Tappan Zee Looks to Stay Undefeated Tonight

The Top Spot:

Tonight, the undefeated Tappan Zee boys basketball team will take their 22 game winning streak to Johnson City High School as they take on Section 4’s Seton Catholic Central (16-4) at 7:45 p.m.

The Saints are not known as great team away from home as they are only 4-4 on neutral courts this season, but Seton Catholic has been on their A-Game in the New Year as the team has won 11 of their last 12 contests. The team’s starting point guard, senior John Martin, is battling an ankle injury and he missed the Section 4 Championship against Maine-Endwell which Seaton Catholic won 41-38.

Tappan Zee has also been hit by the injury bug late in the season as center Brendan Donahue missed the . It is currently unknown if either Martin or Donahue will be on the court for tonight’s Regional Semifinal.

Tommy Torto will be on the court for the Saints and the 6’2’’ senior currently leads the team averaging nearly 17 points per game. Torto is the most consistent scorer on the team and if he gets things going early the Dutchmen could be sent home with a loss.

The Saints are a tall team who play tough man to man defense and if Donahue misses the game it could hurt the team and cause matchup problems, but if the Dutchmen can continue to play mistake free basketball they should advance.

Prediction: Tappan Zee wins, 55-50

--

Today’s Schedule:

In boys basketball, the Class A Regional Semifinals tip off tonight when Tappan Zee will take on Section 4’s Seton Catholic at Johnson City High School at 7:45 p.m.

In boys basketball, The Class C Regional Semifinals begin as Tuckahoe will host Section 9’s Pine Plains at the Westchester County Center at 4:45 p.m.

In boys basketball, The Class D Regional Semifinals will start off when Greenburgh Academy hosts Section 9’s Livingston Manor at the Westchester County Center at 4:45 p.m.

In girls basketball, to take on Section 4’s Owego in the Class A Regional Semifinals at 6 p.m.

In girls basketball, Section 9’s Highland will play Irvington at the Westchester County Center in the Class B Regional Semifinals at 8:15 p.m.

In girls basketball, Hamilton will host Section 9’s Coleman Catholic at the Westchester County Center at 6:30 p.m. in the Class C Regional Semifinals.

--

College Sports Notebook:

Daniels twins, Huskies upset Boston

The Northeastern University men’s hockey team closed out a disappointing season in uplifting fashion as junior Vinny Saponari of Powder Springs, GA, provided overtime heroics in a 5-4 victory over No. 4 Boston University at Matthews Arena.

Saponari scored 2:35 into overtime to force the Terriers to take the No. 3 seed in the Hockey East Tournament.

Northeastern’s season finale yielded a total of 54 combined penalty minutes as each club went 1-for-7 on the power play.

Drew Daniels of Suffern, a junior forward, set up the Huskies’ power-play goal for his seventh assist of the season.

Identical twin brother Justin Daniels, also a forward, compiled seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points in 33 games.
Northeastern finishes its season with an overall mark of 13-16-5 and a Hockey East record of 9-14-4. The Huskies tied for eighth place in the league with Massachusetts.

Mortarboard musings

• After a tightly contested three periods of regulation, St. Lawrence upended the No. 8 Harvard University women’s hockey team, 2-1, at Lynah Rink in Ithaca in the ECAC semifinals. Harvard finishes with a record of 22-9-1 on the year to go along with a 17-4-1 ECAC mark. St. Lawrence (23-9-4, 14-6-2 ECAC) advances to the ECAC final, where it will meet host Cornell for the league title. Junior defenseman Josephine Pucci of Pearl River had 21 points on the season for Harvard, on five goals and 16 assists in 27 games.

• The Manhattan College baseball fell at No. 20 Maryland at College Park, MD.  Manhattan (1-7) looks to regroup on Wednesday when the Jaspers visit Seton Hall at 3:30 p.m. The Jaspers travel to North Carolina this weekend for a three-game series with High Point that begins on Friday at 4 p.m. Senior right-hander Mike Giordano of Bedford and Fox Lane HS has a 3.27 ERA in two games for the Jaspers, while Mike Scarinci of Nanuet and Pearl River HS has an ERA of 9.00 in two appearances as a rookie right-hander. Also are on the staff are sophomore righty Connor Bacalles of New City and Clarkstown South, and sophomore righty Jared Hirschberg of Katonah and John Jay.

--

Weekly Sports Poll:

This week’s poll deals with the New York Jets and quarterbacks Mark Sanchez and Peyton Manning. If you were sitting in General Manager Mike Tannenbaum’s chair would you make a hard push for the NFL’s only four-time MVP, would you ride out the turbulence with the Sanchize, or would you bring in Manning to mentor Sanchez in his fourth year in the league?

Let your voice be heard in our .

--

The Daily Sports Digest is Patch’s way of increasing reader involvement in sports coverage. We would like to provide you with for you to add your best photos and/or videos to share. If you see anything in our high school scores, standings or schedule that requires updating, please e-mail Mark Rinaldi directly at HVDailySportsDigest@gmail.com or like us on Facebook and post updates on our wall. Marc Maturo covers college athletics across the nation. Please send updates of your local schools or players to marcmaturo@aol.com.