Standout finds home at RMU
Riley Arrigo had her bags packed, a drive to the city that never sleeps just ahead of her.
But in what likely felt like a bad dream, the lights went out on her plan of going to school in New York City, just over a week before she was expecting to move.
There will be no Big Apple in Arrigo’s immediate future.
No worries. She’s feeling just peachy.
Arrigo is a standout basketball player and recent graduate of Lincoln Park. She was set to become a student at the New York Institute of Technology, where she had a full scholarship and was going to be a member of the school’s Division II basketball team.
But instead of going to a school seven hours from home, Arrigo will attend one 25 minutes away. Monday, she began classes at Robert Morris University.
“It’s crazy,” said Arrigo, a 5- foot- 7 point guard. “We have prepared for New York. My family could watch my games on the website and we’d see each other once every couple of months. Now they’ll be able to go to every game and I’ll eat dinner with them. I wasn’t ready for that, but now that I’m able to do it, I’m really happy.”
In an unexpected turn of events, it’s not just Arrigo who won’t be playing sports at New York Tech. Nobody will. On Aug. 20, the school announced that it was shutting down its athletic program for two years, citing financial trouble brought on by the COVID- 19 pandemic. The school will honor athletic scholarships, but when it comes to actually competing, these Bears are going into hibernation.
The news was a punch to the gut on the same day Arrigo had a kidney stone removed. She had been committed to New York Tech for over a year and was planning on moving into a house with some of her teammates last weekend. Arrigo wants to play college basketball and play this season, so she had to act fast.
“I was kind of scrambling. I was like, ‘ Oh my gosh. It’s so late. So many schools have started already,’” said Arrigo, who averaged 14.3 points, 6.2 assists and 5 rebounds a game her senior season.
Enter Robert Morris and coach Charlie Buscaglia, who had a pre- existing relationship with Arrigo’s family. That’s because Riley’s brother, Philip, is one of Buscaglia’s student managers.
“He knows our family well,” Riley said of Buscaglia. “As soon as things happened, he reached out to my brother and told him that it wasn’t fair. They’ve watched me play all through high school because I went to school not far away.”
Not more than a week later, Arrigo committed to Robert Morris, where she will begin as a walk- on in hopes of eventually being put on scholarship.
“This came out of the blue and I’m really fortunate,” she said.
Arrigo will have some familiar faces around her, as two other former Beaver County high school stars also play for the Colonials. Beaver’s Bella Posset is a junior and Blackhawk’s Mackenzie Amalia a freshman. The Colonials have a lot of international flavor, too, with players hailing from Canada, Spain, Argentina, Finland and Japan.
Panther to Wolfpack
Another Franklin Regional wrestler is headed to a Division I school. Junior Finn Solomon committed to N. C. State. PA Power Wrestling ranks Solomon the No. 8 junior in the state. Solomon placed third at the WPIAL Class 3A championships and second at the PIAA championships in the 113- pound weight class his freshman season. This past season at 126 pounds, he lost in the WPIAL semifinals and did not qualify for the PIAA tournament.
Want to feel old?
ESPN kicked off its high school coverage with a slew of games last weekend. One of them included a matchup of quarterbacks who are sons of former NFL players: Shedeur Sanders vs. Kaden Martin. Sanders is the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, while Martin’s dad, Tee, had a brief pro career that included a stint as a Steelers quarterback.
Both sons are big- time recruits. Sanders, a senior at Trinity Christian, Texas, committed to Florida Atlantic over offers from LSU, Alabama, Florida State and many others. Martin, a junior at Knoxville Catholic, Tenn., is ranked by Rivals as the No. 3 dual- threat quarterback in the class of 2022 and has a list of offers that includes Alabama, USC and Tennessee.
Sanders threw for three touchdowns and ran for two in Trinity Christian’s 49- 14 win. Deion is Trinity Christian’s offensive coordinator.
Baseball commitments
North Hills’ Josh Dreyer ( La Roche), Trinity’s Brandon Robaugh ( La Roche), Upper St. Clair’s Max Mandler ( Seton Hill).
Soccer commitment
Greensburg Central Catholic’s Hannah Nelson ( Pitt Greensburg).