The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 17

CityRegion Bl-4, 8 Lottery B2 New England News Briefs B2 B5 B8 E14 Deaths Weather Comics The Boston. Globe Friday, March 11, 200 5 Brian McGrory Hoop dream realized DlJ The first thing that's important to know about the Bunker Hill Community College men's basketball team is that it doesn't actually have its own court. It plays games at a nearby high school before a crowd that often num GLOBt SW PHO1O0AVIDL RYAN City Councilor at Large Maura Hennigan had a message for Mayor Thomas M. Menino as she kicked off her campaign yesterday in front of the School Department Building on Court Street. Hennigan vowed to make affordable housing, schools, and property taxes the focus of her administration.

Mayoral race underway Hennigan kicks off drive, targeting schools, housing A busy Menino elects to stay above the fray By Michael Levenson GLOBE CORRESPONDENT By turns harshly critical and buoyantly optimistic, Maura A Hennigan launched her campaign for mayor yesterday, shaking her fist outside the Boston School Department, which she called a symbol of the city's failing schools. Hennigan, a city councilor since 1981, stood on the stairs of the towering stone building and proclaimed that she would outwork Mayor Thomas M. Menino by campaigning neighborhood to neighborhood to fulfill her vision of a City Hall that listens to residents' concerns about housing, education, and property taxes. The daughter and granddaughter of state legislators, Hennigan cast herself as the scrappy underdog in the race, as she sketched a broad agenda for change. She laughed, waved, and blew kisses as The Monkees' song "I'm A Believer" sent her supporters into a dancing, sign-waving frenzy.

"I run for this job," she told some 60 supporters in a biting wind, "so who else is running or not running is of no consequence to me." Though his name was inscribed on a plaque hung on the building behind her, Hennigan didn't mention Menino once, railing instead against the city's HENNIGAN, Page B8 By Donovan Slack GLOBE STAFF As Mayor Thomas M. Menino left a St. Patrick's Day luncheon in South Boston yesterday, he was confronted by a phalanx of television cameras and reporters questioning him about the city councilor who has thrown her hat in the ring to unseat him. "What do you want?" he snapped. After a few reluctant bromides about his being too busy to campaign "I have more important Issues to deal with" and "I'm focused on running the city" Menino hurried out the door and into an idling Ford Expedition that whisked him to City Hall.

As Councilor at Large Maura Hennigan MENINO, Page B8 GLOBE SIAt-f PHOlOJANtT KNOIT bers in single digits. The team has even been known to hold practices outside. Things once got so bad that the coach walked out halfway through the season. Who could blame him? So many players had quit or were ruled ineligible that the team statisticians were told to suit up as starters. That was two years ago, back before anyone dared give voice to the kind of Disneyesque dream these players are living now, a dream that has lifted a motley collection of city kids led by a former church league coach to the brink of a national championship.

Think of the famed March Madness basketball tournament that begins next week. Think of the blue chip universities, the huge arenas packed with thousands of cheering fans, the wealthy alumni sliding wads of money into well-heeled athletic programs. Now think of the exact opposite. At Bunker Hill, 34-year-old head coach John Preziosa washes the uniforms at his home. An assistant coach drives the bus to games.

There are no scholarships, no cheerleaders, no hidden perks for overindulged players. One of the captains, Ralph Pagan, is a full-time baggage handler at Logan Airport, a dean's list student who showed up late for one game because he didn't want to be rude to an instructor by leaving halfway through class. Forward Aaron Lewis, 6 feet 5 inches and north of 300 pounds, walked into tryouts and explained that he had no basketball experience, but wanted to get in shape. "He can't shoot. He can't run.

He can't jump," Preziosa says. So what did he do? "We gave him a uniform. He didn't play for 16 games. One practice I notice he looks skinnier. He's running the floor.

He's hitting shots. So we put him in the game. He had 13 points one night." Their original point guard this year left the team when he couldn't come up with the $300 for tuition. Another player told the coach he was slumping because he felt pressure playing in front of his father, just released from prison. "You would think I recruited from the Island of Misfits," Preziosa says, laughing.

