Daily Sports Digest: Port Chester’s Henriquez Breaks Kansas State Record

The Top Spot:

Junior center Jordan Henriquez of Port Chester had four blocks to set a school record for rejections with 125 as Kansas State upset No. 3 Missouri, 78-68, in Columbia, MO. Henriquez also had six points for the Wildcats (19-8, 8-7 Big 12). Missouri fell to 25-3, 12-3.

College Sports Notebook:

Fordham follows the sun

The Fordham University baseball and softball teams are on road trips looking for competition early in their respective seasons.

The baseball team, which already has lost three games out west, continues this weekend with a three-game series scheduled at Campbell College in Cullohee, NC.

The softball team (2-2) opens a West Coast trip today that includes games against California, UC Davis, Long Beach State, and Arizona.
On the  baseball diamond, the Rams feature junior left-hander Dan Sorine of Eastchester and graduate student backstop Zach Small of Pelham Manor, an alum of Pelham Memorial HS. Small previously played collegiate ball at Johns Hopkins.

The infield includes David Judisky of Yorktown Heights, who was graduated from Lakeland HS, and Alex O’Neill of Bronxville, who is a Fordham Prep grad.   

The softball squad includes junior outfielder Jessica Crowley of Suffern, sophomore utility player Brianna Ciuffi of Carmel, and freshman hurler Taylor Pirone of New Rochelle and The Ursuline School.

Nyack swept on hardwood

The Nyack College men’s and women’s basketball teams closed their respective seasons with losses to Post University in Waterbury, CT.

The women were defeated, 97-52, in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference game, after falling behind 16-0.

Sophomore forward Brianna McKellery of Odenton, MD, totaled a team high 13 points while junior guard Khamari Tellis of Chicago had 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Senior Lafayette Curtis of Staten Island scored 18 points, with a team-leading five rebounds in his final collegiate game for the men’s team, which fell 81-76.
Nyack pulled to within four points with just over 11 minutes left to play, but the host Eagles pulled away in the last 10 minutes to seal the victory.

Freshman guard Khalid Samuels of Mount Vernon scored a season-high 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting with a team-high three assists, while Chris Hampton of Brooklyn, another freshman guard who gives the Warriors hope for next season, had 13 points.

Mortarboard musings

The Orangeburg-based Dominican College softball team has been tabbed the preseason favorite in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, as determined by a poll of the league’s 14 head coaches. Concordia College in Bronxville was slotted sixth after claiming a share of the league regular-season title in 2011 with a 20-6 record against CACC opponents. Nyack College was ranked 13th.

Conference play is scheduled to start on March 15 when Concordia travels to take on Bloomfield in a doubleheader. The eight-team CACC Softball Tournament will be hosted by Georgian Court on April 26-28 in Lakewood, N.J.   

The Pace University baseball team is scheduled to open its season with noon-time games at Bloomfield (NJ) College on Saturday and Sunday. After a two-game series against Mercy College on March 2-3 in Dobbs Ferry, the Setters will head south to the Sunshine State to play at Rollins College in Winter Park, a suburb of Orlando, from March 11-17.

Purchase College is set to open its baseball season with 11 a.m. doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday against The College of Brockport and St. John Fisher College of Pittsford, respectively. On the Panthers’ pitching staff is junior Eddie Byrne of Yonkers and Stepinac HS. Joe Lombardi of Briarcliff is a senior infielder, and in the outfield are grad student Chris Roemer of Ardsley and junior Charlie Galasso of West Harrison.

Today at the New Balance Track and Field Center in upper Manhattan, the Last Chance Meet is the final shot at qualifying for nationals for all Division II teams. The Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, ranked ninth in the East Region, will be led by Mike Abelard of Spring Valley and George Erazo of North Babylon.

Weekly Sports Poll:

Jeremy Lin has taken the world by storm and flipped the NBA upside down. He has inspired music videos and a countless number of Linisms and the thought of him  has everyone in Westchester calling him their neighbor. On Friday, the league will honor their very best in Orlando with the annual All-Star weekend.

“If basketball careers lasted two weeks then Jeremy Lin is a first ballot hall of famer,” said Wipeout co-host and life long Knick fan John Henson last week on Mike and Mike in the Morning.

Last week, NBA Commissioner David Stern refused to add Lin to the All-Star Game roster or allow him to play in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, but did say he could be included in one of the All-Star Saturday night competitions such as the Haier Shooting Stars, Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Foot Locker Three Point Contest or Sprite Slam Dunk.

After outcry from the public and the media, Stern and the NBA made the move to include Linsanity to the BBVA Rising Stars Challeng, he will also be competing for New York in the Haier Shooting Stars and he will assist teammate Iman Shumpert in the Sprite Slam Dunk. Not only was Lin included in this year’s Rising Stars game, but in the new format general manager Shaquille O’Neal  made him the third overall pick of the contest behind Blake Griffin and Kyrie Irving.

Now, as a business school graduate, I fully understand the marketability of Lincluding the Linsteria to the weekend, but as a life long basketball fan I have to ask the question; should someone who has only played in 17 of his teams 31 games really be honored at All Star Weekend?

Let us know your thoughts below in this week's sports poll.