Posted on

Philadelphia Inquirer: Gause a Star for the Ages

Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/27/2005 | Gause a Star for the Ages:

“… For orchestrating the momentous season, [Schalick, N.J.’s Paul] Gause, a senior, has been chosen as The Inquirer’s South Jersey boys’ basketball player of the year. He edged Brian Zoubek, Haddonfield’s 7-1 junior center, for the award.

“Before Gause’s arrival, Schalick was a perennial loser, putting together just two winning seasons in the program’s first 25 years.

“Schalick, located in Pittsgrove, Salem County, went 6-17 when Gause was a freshman – Collins’ first year as head coach – and then compiled a 68-16 record in Gause’s final three seasons.

” ‘It’s not just me,’ Gause said. ‘We got a new coach and this senior class was real strong. It’s more the senior class than just me.’

“Gause has made an oral commitment to play basketball at James Madison, but he also may make visits to Penn State, Maryland, Syracuse and Providence. He has made an official visit to Middle Tennessee State and recently took an unofficial visit to Seton Hall.

” ‘It’s probably going to come down to where I feel the most comfortable,’ said Gause, who is still awaiting results from his SAT.”

Posted on

Centre Daily Times: Nittany Lions begin long offseason

Centre Daily Times | 03/20/2005 | Nittany Lions begin long offseason:

“Dan Adler slowly made his way down the corridor separating the locker rooms from the south gymnasium of the Bryce Jordan Center. A step, then crutches, then another step.

“The sophomore walk-on missed the final three weeks of the season with a stress fracture in his foot, perhaps the simplest and most telling example of the lack of depth that doomed the Penn State men’s basketball team during its 7-23 season.

“Once again, Penn State had difficulty fielding a productive practice lineup, let alone five guys who could be competitive in the Big Ten. Once again, true freshmen were asked to shoulder much of the load. And once again, the on-court product left a lot to be desired.

” ‘I knew it was going to have to be a perfect year for us to make any kind of improvement,’ Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said a week after completing his second season on the job. ‘I thought we could win a couple more games (than last season). In the non-conference, maybe 6-7 at most. I thought we’d be able to win a couple in conference. Obviously, that didn’t happen.’ …”

Posted on

Times Leader: Kennedy star heavily recruited

Times Leader | 03/18/2005 | Kennedy star heavily recruited

Junior forward David Jackson was a third-team all-state selection last year.

By DAVE KONOPKI dkonopki@leader.net

Even if the number of fans at the Giant Center in Hershey swells to more than 7,000 at this afternoon’s PIAA Class A championship game, don’t expect the play of David Jackson to be affected. Last summer, the Kennedy Catholic junior played in front of a much more intimidating – albeit significantly smaller – group of onlookers.

The 6-foot-6 Jackson spent part of last summer playing at the prestigious Reebok ABCD Basketball Camp at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J. The event features the nation’s top high school players, who display their skills in front of more than 200 college basketball coaches. Jackson drew rave reviews from nationally known basketball guru Sonny Vaccaro, who conducts the camps.

Jackson, a third-team all-state selection last year as a sophomore, is being heavily recruited by major Division I colleges. Among the schools already offering him scholarship offers are Syracuse and Penn State.

Posted on

Washington Post: NCAA Is in the Midst of a Foreign Affair

NCAA Is in the Midst of a Foreign Affair (washingtonpost.com)

“ATLANTA, March 15 — Georgia Tech Coach Paul Hewitt knows he can count on Luke Schenscher, his 7-foot-1 center, to play well during the NCAA tournament. Last year, when the Yellow Jackets unexpectedly advanced to the national championship game,

Schenscher scored 15 points against Kansas in the regional final and had 19 points and 12 rebounds against Oklahoma State in the Final Four.

“‘Luke always plays his best in the biggest games,’ said Hewitt, whose No. 5 seed Yellow Jackets will play No. 12 seed George Washington in an NCAA tournament first-round game Friday in Nashville. ‘You’re talking about a kid who left home when he was 14 or 15 years old. What’s to get nervous about? He’s 3,000 miles from home. What’s to get shook up about?’

