Sports

MOUNT MAKES SEMIS

When Tom Fraher found out that Iona lost its MAAC playoff game to Rider on Friday, he hoped his former player, Alejo Rodriguez, would come to Mount St. Michael’s CHSAA A quarterfinal game against Fordham Prep yesterday.

“If he did, we would have put him right on the bench as a coach,” Mount’s head coach said. “I knew these guys would have played extra hard to prove to him how good they are without him.”

Rodriguez didn’t make the game, but his presence was still clearly felt, as it has been throughout the season.

Mount pounded Fordham Prep, 57-35, to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal, where it will play Xavier after Xavier’s 68-65 win over St. Peter’s.

Bishop Ford advanced to the other semifinal with a 68-63 OT win over Iona Prep yesterday at Ford and will meet Cardinal Hayes, a 52-32 winner over LaSalle.

“He was the best player I’ve ever played with,” senior Brian Riley said of Rodriguez, who led Mount to the city title a year ago, the school’s first in a decade. “We just wanted to follow him and have another year like that.”

After finishing the regular season in first place in the North division, the Mountaineers seem to have a good chance of doing just that. Yesterday, they held Fordham Prep to one point in the first quarter.

“Earlier in the year, we had problems with leadership and maturity,” said Fraher, whose team was led by Jarrett Malone’s 16 points. “We relied on Alejo so much in those departments. But we’ve grown up a lot, and the seniors we have now have kind of become what Alejo was.”

It showed at various times yesterday, as the game got chippy, but the Mount players didn’t let it get to them, at least in part because they want to win another title.

“Even though we lost Alejo, we knew we had a lot coming back and that we could do the same thing we did last year,” said Riley, who also added 11 points. “So it’s good to get this far.”

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After its appeal was turned down last week, defending state champion Shabazz found itself out of the New Jersey playoffs for playing one more game than rules allow. In the city, however, things aren’t quite as black-and-white.

In both the PSAL and CHSAA, top teams continue to play despite having had problems staying within the rules.

Yesterday, top-seeded Jefferson beat No. 8 Clinton in the PSAL A quarterfinals even though the Orange Wave had to forfeit seven games earlier in the season for using ineligible players, yet were still given the top seed.

“I’m confused,” said Clinton head coach Terry Tolbert, who played the game under protest. “Why were they given the top seed? If they used ineligible players, they should be punished, not rewarded. There will always be questions. If they win the championship, they should put an asterisk next to them.”

In the CHSAA, St. Michael’s had the same issue Shabazz did, having also played more games than it was supposed to. But the school appealed the ruling and won and then beat St. John Villa, 65-34, on Friday. They play again today against Petrides and have a shot at playing perennial power Christ the King in the state playoffs.

“What’s to stop Christ the King from playing more games than they’re supposed to?” another coach said. “If they do, they can just point to St. Michael’s and won’t be punished.”

The PSAL AA girls playoff continue today at Hunter College, with top-seeded Bergtraum facing No. 9 Francis Lewis in what used to be an almost annual championship game.

dan.martin@nypost.com