Sports

No ban for PSAL hoops

It is business as usual for New York City high school basketball as CHSAA schools have been cleared to schedule PSAL programs in scrimmages, non-league games and tournaments following a conference call with members of each of the four New York State Federation associations yesterday.

At a scheduling meeting a week ago, CHSAA boys basketball hierarchy told its institutions to hold off on including PSAL schools and considered boycotting the annual Big Apple Basketball PSAL-CHSAA Challenge as it awaited word from the Federation about possible sanctions against the PSAL for its participation in the ESPN Rise National High School Invitational in March after the New York State Federation tournament, a violation of Federation rules.

“If the Federation has accepted the PSAL explanation and are happy with whatever they said, then as a member of that association we are content to move on and start scheduling as normal,” CHSAA president Ray Nash told The Post. “As far as we’re considered, there will be no sanctions at all.”

A possible ban on PSAL teams would have had a wide-ranging impact on city hoops, depriving fans of some juicy non-league games as well as the SNY Invitational, which includes St. Raymond and Cardozo this year.

Worse still, it would have killed the hugely popular, and profitable, Staten Island High School League, which is a cooperative league with CHSAA and PSAL schools.

PSAL director Donald Douglas explained why Boys & Girls on the boys side and the Murry Bergtraum girls played in the nationally televised tournament in a conference call yesterday morning, though Department of Education spokesperson Margie Feinberg declined to comment on the ruling.

dbutler@nypost.com