"But when the game unfolds, we look like the '86 Celtics." Which is how they played at a regional tournament in Springfield that ended Sunday. They overcame a 32-18 halftime deficit in the semifinals to win in overtime. In the final, they beat the number one seed by running off 16 straight points in the second half to earn the school's first-ever spot in the national junior college championships. "We had a moment at half-court," Preziosa says. "I know the richest people in the world can never pay to have that moment." At a practice this week in a downtown gym, players chanted in unison as they made one shot after the next.

Passes were crisp. Wind sprints were fast. "The only people who thought we'd be here is us," Preziosa hollered at the team, as a group of excitable 10-year-old boys played in shirts and skins on the court next to them. All season, Preziosa has stressed life's lessons to his guys: good first impressions, faith in teammates, unselfishness. All nine players contribute.

All nine share an obvious bond. Courtside, players introduced themselves to a visitor with firm handshakes. "It's not about the most-talented team," said Eric Downie, the leading scorer and the one college prospect. "It's about the most heart." Next week, it's on to Delhi, N.Y., for the NJCAA Division 3 championship. Preziosa will bring laundered uniforms.

His assistant will drive the bus. He wants all his players in neckties, meaning he'll have to give a course in knotting them. "It's all about becoming a man," he says. "This is another lesson in life." He's got one more he hopes to give as well: how to win with grace. Mayor Thomas M.

Menino listened to reporters' questions yesterday after attending a St. Patrick's Day luncheon in South Boston. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 It 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 It 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 CARIBBEAN RESCUE mrmmm mm yww Crowd-control gun's accuracy is questioned Type that killed Hub student in melee was tested in Israel Mulhern expected to retire as chief Led transit agency during tight times By Ralph Ran alii and Mac Daniel GLOBE STAFF Michael H. Mulhern who in three years as general manager guided the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority through a controversial Fare increase, pain ful cost-cutting, and major events such as the Democratic National Convention nlonc rtt iro 'CM 1 ft -l v-" Mil fs from his post by I i ni the summer, state Michael Mulhern By Shelley Murphy GLOBE STAFF Federal officials are urging the manufacturer of the pepper-pellet gun that took the life of 21-year-old Victoria Snelgrove last fall to respond to assertions by the Israel Police that raise questions about the weapon's accuracy. In a March 2 letter to FN Herstal USA, Sarah V.

Hart, director of the National Institute of Justice, said tests by the Israel Police of the FN303, which shoots pepper projectiles, concluded that its accuracy "decreased significantly" after 300 rounds were fired. The letter suggests that the weapon, which Boston police fired into a crowd celebrating the Red Sox pennant victory outside Fenway Park on Oct. 21, could play a pivotal role in the investigation into Snelgrove's deaths Lawyers for the police officers who fired the weapons that night seized on the letter as evidence that there were problems with the FN303 itself, not the way it was used. Boston lawyer Thomas Drechsler, who represents WEAPON, Page B3 mi il nun mi i 1 1 Mi Hi in i mini nun 1 1 in inn DSS chief visits Jeffers family State Social Services Commissioner Harry Spence met with relatives of Dontel Jefifers, the 4-year-old boy who died this week while in foster care. B2 Team name offends some Plans to name a new minor league baseball team in Worcester after a tornado that killed 94 people and injured close to 1,300 in that city a half-century ago are drawing criticism.

B2 and MBTA officials said yesterday. Mulhern, a for mer bus driver who first began working for the authority more than a quarter century ago, earned a reputation as more of a practical, detail-oriented manager than a visionary during his time in the top job. While opposing proposals that he believed would lead to an overexpansion of the transit system, he has been credited with cutting expenses, reducing payrolls, and making its operations more efficient. Three high-ranking state and MBTA officials, who asked that MULHERN, Page B3 SfcA SEMESTER Al WOODS HOLE PHOTO A Cape Cod-based seagoing education program said its students, including crew members Sarah Piwinski (left) and Danielle Rioux, assisted 49 Haitians found adrift in a disabled boat off Jamaica's coast. B2 Brian McGrory is a columnist.

He can be reached at mcgroryglobe.com..