by Alex Schwartz


- St. Anthony's pulled off the upset of Paterson Catholic in the NJSIAA Non-Public North B sectional championship, but the Friars then promptly lost to Trenton Catholic in the state championship. The Iron Mikes of TCA are now headed to the Tournament of Championships final, where they will play Camden Catholic after knocking off Group I champ University. CC avenged its lone loss of the season to Group IV state champ Cherokee in the TOC semifinals after upsetting St. Peter's Prep in the Non-Public A title game. The other TOC participants were Group II champ Shabazz and Group III champ Mendham.

- There are currently four college job openings in the New York metro area, as St. John's, Seton Hall, Fordham, and Wagner are all looking for head coaches. It will be interesting to see who these schools hire, and if the committed/signed recruits still end up going to those programs.

- Jaren Sina '13, a 5'11 freshman point guard out of Gill St. Bernard's (NJ), is already garnering college interest despite his youth. A talented floor general with a great outside shot, Sina recently picked up his first scholarship offer, and it came from Rutgers. Other schools recruiting Sina include Seton Hall, St. John's, La Salle, Drexel, and James Madison.

- Former Jericho Christian Academy (MD) standout Rico Winston is currently at Cecil College, a junior college in Maryland. This is his first year at the school, but he is apparently looking to move to a four-year school for next year. Winston was qualified academically coming out of high school, but went the JuCo route for exposure purposes. He is definitely worth a look for some schools, but his level is unclear.

- After being ranked #1 in the nation for almost the entire high school season, Northland (OH) finally lost tonight, according to reports. Not only did the Vikings suffer their first defeat, but they were blown out in the state quarterfinals by Gahanna (OH), which is led by Virginia Commonwealth-bound Rob Brandenburg '10 and Stevie Taylor '11. Northland lost by a whopping 26 points in the shocking defeat. With this loss, Yates (TX) will likely be the near unanimous choice as the top ranked team in the country as the team has already completed its undefeated season with a state championship.

- Prep Hoops Assist has the list of Gatorade state players of the year in high school basketball. You can view the full list, which includes NJ honoree Kyrie Irving '10 and PA award recipient Tony Chennault '10, right Here. Perry Ellis '12 was the only sophomore to win, taking home the honors in Kansas.

- Also from Prep Hoops Assist, check out the field for this year's ESPN Rise National High School Invitational. A notable omission is St. Benedict's (NJ), which ZagsBlog has reported is not in the field because the team would have to play on Good Friday.