance.

Iona will be part of the “First Four” and they will play Brigham Young in Dayton Ohio on Tuesday. BYU comes into the matchup at 25-8 with a 12-4 record inside of the WCC.

The Cougars are an experienced team and they enter the game with four players averaging in double figures.

This is the first time Iona has made it to the NCAA Tournament since Jeff Ruland took the Gaels in 2006, that year Iona lost to LSU in the first round and since 1980 Iona has only won one of their eight tournament games.

Other Notes

The Purchase College baseball team doesn’t have to travel very far on Thursday when it visits rival Manhattanville at 3:30 p.m.

Weekly Sports Poll:

In poll the New York Jets and General Manager Mike Tannenbaum decided not to listen to our results as the team made Mark Sanchez the seventh highest paid quarterback in the NFL and told Peyton Manning to look for work elsewhere.

More than 51 percent felt the Jets would be best served to spend the money and bring in Manning for a few years to mentor the Sanchize, but Tannenbaum and crew feel that the fourth year quarterback is both the present and future.

It’s March, so this week’s poll question deals with the topic that will be on everyone’s mind for the next month: The NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky and Syracuse come into the field of 68 as the top two seeds but as we all know, anything can happen in March.

Let us know what number one seed you think has the best chance to win it all this year in our .