1/9/2009 -

Mount Saint Vincent head coach Brian Nigro.

RIVERDALE, NY – Saturday’s Men’s Basketball game pitting Polytechnic and the College of Mount Saint Vincent will have more meaning than just an important league game on Saturday afternoon. When the two team’s tip-off at 1:00 p.m. at Hayes Gymnasium, Mount Saint Vincent Head Coach Brian Nigro will be up against his brother Daniel who paces the sidelines for Polytechnic.

Saturday will mark the first time the two brothers will meet as collegiate head coaches and adding fuel to the sibling rivalry fire is the fact that the Nigro’s father Daniel, Sr. will be on the bench with Polytechnic’s staff.

“Saturday will be a very exciting day,” stated Brian. “To be coaching against the two people that put me on the path I am on will be emotional.” It will be a very important day for the Nigro family,” he explained.

Brian said that although he will be full of emotions on Saturday, the game itself is an important one for his young team. The Dolphins stand at 6-5 overall on the season and at 4-1 in the Skyline Conference heading into Saturday’s tilt. A season ago, the Mount won just six league games and nine overall, missing the league tournament by just one game.

“Putting aside the emotions and the fact that it’s an important day for me personally, the actual game is very important to us as a team,” said Brian. “A win would put us at 5-1 in the league and put us in the top three,” he concluded.

Daniel, Sr. recalls coaching the brothers up until their high school years. He has spent 40-plus years in coaching at all levels and now finds himself on the bench at Polytechnic. He knows how hard his two sons have worked and the amount of time they have spent in the gym both playing and coaching.

“This is going to be tough,’ he said. “It’s father and son against son. Hopefully it’s a good game and afterwards they shake hands and they’re still brothers. “But on the floor”, the elder Nigro warned, “it’ll be war.”

Polytechnic will come to Riverdale on Saturday with an overall record of 0-12 and with a Skyline mark of 0-5. In 2007-08 the Blue Jays, with Brian on brother Dan’s staff at the time, defeated the Dolphins twice. The second was a win at the horn that all but ended the Mount’s dreams of advancing to the league tournament.

Tip-off is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Hayes Gymnasium with the Mount Saint Vincent women’s team squaring off with Polytechnic at 3:00 p.m.