|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
NEW YORK SPORTS DIGEST
February - March, 2001
EDWARDS COMES TO NEW YORK MASSAPEQUA WINS TOUCH FOOTBALL LEAGUE TITLE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SWIMMERS HEAD FOR COUNTIES LEMIEUX MAKES SELECT SQUAD CARROLL TO COMPETE AT 94TH MILLROSE LONG BEACH RECREATION NEWS RUNNERS SHINE AT YALE HOME |
SUAREZ LEARNS FROM SITTINGThe "Pride" is off to a great start and is in the right direction toward another berth in the NCAA tournament. Since Suarez is a first year player he still has to learn a great deal and play behind the veterans. Last year Suarez played at St. Mary's High School, located in Manhasset. He put in four outstanding years competing in the Catholic High Schools Athletic Association. Last winter he helped to lead his school to the New York State Class "B" Championship, was named CHSAA Player Of The Year, and averaged 22 point, four rebounds and six assists a game. He was coached by Tim Cluess, who taught him a great deal about the sport. "Cluess taught me to play defense and that if I keep by books and head straight, everything will fall into place," the 20 year old youngster said. The 6-0, 175 pound guard chose Hofstra over such colleges as Clemson, Nebraska, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State. Last spring Hofstra graduated Craig Claxton to the National Basketball Association, thus leaving a vacancy that must be filled. Now Suarez has to get the playing time, but he realizes that there are other people ahead of him. Norm Richardson, Jason Hernandez, Rick Apodaca and Roberto Gittens are holdovers, with Apodaca a sophomore. The rest are seniors. Suarez has to run the plays as best as he can and get into the flow of the game. He can see action at the shooting and point guard positions. "I love his ability to get shots," Head Coach Jay Wright said. "He has a great scoring mentality. We're excited about him. We first saw him when he was a sophomore at St. Mary's and followed his career. "Coming to Hofstra is fun and I like college," the backcourt player said. "The education is good and our basketball program is good because it's run by a good head coach. The coaching staff told me that I'll play a lot." Through 14 games, he is averaging close to 12 minutes a contest. Suarez' goal is to do well at Hofstra and lead them to a post season tournament. He aspires to play pro basketball. Suarez and his teammates have two home games left this month, on February 9 against Vermont and February 11 against Hartford. |