Rolling with G.E.S.U.S.
(tournament coverage, photo, and video highlights here)
After spending only a season in the NBA with the Portland Trailblazers, G.E.S.U.S. Ball coach Lamont Strothers knows something about being overlooked. Despite a successful career in Europe, Strothers never made it back to the NBA. Now, though, Strothers is proving that sometimes leftovers are tastier than the freshest cuisine.
“This team is made up of a lot of kids who tried out for Boo Williams and didn’t make the team,” said Strothers of his team, which earned a slot in Tuesday’s AAU 17U Basketball National Tournament quarterfinals with a convincing 55-44 victory Monday afternoon against a team from Maine.
And so it was that coaches from Boo Williams Summer League, long considered one of the country’s premier AAU 17U teams, were applauding the very kids they turned away.
Those kids included powerhouse post player Keith Wright, a rising senior at Norfolk Collegiate High. Wright, who is 6-7 and square-shouldered, joined 6-4 Bethel High rising senior guard William Weaver to lead G.E.S.U.S. to victory.
“Today, it was Keith. But it’s somebody different every game. We have good balance,” said Strothers.
But just what does G.E.S.U.S. Ball represent?
“This is the first year for our program,” Strothers said. “G.E.S.U.S. stands for Growth through Education, Sports, Unity and Spirit. It’s a youth program designed to help kids. I run summer camps. We do it all. We’re trying to mentor kids and help them along.”
Strothers said he knew going into the game that one of his goals would be to 6-8 post player Tom Knight out of the game. Knight scored six early points, but he was ineffective after that.
“We applied some defensive pressure to force him to step out. We wanted to keep him away from the basket,” Strothers said.
