Four HS state hoops games rescheduled with restrictions on spectators

The four high school Long Island Championship basketball games that lost venues this week over coronavirus concerns have been rescheduled, along with a handful of other state tournament games, officials said Wednesday. The games also will have restrictions on the number of spectators who can attend.

In boys basketball, the new game details are:

• Elmont will host Amityville at noon Sunday in the Long Island Class A championship/Southeast regional final.
• Baldwin will host Brentwood at 4 p.m. in Class AA.
• Smithtown Christian’s state Class D Southeast Regional final against Marathon (Section IV) has been moved to Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Brentwood High School.

In girls basketball:

• Westhampton will host Locust Valley at 5 p.m. Friday in Long Island Class A championship / Southeast regional final.
• Northport will host Baldwin at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Class AA.
• Carle Place will face the winner of Marlboro Central (Section IX) and Putnam Valley (I) at noon Sunday in a Class B Southeast Regional final at East Rockaway High School.
• East Rockaway will host the winner of Millbrook (IX) and Haldane (I) in Class C at 2 p.m. Sunday.

For the games being played at Nassau schools, the crowds will be limited to two guests per player, 10 people per coaching staff and working media. Each school also is permitted to have administrators and four supervisors at the game. The schools have to submit their lists of guests ahead of time and names and identification will be checked at the gate, according to the memo sent on Wednesday afternoon by Dom Vulpis, assistant executive director of Section VIII, the governing body of Nassau high school sports.

“Given the current conditions we are subject to, we hope to have your full support in the terms above,” Vulpis wrote.

For the games taking place at Suffolk schools, each school will be restricted to a crowd of 50, according to Tom Combs, executive director of Section XI, governing body of Suffolk high school sports.

Combs said it will be up to each school to determine who will be included in their group of 50. Those people will receive passes to attend the games, which they must have to enter the gymnasiums.

Working media also can attend.

“If you don’t have a pass, you don’t get in,” Combs said.

The winners of all the games advance to the state tournament semifinals, which will take place the following weekend. The boys tournament will be in Glens Falls while the girls tournament is in Troy.

State officials said Wednesday that plans for the state tournament are going forward.

Robert Zayas, executive director of New York State Public High School Athletic Association, said in a tweet, “At this time we are moving forward with the championships. However the impact of the coronavirus could necessitate revisions to schedule.”

There also have been changes in the CHSAA schedule. According to Ralph Dalton, the director of athletics at St. John the Baptist, the CHSAA’s state semifinal round for girls basketball has been moved from Friday night to March 20. The championship games in all classifications in the CHSAA are scheduled for March 21. St. Mary’s will play Cardinal O’Hara in a state Class AA semifinal and St. John the Baptist will meet Moore Catholic in a state Class A semifinal.

“The games were moved from this week into next week and the championship game will follow next Saturday,” Dalton said.

Sites for those games have not been determined.

With Gregg Sarra