“Schenscher is one of an unprecedented number of foreign-born players in the tournament. Seventy-one players from 32 foreign countries and Puerto Rico are playing on the tournament’s 65 teams, including 10 from Australia, 10 from Canada, five from Brazil and four from Germany. Against George Washington, Schenscher will be matched up against Pops Mensah-Bonsu, from London, and his backup, junior Alex Kireev, from Ukraine. …”

Posted on

Centre Daily Times’s Jeff Rice: Nittany Lions looking at bigger picture after loss

Centre Daily Times | 03/11/2005 | Jeff Rice | Nittany Lions looking at bigger picture after loss: “CHICAGO —

“These were not the faces of a team that had given up.

“It would have been so easy and really, so excusable, for Penn State to toss in the white flag anytime during the past month, to finally surrender to the Big Ten schedule that was far too much too soon for the youngest team in Nittany Lion history, to start worrying about next season and put this one to bed.

“These Nittany Lions didn’t, though. In terms of the Big Ten standings and the Big Ten Tournament, their effort during Thursday’s 72-69 loss to Ohio State and the last few games of this season might not have mattered. What it will mean for the future of the program, won’t be known for a few months, if not a few seasons. But on perhaps the most disheartening afternoon of a disheartening season, it was the clearest sign yet that this team has the bigger picture in mind.

“Seventeen times in the last 18 games, Penn State has tasted defeat. The youthful Nittany Lions, who went to battle with four freshmen and two seniors every game, have worn the losses on their sleeves with varying degrees of woe. Thursday evening, in the bowels of the United Center, the faces displayed new levels of pain, of frustration, as if the players were finally feeling the full effect of the whole, dismal season.

“And that was a sign that yes, the Nittany Lions still had something very much vested in this game, a back-and-forth battle seen by maybe 11,000 of the 19,066 who attended the three first-round tournament games. A sign that every second of this season mattered to them, even though they had to abandon dreams of a postseason, a winning season, long before. …”

Posted on

FightOnState.com: Buckeyes Rally Past Penn State

This story originally published on Bucknuts.com.

FightOnState.com: Buckeyes Rally Past Penn State:

“Four days after upsetting top-ranked Illinois, Ohio State was on the verge of elimination from the Big Ten tournament at the hands of a Penn State team that won one conference game all year. But OSU rallied from 15 down behind Tony Stockman’s 25 points and took a 72-69 win. Click here for more. (This story has been updated with notes and quotes)

“Ohio State was perilously close to becoming a one-hit wonder, so the Buckeyes did something about it.

“The Buckeyes, fresh off an upset of No. 1-ranked Illinois on Sunday, had to rally from down 15 in the second half before holding on for a 72-69 win in a Big Ten men’s basketball tournament opening round game Thursday at Chicago’s United Center. …”

Posted on

Centre Daily Times: Claxton driven to reverse Nittany Lions’ losing ways

Centre Daily Times | 03/09/2005 | Claxton driven to reverse Nittany Lions’ losing ways:

“He curls around the chair, grabs the pass, elevates, shoots. The ball caroms off the rim. Then, around the other chair — catch, jump, shoot. This one rattles home.

“At the opposite end of the court, his teammates are casually shooting around, joking with each other, trying to forget their nine-game losing streak and the soreness in their legs.

“Geary Claxton, though, is working. Because he doesn’t know what else to do, doesn’t see any other way out of this … losing. He had dealt with it before, but never like this. So even now, before coach Ed DeChellis walks to midcourt and claps his hands to signal the start of another practice, Claxton is trying to improve his game, a drill, a shot, a step at a time.

“‘That’s something I never used to do,’ he says. ‘Like really going hard at it is something … I don’t know, it’s addictive. I work hard at everything. I never used to like working hard, but I learned once I got here.’

“DeChellis knew before the season that Penn State would lean, heavily at times, on its four freshmen. He also knew that they would struggle. He couldn’t have known that one of them would assert himself as the team’s most productive and consistent player, improve as the competition toughened and get a group of restless fans excited about the future of Nittany Lion basketball. …”