So many nooks and crannies in this city. Or should I say necks and crannies?

I went up to Throggs Neck in the Bronx Tuesday night for Division 3 Men’s Hoops action at Maritime College. The quiet, gated campus sits on a narrow spit of land bounded by the East River on one side and the Long Island Sound on the other. It smells strongly of the sea and offers stunning views of both the Whitestone and Throggs Neck bridges as well as the Manhattan skyline.

Maritime plays its basketball games in nothing-special Riesenberg Gymnasium, capacity 1200. Admission was free. A security guard at the campus checkpoint advised me to walk down a dark path to find the gym located on the second floor of a newish-looking athletics complex next to the football stadium.

I attended the game in part to see Throggs Neck but also to get a look at Maritime’s undefeated opponent SUNY-Purchase. Ranked 17th nationally among Division 3 programs, Purchase is the defending Skyline Conference champ.

Before a crowd announced at 46, Purchase played fun and loose with a huge advantage in both size and talent en route to 84-46 breeze over Maritime. The margin could have been even wider had Purchase head coach Jeff Charney not sat his regulars for large chunks of time to close both halves.

Purchase went early and often to their junior big man Joel Neri who is listed at 7-2 and appears to be all of that. Neri doesn’t have a natural shooting touch but he works a nice turn and pop off the backboard that converts more often than not. A full foot taller than the opposition, Neri staved off the double-team and got easy entry feeds up high to score 16 points in just 18 minutes played.

The most talented player on the floor was senior Purchase two-guard Andre Nixon who hung out on the wing on offense a la Jon Severe. Nixon didn’t miss a single shot as I watched him in warm-ups and was four of six from downtown in the game. He finished with 18 points. Nixon (pictured above with veteran NYC hoops referee Phillip Sallustio) plays with a smile on his face. A tattoo on the upper part of his left arm depicts the face of what Jesus Christ might look like. Lanky with both legs and his lower left arm covered in wrappings, Nixon has an unorthodox shuffling action to his movement but he hustles big-time on both ends. He plays with joy and is a pleasure to watch. Nixon went to Wadleigh High School in Harlem which just last weekend tragically lost its varsity basketball coach Michael Crump. Just 44 years old, Crump passed after suffering from an aneurysm.

After the game, I waited a long time in front of the Maritime guard shack for the Bx40 bus ride down Tremont Avenue back to the Westchester Square 6 train stop. Probably an hour. That was the only hitch on the trip to Throggs Neck. I’d like to go back for a baseball game during the day.

They were playing the new Malkmus record at Dickson’s in Chelsea Market when I stopped there for the meatloaf sandwich Wednesday afternoon. When I asked for it, the guy working the counter (the same guy likely responsible for playing the Malkmus record) said the meatloaf sandwich was off the menu. I was really feeling meaty and loaf-ee when I made the trip to Dickson’s. The cold meatloaf sandwich there is unrivaled. Now it’s gone. I got an $11 meatball sub instead and felt like a meatball for settling.

When I got back home, I flipped on the radio and my favorite WNYU DJ Mary Kinney was on the air for the first time in months doing a special fill-in appearance. I’m drawn to her squeaky voice and of course, her musical selections. She rolled out That Boy mid-set Monday and later played the great and super-catchy new Real Estate single.

On Thursday night here in the big city, it’s the much-anticipated first-ever NYC homecoming performance by Kevin Morby and his band in support of his great solo debut record Harlem River.