Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 143

The Column fT 9 Si sv He can taste the money the fame and the success BILLNACK Some five years ago converging off and playgrounds of West Philadelphia league all-star team was joined together off league all-star team was joined together line dribbling backwards in traffic toward the basket and when he shoots a' jumper from 18 feet out with hands in his face and when he goes with anyone one-on-one him that pitying basketball on a Friday night was contrary to their religion and he attempted to dissuade his son from playing the game stall "I told him I was picking up basketball and I piK hm1 astJ I could get to with it" Laurel said the stoops a summer whose five young high-school graduates offered eloquent testimony to the powers of overachieving and the turnaround jumper Tie's saw college parents it afford to send me My older Gaeckler the i kb ttihVa him said Roger coach "And thafa going to than he is a college on him gang up on attracts three men brother was going to school in Alabama and they could afford only one child in college -1" "The talk we had was important to both of us He knew that if he decided against my decision to "There was Ticky Burden who is with the said Rich Laurel one of the five "And Joe Bryant now with the 7 Sera Mike Sojourner with the Atlanta Hawks And Mo Howard with Cleveland And me We all came out togkher the same year or year before Andre McCarter he was a senior in high school when I was a junior with the Kansas City Kings Same neighbor- play basketball he was going to jeopardize my fu-iught 1 knew the difference ture He told me he thought player Now him He gets not going to happen to him in the pros I envy a person who has that kind of composure not afraid of any player You tell him he has to play against Julius LErving tomorrow and say Tine bust him' He never gets hurt He gets pounded game after game and he never gets hurt He handles the i ball shoots rebounds and is hood Same summer league We traveled together I very close We stuck together the last one of the group the only one not And Tm as good a pressure player as anyone anywhere You find a better man when you a find a better man when you are under between right and wrong and to -choose basketball was toe wrong decision But he said The decision is up to you This is your Laurel was scoring 17 points a game at the time as a junior at Overbrook High School where Wilt Chamberlain and Walt Hazzard had attended school and so he opted for basketball over religion The precedent that had been set for him was too much to resist To do otherwise would have amounted to denying himself his one chance not only to play basketball but to go to college "Too many things were going my Laurel said "Bauetbalf was a shining fight on me I would in the pros But I have a good shot to play this year If you have a feel for the game you just know you can play it all in the way you feel in your motion pressure and need points to That and all the oiher he has a wonderfully soft jump shot and as a southpaw rather suggests a Bubbles Hawkins in a prompt Gaeckler not only to foresee a pro career for Laurel but to predict he will be a leading draft choice think guaranteed" Gaeckler said "Everyone picks him in the top What Laurel believes he knows about himself what he feels is within himself make neither an unfounded nor an idle hope of things to come It was Tuesday night and Hoffctra had just College 75-68 and for the better beaten St wanted the same watch Andre McCarter things that he had1 Liter and I At the urging of one scout he enrolled at St School in Garden City to bring up his grades and there he learned something altogether grades and there he learned something i the evening Richie Laurel had been petual motion on both offense and with the enthusiasm of an NBA through a routine that has made him the fourth leading college scorer in the nation this year Curiously he never had a chance to shoot a free throw all night though he was frequently double-teamed Wherever they pick him and he believes himself he should be chosen among the earliest the playing of basketball is not something that came either early or natural to him given toe house in which he was born Laurel is ready a strange mix at 6-7 and 195 pounds part Seventh-Day Adventist and part basketball player They did not always jell new "I came out at one environment in phia and learned how to deal with whites and blacks in Garden he said "St was for rich kids I loved it just for toe friends I made I had to wear a shirt and tie and suitjacket that was different for me In Philadelphia I was going to school wearing jeans and a T-shirt While I was at timea triple-teamed at toe baseline but he was 13 for 21 from toe field and his 26 points i four below his for the "My parents were not into basketball because of their religious Laurel said "Pitying someofi meant breaking some of my religious beliefs Being there I fell in love with Long Island' tod Rich Laurel Many colleges recruited Fri- but he chose it over Memphis State and chose it over Memphis se Hofstra Providence and the University of Kentucky and There are to be sure some rough edges to his game that need sanding On defense he plays a man as dose as a decal tending to overcommit himself and leave his man free and on offense he is given to forcing shots sometimes though his balance is exceptional and he recovers quickly from his impetuosness When he makes a mistake he kicks himself and his face acquires a look of un- activity at alL That conflicted with ball Most games were on Friday Ing basket-or on Saturday But they left it up to me to make my own decision In high school I was 6-3 and still growing One' day my father called me into the dining room and said began a career that has left him where he is today a year behind his former contemporaries in Philadelphia hut all that much hungrier to join them in the promised land He can taste it taste toe money and the feme and the success and has no fears whatever that he will not make it in this game "That never crossed my he said 6-7 I can dribble with boto hands ana I can play guard beyond all that I know I can play in the fathomable pain the look of a perfectionist who somehow misplaced a decimal pomt But these are edges that need only the honing of a season Laurel The talk as it turned out was a critical of Rich life His father a truckdriver does have a gift a natural gift for playing the a he sweeps the base- McGuire: Loss Dooms NCAA Bid Combined News Services Scoreboard Boxscores Page 137 Dennis desperation jumpehot with just one second remaining gave' the Universit sity of Detroit a 64-63 upset Southampton College broke open a close game in the second half and moved to an 89-69 victory over visiting Hunter There were nine ties in the first half the last at 20-all can University ended unbeaten and Abdel An- streak at home 70-68 nu- victory over Marquette last night at Milwaukee The loss may have knocked tins Warriors out of the NCAA tournament derson led a balanced attack with 27 ing at the end of the year said he felt the defeat ruined the chances for an NCAA bid kids tried so hard" aaid McGuire who dosed the lockerroom door to reporters a little depressed about not going to the tournament been a nice year but now we become spoilers But Detroit coach Dick Vitale said he thought the Wanton (now 16-5) would still get an invitation In other games Dave Koesters routed George Wash- Tom Conroy scored 21 points 14 in the second half as Nassau points as Rutgers xngton 112-90 Community College defeated New York City Community College 80 elu Ted 37-30 at halftime Adelphi Wins by 18 Marquette led 63-58 with less than three minutes to play when Jeff Whitlow and Boyd hit on jumpshots to pull Detroit to within a point Then with two minutes left Marquette went into a delay offense With 32 seconds to go Terry tyler stole the ball from Bo Ellis and then Detroit went into its own Adelphi led all the way last night as iCi won its eighth straight game eu-UVh play it over Southern Connecticut in New Ha- scored 28 points to lead the Virginia Cavaliers to a 71-65 upset ess to to press regain the lead Gerald Beckles led Adelphi (16-5) with 24 points and Gordy McCrae had 21 In Bloomfield NJ Dowling lost its first Central Atlantic College Confer-game In 11 decisions 72-62 to victory over Clemson freshman guard Frank Johnson hit on a last-second 20-foot jumpehot to give Wake Forest a 70-68 victory over Davidson Kenny Carr scored 27 points while leading North Carolina State to a 92-74 victory over Duke junior guard Steve Collier scored 23 points and led Cincinnati in a second-half spurt past cross town rival Xavier 77-68 Army posted its 17th victory defeating Iona 62-56 Ameri- Larry Tillery scored 18 points and Jon Adderley and Dwight Johnson combined for 22 rebounds as Stony Brook (14-4) defeated New York Mari- time 66-55 Staten Island Community College leading Suffolk Community College by 10 points at the half broke the game open early in the second lmif with 10 straight points and went on to a 9Q-65 victory JSeJden The Titans moved the ball around until there was just one second left and Boyd mk a jumpehot from the top of the key at the buzzer It was the 21st straight victory for Detroit (22-1) and Marquette third loss in its last five games Marquette coach A1 McGuire who will quit coach- i fcJkAAf MVYtrft Bloomfield College Dowling (23-5) led only once in the first half then Bloomfield scored 12 straight points to gain a 34-25 halftime lead and stay ahead for the rest of the game vie yiiY rif i iVfr lt VkVi.